Stabilize FAIR

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?

DeMaio is Assembly District 75 representative.