California enacts insurance moratorium to safe-guard those impacted by wildfires-- again

CALIFORNIA — On Thursday, the state of California temporarily halted insurance providers from dropping clients affected by wildfires.

This is now the 4th year in a row this moratorium (made law in 2019) has been enacted.

The ban comes as firefighters gain containment on the state’s largest wildfire of 2022, the Mosquito Fire, which has destroyed at least 78 homes and other structures.

In commenting on this 1-year moratorium, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said, “Wildfires are devastating even if you did not lose your home, so it is absolutely critical to give people breathing room after a disaster. This is not the time to be having to search for insurance.”

KRCR spoke with an insurance agent in Placer County on Friday, asking his advice for those that face coverage concerns and how it changes the layout of the insurance industry.

"There's not a whole lot that you specifically can do," said Louis Euer, who works for an independent insurance agency in Loomis. "However, what you can do to make sure that you are prepared should a horrific accident happen, like the Mosquito Fire... is go to your agent (and) make sure that you are adequately covered."

"Make sure that, if you’ve had the same policy for 20, 25 years, that you’re up to value," continued Euer. "I got quite a few calls from people who got evacuated asking me, ‘Hey if my house has to get rebuilt for a year, two years, however long it may be, do I have coverage for that?’ I said yes, yes you do, it’s Loss of Use coverage."

The benefit of this moratorium law, Euer said, is that it essentially “buys time” for agents, clients, everybody to figure out a coverage option that’s best.

"It was back in 2019, when we saw all these crazy wildfires come through, and the insurance agency didn't really know how to handle it. So, they created this moratorium," explained Euer.

This year, the moratorium will only influence homeowners in three counties: Riverside, Placer and El Dorado, all of which have experienced/are still experiencing large fires.

Since 2019, the moratorium has protected roughly four million homeowners, including over 300,000 just this year alone, according to the state. Long-term, California's goal is to "increase insurance protections and market competition."