California to require home insurance coverage be offered to high-risk areas

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara introduced a new regulation Monday aimed at expanding coverage to areas at high risk of wildfires after insurers have limited options for those areas in recent years.

In recent years, wildfires have been costly, which has pushed several insurance companies to pull coverage out of the state, especially in areas at high risk for wildfires. The regulation introduced by Lara would require insurers to increase their coverage to these high-risk areas by making policies that account for 85% of their state market share. The new requirement would allow insurers to ease into the 85% by increasing their percentage by 5% every two years.