California insurance official outlines 'Safer from Wildfires' framework and homeowner risk scores

Destiny Flores, an outreach analyst with the California Department of Insurance, told the Temple City City Council that the department's Sustainable Insurance Strategy is designed to make more homeowners insurance available in the face of wildfire-driven market strain.

Flores said the property insurance market has been squeezed by higher rebuilding costs, labor shortages and reduced reinsurance availability and that while 115 companies offer homeowners coverage in California, roughly 12 groups control about 85% of the market. "Seven of these 12 groups have paused or restricted new business," she said, arguing the problem cannot be solved by rate increases alone.

The strategy centers on the "Safer from Wildfires" framework, Flores said, a three-step approach that focuses first on home hardening (fire-rated roofs, enclosed attics, tempered-glass windows and nonflammable vertical clearance), then on protecting the immediate surroundings (removing vegetation and nonflammable materials within 5 feet and keeping shed structures 30 feet away), and finally on community-level mitigation that involves local governments and fire agencies. "This regulation addresses the root cause of non-renewals which is wildfire risk by making California safer and ensuring accurate insurance pricing," she said.

Flores said the California FAIR Plan will begin offering discounts tied to mitigation: 10% for properties in Firewise communities and additional wildfire-hardening discounts that the FAIR Plan has set at 10% for structure protection and 5% for immediate-surroundings protection. She also said insurers will be required to provide a wildfire risk score and an explanation of how it was created: "the score must be provided when you apply for a new policy, 15 days before policy renewal, 45 days before non-renewal, and 30 days after you complete mitigation and request a revised score." Flores added the FAIR Plan's commercial coverage limits will increase (noting planned changes effective Nov. 1 and Dec. 14, 2023 as part of the broader reforms).

Councilors asked about consumer outreach, the state's new catastrophe model and how the 85% floor for writing in distressed areas was chosen. Flores advised residents can sign up for consumer alerts on the Department of Insurance website or call the department's 1-800 number for assistance; she said the 85% requirement is intended to restore private-market participation in distressed areas and to move policyholders off the FAIR Plan, which is designed as insurance of last resort. On coordination with other agencies, she said the commissioner can lobby the Legislature and coordinate with local governments and emergency services but does not have authority to change land-use laws.

Why it matters: Local homeowners and the municipal budget are affected when private carriers limit or cease writing in wildfire-prone areas; the department's rules aim to improve market availability while encouraging mitigation at both property and community scales. The department is taking public input on its models and rules and the FAIR Plan discounts and risk-score disclosures could alter renewal outcomes for at-risk properties.

The presentation concluded with Flores inviting questions and providing the DOI contact avenues for residents seeking more information.