Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is urging Governor Gavin Newsom to sign a series of wildfire and health-related bills that have passed the Legislature and are awaiting approval. The bills, sponsored by Commissioner Lara, focus on strengthening consumer protections, expanding wildfire resilience initiatives, and improving statewide access to health coverage.
“These bills represent innovative steps to protect what matters most — our homes, health, and communities,” Commissioner Lara said. “They reflect our collective responsibility to help individuals, communities, and businesses recover from disasters on their own terms. Signing these bills will strengthen California’s leadership in protecting insurance consumers through the latest fire science and technology.”
Legislative Background and Ongoing Efforts
Commissioner Lara has prioritized legislation to address California’s insurance challenges, which are heightened by climate change and years of limited action. Since taking office, the Department of Insurance has conducted more than 2,900 community outreach events across all 58 counties, engaging nearly 150,000 Californians. These efforts have helped shape legislative reforms designed to protect consumers and build a more resilient insurance market.
Partnerships with lawmakers have also resulted in budget allocations within the California Budget Act of 2025 to support wildfire mitigation and catastrophe risk assessment. From 2019 to 2024, Commissioner Lara has sponsored over 40 new laws addressing climate change, wildfire preparedness, healthcare access, and consumer protections — the highest number for any insurance commissioner in state history.
Key Wildfire Protection Bills
Commissioner Lara is urging the Governor to sign several wildfire-related bills:
- AB 888 (California Safe Homes Act): Creates a grant program within the Department of Insurance to help qualifying residents pay for new or replacement fire-safe roofs and mitigation actions within 5 feet of a structure, as part of communitywide safety programs.
- SB 429 (California Wildfire Public Catastrophe Model Act): Establishes the nation’s first publicly available source of wildfire loss data, building on recommendations from the Cal Poly Humboldt-led Public Wildfire Model Strategy Group.
- SB 547 (Business Insurance Protection Act): Extends existing residential property insurance moratorium protections to commercial property insurance, safeguarding businesses, HOAs, condos, affordable housing units, small businesses, and nonprofits from non-renewal or cancellation for one year after a gubernatorial emergency declaration.
- SB 616 (California Community Fire Hardening Commission Act): Creates an independent statewide commission chaired by the Insurance Commissioner to recommend strategies for faster, large-scale home and community hardening, while supporting discounts for insurance customers who meet fire-hardening standards.
- SB 495 (Eliminate “The List” Act): Requires insurers to cover 60% of contents coverage limits, with a cap of $350,000, without a detailed inventory. It also extends proof-of-loss deadlines and mandates annual reinsurance and catastrophic model data reporting.
- AB 1 (Insurance and Wildfire Safety Act): Requires regular reviews and updates of the Department’s Safer from Wildfires regulations to incorporate advances in science and mitigation.
- AB 226 (FAIR Plan Sustainability Act): Enhances the FAIR Plan’s financial stability by allowing access to catastrophe bonds and lines of credit when approved by the Insurance Commissioner.
Expanding Health Protections
The Commissioner is also promoting health-related bills designed to improve coverage and consumer protections:
- AB 843 (Strengthening Language Access in Health Care): Aligns state language access requirements with federal Affordable Care Act rules, ensuring meaningful access for individuals with limited English proficiency.
- AB 594 (Increasing Consumer Protections in Student Health Insurance): Allows individuals who are no longer enrolled as students to withdraw from their student health insurance and stop paying premiums, requires timely notice of rate changes, and imposes penalties for late filings.
- AB 554 (Reducing Barriers to HIV Prevention): Prohibits cost-sharing or utilization review requirements for HIV prevention medications and related drug products, such as PrEP.
Next Steps
Governor Newsom has until midnight on Monday, October 13, to act on these and other measures currently on his desk.
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