Daily California Property & Casualty Insurance News

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Assemblymember Lisa Calderon introduced the Make It FAIR Act (AB 1680) to overhaul the FAIR Plan following a comprehensive Department of Insurance examination that identified 17 areas of non-compliance in financial condition, governance, and consumer protections.
The legislation aims to strengthen claims handling, expand comprehensive homeowners coverage options, improve transparency, and address ongoing issues for wildfire survivors from the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

Assembly Bill 1680, the Make It FAIR Act, was introduced to enact reforms from the California Department of Insurance’s Report of Examination, addressing FAIR Plan failures in claims handling and consumer protections post-2025 Los Angeles wildfires.
Key changes include implementing comprehensive homeowners coverage, hiring more staff, and improving clearinghouse programs to help policyholders return to the regular insurance market.

California’s property insurance market experienced a decisive turning point in 2025 with admitted carriers pulling back due to wildfire risks and Proposition 103 regulations, driving significant spillover into surplus lines and the FAIR Plan.
Regulatory changes post-Los Angeles wildfires, including fast-tracked rate reviews and catastrophe modeling, are encouraging carriers like CSAA and Mercury Insurance to raise rates by 6.9% while expanding coverage in high-risk areas.

Signs of improvement are emerging in California’s wildfire insurance crisis with insurers like Farmers using technology to underwrite 30,000 more homes and companies offering discounts for fire-resilient features and defensible space.
Commissioner Lara prohibited non-renewals for 210,000 homeowners in fire-affected areas while carriers like CSAA, State Farm, and others implement discounts alongside pending rate increases to expand availability.

Legal experts are evaluating California’s new FAIR Plan reform plan, including the Make It FAIR Act, to determine if it can effectively address the state’s property insurance availability gap exacerbated by wildfires.
The reforms come amid industry criticism and ongoing debates about the FAIR Plan’s role as the insurer of last resort versus broader market solutions.