[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2430 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2430
To require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a
study regarding insurance coverage for damages from wildfires, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 24, 2025
Mr. Heinrich (for himself and Mr. Sheehy) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking,
Housing, and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Comptroller General of the United States 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 the effectiveness of those programs 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
enactment of this Act, adjusted rates, policyholder
cost-sharing provisions, or both for those coverages
(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
enactment of this Act, declined to renew policies for
those coverages and the geographic areas to which those
declinations applied;
(C) the events and economic factors that have
contributed to any increased rates described in
subparagraph (A) and declinations to renew policies
described in subparagraph (B);
(D) in cases in which private insurers have
curtailed the overall wildfire exposure of those
insurers, the extent to which homeowners insurance
coverage and commercial property coverage were
terminated altogether and the extent to which those
coverages are still offered but with coverage for
damage from wildfires excluded; and
(E) the extent to which, and the 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 regulators in response to increased premium
rates, policyholder cost-sharing, or both for coverage for
damage from wildfires, or the exclusion of that 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 those 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
applicable 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 the exclusion of that
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 actions
described in subparagraphs (A) through (F) 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 those
risks;
(B) the factors affecting the extent of the ability
of private insurers to estimate the 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 the solvency of insurers;
(E) the extent to which, and the areas in which,
risk-adjusted market premiums for wildfire risk limit
the affordability or availability of coverage for
consumers;
(F) the effects of various existing and potential
State and Federal Government responses to help address
those challenges and mitigate wildfire risk, including
actions such as--
(i) improved forest management policies;
(ii) obtaining improved data to estimate
risk;
(iii) relocating homeowners from wildfire
zones;
(iv) offsetting a portion of the charged
risk-adjusted premiums of insurers 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
the 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 1 year after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to
Congress a report identifying the findings and conclusions of the study
conducted under subsection (a).
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