Sen. Perez’s pilot to guarantee coverage for ‘‘fire‑safe’’ communities advances amid industry caution

Sen. Perez presented SB 10 76, a pilot program that would create a process to select pilot communities and set minimum home and community hardening standards; homeowners in selected pilots who meet those standards would be eligible for guaranteed offers of coverage for a multi‑year period.

Fire survivors and consumer advocates supported the pilot as a way to give households the certainty needed to invest in costly home hardening. Ada Hernandez and other survivors described the emotional and financial harms of losing homes and the difficulty of committing tens of thousands of dollars to hardening without assurance of continued coverage.

Insurer witnesses and trade groups said they support mitigation and incentives but opposed a statutory mandatory write requirement because it could force insurers to accept accumulation and portfolio concentration risk without rate or solvency safeguards. Opponents urged a design that encourages spreading risk, relies on actuarial review, and includes measurable, community‑level thresholds rather than parcel‑by‑parcel guarantees.

The committee accepted amendments to establish the measure as a pilot with an advisory committee that includes technical experts, and to limit guaranteed coverage to communities that meet rigorous mitigation thresholds and a multi‑stakeholder design process. The bill moved to Appropriations; sponsors and industry will continue negotiations on guardrails, risk‑sharing and rate/solvency protections.