[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 550 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 550
To require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study
regarding insurance coverage for damages from wildfires, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 16, 2025
Ms. Waters (for herself and Mr. Sherman) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study
regarding insurance coverage for damages from wildfires, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Wildfire Insurance Coverage Study
Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. GAO STUDY REGARDING INSURANCE FOR WILDFIRE DAMAGE.
(a) Study.--The Comptroller General of the United States, in
consultation with the Director of the Federal Insurance Office and
State insurance regulators, shall conduct a study to analyze and
determine the following:
(1) Risk assessment.--The extent and nature of wildfire
risk in the United States, including--
(A) identifying trends in declarations for
wildfires under the Fire Management Assistance grant
program under section 420 of the Robert T. Stafford
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
5187), with respect to geography, costs, probability,
and frequency of wildfire disasters;
(B) identifying mitigation practices that would
assist in reducing costs and risks for insurance
policies covering damages from wildfires;
(C) identifying existing programs of the Federal
Government and State governments that measure wildfire
risk and assess their effectiveness in forecasting
wildfire events and informing wildfire response; and
(D) analyzing and assessing the need for a national
map for measuring and quantifying wildfire risk.
(2) Existing state of coverage.--With respect to the
existing state of homeowners insurance coverage and commercial
property insurance coverage for damage from wildfires in the
United States--
(A) the extent to which private insurers have,
during the 10-year period ending on the date of the
enactment of this Act, adjusted rates, policyholder
cost-sharing provisions, or both for such coverage
(after adjusting for inflation) and the geographic
areas in which adjusted rates, policyholder cost-
sharing, or both have increased;
(B) the extent to which private insurers have,
during the 10-year period ending on the date of the
enactment of this Act, declined to renew policies for
such coverages and the geographic areas to which such
declinations applied;
(C) the events and economic factors that have
contributed to any such increased rates and
declinations to renew policies;
(D) in cases in which private insurers have
curtailed their overall wildfire exposure, the extent
to which homeowners insurance coverage and commercial
property coverage were terminated altogether and the
extent to which such coverages are still offered but
with coverage for damage from wildfires excluded; and
(E) the extent to which, and circumstances under
which, private insurers are continuing to provide
coverage for damage from wildfires--
(i) in general;
(ii) subject to a condition that mitigation
activities are taken, such as hardening of
properties and landscaping against wildfires,
by property owners, State or local governments,
park or forest authorities, or other land
management authorities; and
(iii) subject to any other conditions.
(3) Regulatory responses.--With respect to actions taken by
State insurance regulatory agencies in response to increased
premium rates, policyholder cost-sharing, or both for coverage
for damage from wildfires or exclusion of such coverage from
homeowners insurance policies--
(A) the extent to which States have leveraged their
respective authorities to regulate rate increases;
(B) the extent to which States have enacted any
moratoria on such rate and policyholder cost-sharing
increases or exclusions and on non-renewals;
(C) the extent to which States require homeowners
insurance coverage to include coverage for damage from
wildfires or make sales of homeowners insurance
coverage contingent on the sale, underwriting, or
financing of separate wildfire coverage in the State;
(D) the extent to which States have established
State residual market insurance entities, reinsurance
programs, or similar mechanisms for coverage of damages
from wildfires;
(E) any other actions States or localities have
taken in response to increased premium rates,
policyholder cost-sharing, or both for coverage for
damage from wildfires or exclusion of such coverage
from homeowners policies, including forestry and
wildfire management policies and subsidies for premiums
and cost-sharing for wildfire coverage;
(F) the effects of actions taken by States on the
availability, coverage level, and affordability of
homeowners insurance coverage; and
(G) the effectiveness and sustainability of such
actions taken by States.
(4) Challenges in underwriting wildfire risk.--With respect
to the challenges faced by private insurers underwriting
wildfire risk, what is or are--
(A) the correlated risks and the extent of such
risks;
(B) the factors affecting the extent of private
insurers' ability to estimate magnitude of future
likelihood of wildfires and of expected damages from
wildfires;
(C) the effects of the need to increase more
affordable housing options, which may contribute to
increased homebuilding in more remote, heavily-wooded
areas with higher wildfire risk;
(D) the potential for wildfire losses sufficiently
large to jeopardize insurers' solvency;
(E) the extent to which, and areas in which, risk-
adjusted market premiums for wildfire risk limit
affordability or availability of coverage for
consumers;
(F) the effects of various existing and potential
State and Federal Government responses to help address
these challenges and mitigate wildfire risk, including
actions such as--
(i) improved forest management policies;
(ii) improved data to estimate risk;
(iii) relocating homeowners from wildfire
zones;
(iv) offsetting a portion of insurers'
charged risk-adjusted premiums with means-
tested government affordability programs for
lower income homeowners;
(v) encouraging the increased use of
private reinsurance and other risk-sharing
mechanisms by insurers to better diversify
wildfire risk; and
(vi) developing programs that offset the
costs of wildfire risk for consumers and
industry;
(G) the available policy responses if private
insurers exit the wildfire coverage market and the
potential advantages and disadvantages of each such
response;
(H) the effects of the availability and
affordability of wildfire coverage, policyholder cost-
sharing, or both, on--
(i) local communities that are
disproportionately vulnerable to wildfires,
including on low- or moderate-income property
owners and small businesses;
(ii) rebuilding in communities previously
damaged by wildfires;
(iii) the availability and affordability of
housing supply; and
(iv) the demand for wildfire insurance
coverage by property owners;
(I) the effects of potential State prohibitions on
termination of policies due to wildfire claims on
insurer solvency; and
(J) the manner in which private insurers are
modeling or estimating future wildfire risk.
(b) Report.--Not later than the expiration of the 12-month period
beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller
General shall submit to the Congress a report identifying the findings
and conclusions of the study conducted pursuant to subsection (a).
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