Latest news with #IdahoWildfireRiskMitigationandStabilizationPoolAct
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
As wildfires strain Idaho property insurance, bill would call for committee to study the issue
The Idaho Department of Lands managed the Tyson Fire, which firefighters responded to in Benewah County in July 2023. (Courtesy of Idaho Department of Lands) The Idaho Legislature introduced a resolution Thursday to create a legislative committee to study Idaho's property insurance market. The House concurrent resolution, which is expected to be posted on the Legislature's website in the next day or so, says Idaho's destructive 2024 wildfire season has impacted the state's property insurance market. Presenting to the House Health and Welfare Committee, Idaho Department of Insurance Director Dean Cameron said 22 of Idaho's 91 property insurance carriers have asked to stop offering property insurance. The committee would let the Legislature hear from Idaho homeowners who are losing property insurance, or seeing their rates rise 'dramatically,' he told the committee. 'These aren't just homeowners that live in rural Idaho. … But they're residents all over the state. Insurance rates are going up by nearly 30% on average this year for property insurance,' said Cameron, a longtime former state lawmaker. The committee introduced the resolution Thursday. Introducing the resolution tees it up for a full committee hearing with public testimony — before it would be considered by the full House and Senate. But the resolution will likely be considered by the House Business Committee. Another bill called the 'Idaho Wildfire Risk Mitigation and Stabilization Pool Act,' or House Bill 17, was introduced in January but has not advanced out of the House Business Committee. That bill would assist homeowners against wildfire, keep insurance rates down and attract insurance companies to Idaho, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. Cameron said another piece of draft legislation is planned for an introductory hearing Friday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
First-time homebuyers struggle with absurd ultimatums from insurance companies: 'It's across the board everywhere right now'
First-time homebuyers are facing an ultimatum from insurance companies, making the already expensive process of purchasing a home an even bigger headache. In the Pittsburgh area, insurance companies are denying coverage to homes with aging roofs, insisting they be replaced before issuing a policy, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Sellers are also running into issues. Kay Barchetti, a Compass Realty agent, told the outlet, "There's a lot of people if they don't put a new roof on, they can't sell their house." Another real estate agent, Laurie Kiss, noted that 15-year-old roofs are where insurers start putting pressure on homeowners, despite advancements in materials. "Most roofs now are made with 30-year shingles," she said. "But here we are at 15 years having issues." Insurance companies have been denying coverage across the country as the number of extreme weather events has increased. In Pittsburgh, hail and winter weather are the big culprits. In Florida and California, they're hurricane damage and fire damage, respectively. For example, in late December, Liberty Mutual announced plans to roll back and eventually eliminate coverage for California condo and apartment renters, prompting backlash. "It's across the board everywhere right now," Etti Baranoff, a professor of insurance and finance at Virginia Commonwealth University, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "They are not just jacking up prices. You're talking about reduction in availability and affordability. It's both. It's not just the premiums. It's also the availability of it." Unfortunately, the leading cause of extreme weather events is human activity. Dirty energy leads to excess pollution pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, creating a vicious cycle of extremes damaging the environment and humans' way of life. And while people need to make changes, being unable to protect one's home and assets makes other positive changes harder to achieve. Kiss now has a contingency clause in her contracts that allows buyers to back out of a deal if they can't secure insurance coverage or the quoted premium is higher than expected. Do you think America is in a housing crisis? Definitely Not sure No way Only in some cities Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Some states have laws and policies to protect homeowners. For example, Idaho recently proposed the Idaho Wildfire Risk Mitigation and Stabilization Pool Act, meant to assist homeowners in securing funds to protect their homes and hopefully encourage insurers to continue coverage or lower premiums. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Major insurance company sparks outrage with decision that affects thousands of policies: 'The opposite of what we've been hoping for'
