Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and the Democrat-run government of California caused insurance companies to cancel many of their fire insurance policies — with many residents of Pacific Palisades losing their policies just before the wildfires.
As Breitbart News has reported for years, many insurance companies have stopped selling new policies in California “because of the increased risk of wildfires and the rising costs of construction in the state — and because the state’s regulators will not allow it to price new policies based on future anticipated risk, only on historical risk.”
On the Nextdoor app, residents of the Palisades have been complaining for months. One woman wrote on December 23 that her company “canceled our home insurance policy. We are currently scrambling to find home insurance.” She added that her company would no longer insure homes near canyons or schools, or homes worth over $1 million.
Actor James Woods, who was forced to evacuate and appeared to have lost his home, noted the issue on X:
Newsweek noted that several insurance companies canceled their policies in the area in the last few months, adding that many people had been forced to turn to the state’s own insurance option, which is “an insurer of last resort.”
This author warned in a column at Breitbart News in 2023:
California should be heaven on earth, but is en route to becoming the proverbial hell on a road paved with good intentions.
The latest example is the state’s insurance debacle. State Farm, the largest insurer in California, said this week that it will stop issuing new home and business policies, partly due to the risk of wildfires and the cost of construction. (Allstate quietly followed soon after.)
While the left might blame climate change, the real reason is state policy.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara — who authored the state’s own “Medicare for All” proposal — won’t let insurance companies charge higher premiums for the growing risks that climate change activists say are on the way (and that skeptics blame on poor forestry).
The Wall Street Journal notes that California is the only state that requires insurance companies to set premium prices based on past risks, not on future ones.
The intention — to give Lara the benefit of the doubt — is a noble one. Homes are already absurdly expensive in California, as is the cost of doing business. Keeping insurance premiums down is a nice idea.
But when prices are so low that they make insurance unprofitable, companies leave or collapse. That means Californians may struggle to find insurance — and, ironically, may be forced to pay more for it, as the supply of policies shrinks.
That is basically how California functions: our government creates laws and regulations that theoretically aim at some inspiring social goal, but which, in practice, make that goal impossible to achieve.
California’s state insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, a Democrat, announced new regulations last month to force insurance companies to expand coverage in fire-prone areas and to account for future risk in pricing.
“Solving our wildfire crisis requires bold action to protect our communities,” Lara said in a statement. “Insurance rates now must account for the billions spent on wildfire mitigation, including community efforts and home hardening. This all-hands effort by my Department has achieved decades-overdue reforms in just one year, ensuring consumers benefit from more accurate rates and better risk assessment.”
The regulation was effective in mid-December, which would not have allowed most homeowners to find insurance in time for the Palisades fire.
In addition to proposing “Medicare for All,” Lara was previously notorious for proposing a bill that would have allowed illegal aliens to hold state office.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Jesus Christ is King
