Brian Dahle joins the fight — California Senate Republicans urge Insurance Commissioner to address growing homeowners’ insurance crisis
Brian Dahle. File photoThey say the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and apparently Lassen County District 5 Supervisor Jason Ingram’s desperate and persistent pleas for assistance from our representatives in the state legislature may have finally been heard.
District 1 Supervisor Brian Dahle, who represents Lassen County in the California Senate, has joined the fight, today calling on Ricardo Lara, the state insurance commissioner, to find some relief for state residents
“My constituents are already suffering,” said Senator Brian Dahle, who represents Lassen County and many of the state’s communities that fall in the affected high-fire severity zones. “In order to avoid exponential and unaffordable rate hikes on Californians in the near future, we must act now. Californians can’t afford for a catastrophic wildfire to collapse the market and leave those insured without the coverage they may need to rebuild.”
According to a statement from the California Senate Republicans, today, California Senate Republicans delivered an urgent letter to Insurance Commission Ricardo Lara requesting that he take action to fix the state’s broken homeowners’ insurance market.
Commissioner Lara is responsible for regulating the industry. Over the past year, three major insurance companies have exited the state, and since then, two smaller companies also have announced they will soon follow suit. California Senate Republicans expect more insurance companies will flee, unless Lara takes immediate action.
“California needs a healthy and stable homeowners’ insurance market that is accessible to all,” said Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones. “Our current market is on the brink of collapse and Californians are struggling to find and purchase affordable homeowners’ insurance. While the legislature has failed to act, Insurance Commissioner Lara has the power to begin solving these problems under his current authority and we stand ready to work with him to fix this broken market.”
Most recently this summer, three of California’s largest homeowner insurers – Allstate, Farmers, and State Farm – announced they have stopped writing new policies to homeowners. This announcement was an immediate red flag, alerting everyone to the growing risk that our homeowners’ insurance market is on the edge of crisis and may collapse unless drastic actions are taken to modernize it and prevent complete failure. Such a collapse would hurt California homeowners, and aspiring homeowners, the most.
Last week, two other home insurers not only announced they are no longer offering new policies for Californians, but they also are not renewing existing policies.
In the letter dated Aug. 24, 2023, California Senate Republicans urgently requested Insurance Commissioner Lara to take immediate action as it relates to ensuring a healthy insurance market. You can read the entire letter here.
About Brian W. Jones
Senator Brian W. Jones represents the 40th Senate District.
About Brian Dahle
Senator Brian Dahle represents California’s 1st Senate District, which contains all or portions of 11 counties, including Lassen, Alpine, El Dorado, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra, Siskiyou, and Shasta. Also serving deferred areas of Tehama, Butte, Colusa and Glenn counties.
