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State insurance office pitches retrofit grants and wildfire-score transparency to keep homes insurable
Summary
Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuder outlined a proposed grant program to help homeowners retrofit to IBHS standards and a transparency bill to force insurers to disclose wildfire-risk scores and appeals procedures when scores affect coverage or premiums.
Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuder on Aug. 18 urged state and local partners to back two consumer-focused measures she said would help keep homes insurable after wildfires.
Kuder told a Medical Lake town hall that her office proposed a "Strengthen Washington Homes" grant program to fund retrofits measured against Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) standards and that the proposal would bar insurers from using a homeowner—s retrofit to justify a future cancellation or nonrenewal. "If you retrofit your home to IBHS standards, the insurance company cannot use wildfire as a reason to nonrenew or cancel," she said.
Kuder said the grant pool would be funded through OIC-administered dollars rather than the state general fund and would aim to make whole-neighborhood mitigation financially feasible rather than single-property fixes. She described the program as modeled on successful mitigation efforts in other states and said her office is preparing to stand up the program as soon as the Legislature authorizes it.
Why it matters: Kuder framed the package as protecting consumers and stabilizing the insurance market as wildfire risk grows. At the town hall she cited local data showing increased insurer actions after the Medical Lake fires: "32 percent of people with significant damage from the fire lost their insurance," she said, and "two-thirds of people were underinsured," leaving many unable to rebuild.
Kuder also described a separate transparency bill requiring insurers to disclose wildfire-risk scores and the steps a homeowner could take to improve that score when the score is being used to raise premiums, cancel coverage or decline renewal. "Right now, insurance companies use third-party vendors to create wildfire scores and you don't get to know what it is," she said, adding that the bill would include an appeals process for disputed scores.
The FAIR plan: The commissioner highlighted a trend in the state—s FAIR plan (the state insurer of last resort), which she said has seen enrollees rise from about 100 a few years ago to nearly 400 now; she characterized the shift as evidence that wildfire risk is now a primary market driver for people landing in the FAIR plan.
Reaction and next steps: Local leaders at the event, including Medical Lake officials, welcomed the ideas, saying retrofit grants and clearer scoring would make retrofit investments more attractive to homeowners and insurers. Kuder said the bills secured bipartisan support in the state Senate and are likely to return to the Legislature.
The OIC plans additional outreach materials and a consumer toolkit to help residents check coverage and understand appeals and ALE (additional living expense) provisions. Kuder urged homeowners to review policies annually and contact the OIC with questions.
