State announces deal to address insurance crisis

Caleb Hampton

California Farm Bureau

California’s top insurance regulator announced a plan intended to halt the exodus of property insurance companies from the state and improve coverage options for people in wildfire-prone areas.

The regulatory changes, announced a week after negotiations in the state Legislature on an insurance bill broke down, will allow insurance companies to incorporate forward-looking catastrophe modeling when setting insurance premium rates.

In exchange, they will be required to write a guaranteed percentage of policies covering owners of properties in high-risk areas f...