New California laws aim to ease ongoing home insurance crisis

"California has approved a package of new laws meant to stabilize the state's faltering home insurance market and help property owners protect their homes from wildfires and recover when they lose everything in a blaze. The legislation, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this month, is the state's latest effort to tackle an insurance crisis that's left thousands of homeowners facing steep rate hikes, canceled coverage and long delays securing claim payments."

"Fire-safe grants for homeowners Assembly Bill 888 establishes a grant program to help low- and middle-income homeowners pay for wildfire defense measures such as installing fire-resistant roofs and clearing flammable vegetation from their properties improvements that can cost thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars, but qualify for insurance premium discounts. It will now be up to state lawmakers to determine how much grant money individual homeowners could receive. Cities and counties will also be able to apply for the grants for fire mitigation programs to make communities safer and potentially more insurable."

California approved a package of laws intended to stabilize the home insurance market and help property owners protect and recover from wildfires. The package targets steep rate hikes, canceled policies and delayed claim payments through incremental reforms. Assembly Bill 888 creates a grant program to help low- and middle-income homeowners pay for wildfire defense measures such as fire-resistant roofs and clearing flammable vegetation, and allows cities and counties to apply for mitigation grants. Eligibility requires insurance from a state-approved provider and residence in ZIP codes overlapping CalFire high or very high risk zones, with county income limits determining qualification.

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