California

Many homes that burned in the Eaton Fire lay outside the boundaries of state- or local-designated "very high" fire hazard severity zones, Bloomberg Green found after analyzing inspection reports by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, for more than 20,000 residential properties in areas affected by the recent wildfires.

Wildfire presents a significant challenge to California's property insurance market, and the impact is becoming more frequent and costly over time. Recently, we examined the current state of the California (CA) homeowners insurance market by exploring key components of the ecosystem, including the role of regulators, the CA FAIR Plan, and the involvement of the surplus lines markets, as well as current developments and potential implications of the fires in Los Angeles.

State Farm's "emergency" rate increase request was rejected by California's insurance commissioner.

Initial property losses from Eaton and Palisades fires estimated between $35 billion and $45 billion.

A $1 billion assessment announced Tuesday for California's FAIR Plan, the state-mandated insurer of last resort, is expected to drive up premiums as companies will likely pass some of the costs onto homeowners.

California's insurance commission plans to impose a $1 billion assessment on private insurers to shore up the FAIR Plan.

A bill would allow homeowners to receive the interest accrued on insurance payments for lost or damaged property, rather than lenders.

Travelers Cos. said it expects about $1.7 billion of pretax losses from the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles last month.

Before the wildfires, California decided to pass on reinsurance costs to policyholders. After the fires, California is considering catastrophe bonds to help shore up the state's insurer of last resort. A consumer advocate says these measures concentrate too much risk locally and do not improve home insurance availability.

Regulator says it will rule urgently; Consumer Watchdog says insurer must disclose more information to justify an increase.