SB 824: Insurers: declared disaster: homeowners’ insurance policies.

(1)Existing law requires an insurer to comply with certain procedures relating to the cancellation of insurance policies, except as specified, in the case of a total loss to the primary insured structure under a residential policy. Among other requirements, an insurer may not cancel coverage while the primary insured structure is being rebuilt, as specified, nor use the fact that the primary insured structure is in damaged condition as a result of the total loss as the sole basis for a decision to cancel the policy, and must offer, at least once, to renew the policy, as specified, if the total loss to the primary insured structure was caused by a disaster.

This bill would prohibit, subject to certain exceptions, an insurer from canceling or refusing to renew a policy of residential property insurance for one year after the declaration of a state of emergency based solely on the fact that the insured structure is located in an area in which a wildfire has occurred, with respect to an insured property located within or adjacent to the fire perimeter, as specified.

(2)Existing law creates the Department of Insurance, headed by the Insurance Commissioner, and prescribes the departments and commissioners powers and duties. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to require reports from insurers concerning risks and solvency, and authorizes the commissioner to impose civil penalties for failure to submit reports or data to the commissioner. Under existing law, the acts and orders of the commissioner are subject to a courts review or other action.

This bill would require an admitted insurer with written California premiums above a specified threshold to submit a report with specified fire risk information on its residential property policies to the commissioner on or before April 1, 2020, and every 2 years thereafter. The bill would require the commissioner to post a report on wildfire risk compiled from the submitted data to the departments Internet Web site every 2 years. The bill would authorize the commissioner to specify the manner of submission and the format of the report submitted by the insurer and would authorize the commissioner to grant a submission extension to an insurer. The bill would subject an admitted insurer that fails to submit a report to a civil penalty to be fixed by the commissioner, not to exceed $5,000, or $10,000 if the act was willful, and would specify the appeals process. The bill would provide that fire risk information submitted to the commissioner is confidential and not subject to subpoena, as specified.

(3)Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

(4)This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 675.1 of the Insurance Code proposed by SB 894 to be operative only if this bill and SB 894 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.