READER’S EDITORIAL: MY PLAN TO PROTECT HOMEOWNERS, OPPOSE INSURANCE CANCELLATIONS AND RATE HIKES
By Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, District 75
February 13, 2025 (San Diego) --If you’re a homeowner in California, you’ve probably already felt the impact of our state’s collapsing fire insurance market. Premiums are skyrocketing, insurers are pulling out, and thousands of homeowners are being dropped from their policies. If we don’t take immediate action, millions of Californians could be left without coverage—and the entire housing market will suffer. I’ve been sounding the alarm on this crisis for years. This isn’t happening because of climate change, as some politicians want you to believe. This is a direct result of bad policies, overregulation, and a complete failure to manage wildfire risk responsibly.
I do not support massive rate increases on homeowners—they should not have to pay for the negligence and policy failures of California politicians.
Right now, California spends nearly $9 billion a year fighting wildfires, yet only $200 million on prevention. That means we spend 50 times more reacting to fires than preventing them in the first place. Other fire-prone states, like Arizona and Florida, have invested in prevention—clearing dead trees, thinning forests, and using controlled burns to reduce fuel for fires. But in California, endless bureaucratic red tape blocks even the most basic wildfire prevention efforts. Even homeowners who want to clear brush around their properties often run into roadblocks from government regulations.
At the same time, state policies have driven insurance companies out of California. Insurers are required to use outdated risk models that don’t reflect real-time wildfire threats, making it impossible for them to set fair prices. Instead of being able to adjust based on actual risk, they’re stuck using old data. That’s why you’re seeing fewer options, higher costs, and more people being forced onto the FAIR Plan, the state’s last-resort insurance program. But the unFAIR Plan was never meant to handle this many policies, and it’s now on the verge of financial collapse.
Just look at San Diego County—where the FAIR Plan is surging at a crisis level. In 2023 alone, the FAIR Plan was forced to issue nearly 20,000 new policies and renew another 4,700 policies, leaving more than 24,000 homeowners trapped in a failing system. That’s a 400%+ increase in forced reliance on the FAIR Plan in just a few years—and it’s only getting worse. This so-called “last resort” safety net is now buckling under the weight of tens of thousands of Californians who have been abandoned by the voluntary insurance market. This is a full-blown crisis, and it’s spreading statewide.
This crisis is not just affecting homeowners in wildfire-prone areas—it’s hitting homeowners everywhere. When homes become uninsurable, property values drop, home loans become impossible to get, and the entire housing market is at risk. This situation is unacceptable, and I refuse to stand by while Sacramento’s failed policies continue to put homeowners at risk. That’s why I am fighting for real solutions.
First, we must overhaul California’s approach to wildfire prevention. That means clearing hazardous vegetation, thinning overgrown forests, and expanding controlled burns. These actions are proven to reduce wildfire risk, and we need to cut through the bureaucratic red tape that has blocked them for too long.
Second, we need to reform California’s broken insurance system. We must allow insurers to use real-time wildfire risk models so they can accurately assess coverage. Homeowners who invest in fireproofing their properties should be rewarded with lower premiums, and we must attract new insurers to the market to increase competition and bring costs down.
Finally, we need to stabilize the FAIR Plan before it collapses. This program was never designed to handle the entire state’s insurance needs. We must strengthen its financial stability while working to bring private insurers back into the market, so homeowners have more choices and lower costs.
I am working on legislation to make these reforms a reality, and I will fight to ensure Sacramento takes action before this crisis spirals further out of control. Californians deserve better than rising insurance rates, government inaction, and endless excuses. The time for talking is over—we need to fix this now.
I will continue leading this fight, and I challenge my colleagues in Sacramento to do the same. The question is: Will they act before it’s too late?
The opinions voiced in this reader's editorial reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East CountyMagazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