Increasing frequencies of wildfires are pushing insurance companies out of California. Liberty Mutual is one of the latest insurance groups to abandon insurance coverage for California residents, the North Bay Business Journal reported. In late December, Liberty Mutual announced plans to roll back on and eventually eliminate insurance coverage for California condo and apartment renters by 2026. According to the NBBJ, 88,000 policyholders throughout the state are expected to lose coverage. Liberty Mutual's withdrawal came about promptly before California's Department of Insurance revealed a historic insurance reform model to retain and expand insurance coverage throughout the state. The reformed model would allow insurers to factor in reinsurance costs (backup insurance for insurance companies) in their customer costs. However, insurers would need to continue offering comprehensive homeowner insurance policies in wildfire-prone areas at a proportionate rate of 85% of their statewide market share. For example, if an insurance group accounts for 10% of California's total homeowner insurance market, it must write or renew at least 8.5% of its insurance policies in the state's wildfire-prone areas. "Liberty Mutual's recent announcement that they're getting out of the California rental and condo insurance market was the opposite of what we've been hoping for," said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, per NBBJ. In 2024, Cal Fire responded to 8,024 fires throughout the state, a 9% jump from the previous year. Long periods of drought and extreme heat, brought on by human activities that include intensive agriculture, deforestation, and harmful heat-trapping gas pollution (from using dirty energy sources), set the ideal environment for wildfires to ravage the lands. More than ever, California residents and homeowners need security and insurance to protect their homes and assets. What would you do if natural disasters were threatening your home? Move somewhere else Reinforce my home Nothing This is happening already Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a landmark regulation to require insurers to increase their coverage in underserved areas of the state by trading the allowance of catastrophe modeling in insurers' rates. Idaho's Department of Insurance recently proposed the Idaho Wildfire Risk Mitigation and Stabilization Pool Act. This legislation would assist homeowners in securing funds to protect their homes from wildfire damage, which could encourage insurers to renew coverage or lower premiums. Hopefully, these initiatives will inspire other states to action to protect more homeowners from losing insurance coverage on their homes. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State proposes new mandate that could impact growing concern with homeowners insurance: 'Many of the issues could have been prevented or mitigated'
With the availability and affordability of home insurance becoming a growing concern for people throughout the United States, the Idaho Department of Insurance is being proactive. BoiseDev reported that in a Jan. 15 State Legislature House Business Committee meeting, Department of Insurance Director Dean Cameron pushed a measure to help communities that could be denied insurance because of wildfire risks. The Idaho Wildfire Risk Mitigation and Stabilization Pool Act would assist homeowners with funds to protect their properties from wildfire damage, which should convince insurers to provide coverage or lower premiums. The bill is set to go before the House Business Committee and could soon be passed into law. "Many of the issues could have been prevented or mitigated," Cameron said of previous wildfire damages. "So what the bill does is it takes two proven insurance strategies and tries to put those forth in a way that can help stabilize the market, help pull rates down, help insurance companies stay in Idaho." Whether it's wildfire damage, flooding risks, or the likelihood of hurricane destruction, insurance companies are increasingly not offering protection against these issues. Extreme weather is becoming longer, stronger, more intense, and more likely because of the rising global temperature, which is exacerbated by the human-caused production of planet-warming pollution. Without appropriate insurance, homeowners are liable for significant financial losses from these events, or else property values are dropping because of them. Mitigation and property protection is becoming increasingly important because of this — as is reducing our polluting impact — and the Idaho Department of Insurance is hoping that by helping homeowners prepare for these weather issues, they can get further assistance from insurance companies should the worst happen. Cameron pointed to the success of similar assistance programs elsewhere, particularly in the Southeast. With funds available to make their homes more prepared for hurricanes, homeowners are shrinking their insurance premiums. Do you think home heating costs are higher than they should be? Definitely Depends on the season Depends where you live No Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. "Today, their rates are going down, while ours are going up, because we have no mechanism for mitigation," Cameron told BoiseDev. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
