Existing law generally regulates classes of insurance, including residential fire and property insurance. Existing law defines the measure of indemnity for a loss under a property insurance policy. Existing law requires a person who controls a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining a specified wildfire-prone area to, among other things, maintain 100 feet of defensible space around the structure.

This bill would create the Wildfire Resilience Task Force, which would include the Insurance Commissioner, the Director of the Office of Emergency Services, and the State Fire Marshal, or their designees. The bill would require the task force to establish minimum standards for fire-hardened homes and communities, and would authorize the commissioner to promulgate regulations to implement specified exceptions to those standards. The bill would require an admitted insurer that offers or sells residential property insurance to, at a minimum, offer or sell the existing residential property insurance coverage it most commonly offers or sells to an applicant or insured who owns a residence that has an estimated replacement cost consistent with the insurer’s underwriting guidelines, meets the minimum standards established by the task force, and was built exists in a development that was established before those standards were established. established, including a residence rebuilt after being destroyed by wildfire.