California Gubernatorial Candidates Debate Home Insurance Crisis

California’s home-insurance market has shrunk as major insurers limit coverage or stop writing policies in wildfire-prone zones. Rising premiums, higher repair costs and state rules requiring commissioner approval for rate hikes have left thousands uninsured.

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Xavier Becerra (D) called for a state of emergency and a directive to freeze home-insurance rates and to investigate insurers. Matt Mahan (D) blamed slow approvals and bans on climate-data pricing, urging competition, risk-based pricing and land-management to cut wildfire risk. Steve Hilton (R) said Proposition 103 already lets insurers factor future risk and that enforcing its 60-day rate-approval rule would restore market function. Antonio Villaraigosa (D) urged reform of the California Fair Plan to meet Prop 103 and better compensate fire victims. Tom Steyer (D) emphasized fuel-reduction, controlled burns and home hardening. Katie Porter (D) proposed using state funds to lower reinsurance costs and attract insurers. Tony Thurmond (D) suggested limiting rate hikes unless coverage persists; Chad Bianco (R) blamed restrictive Democratic policies and pledged to halt them.

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Katie Porter called Becerra’s freeze unconstitutional, noted that Mahan’s plan already exists, and rejected Villaraigosa’s Fair Plan expansion. Bianco blamed Democratic regulations for the insurer pullback, while Hilton defended the existing legal framework, arguing that enforcement, not new legislation, is needed.

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A YouGov poll (April 23-27) gave Becerra 21 %, Hilton 16 %, Steyer 17 % and Bianco 15 %; an IVC Media poll (April 14-20) showed Becerra 23 %, Hilton 20 % and Bianco 17 %. The fragmented field suggests the issue could sway voters ahead of the primary.

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Becerra says a court could authorize a rate freeze, while the debate host noted that state law and the insurance commissioner’s authority make such a freeze legally difficult. Sources provide no numbers on uninsured households, reinsurance costs, or projected effects of wildfire-mitigation measures.

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• “I’d be willing to go to court to tell you that I can call a freeze even if you’re telling me we can’t,” — Xavier Becerra, candidate

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• “The government in Sacramento [where Becerra is from] created so many restrictions, including taking over a year to approve any rate changes, prohibiting insurance companies from using climate data to project future costs, that they stopped writing new policies,” — Matt Mahan, candidate

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• “The industry needs to be able to take account of future risk, including climate and the cost of reinsurance. That change, to be fair, has already been made by the current insurance commissioner,” — Steve Hilton, candidate

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• “My plan is to make sure that the Fair Plan, which is an unfair plan, not abiding by Prop 103, we got to make it work. Too many people in these fires weren’t compensated enough for their damages,” — Antonio Villaraigosa, candidate

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The upcoming primary will decide which insurance plan advances.

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