California will require insurers to reward consumers for wildfire mitigations
California will require insurers to reward consumers for wildfire mitigations

(The Center Square) – California homeowners and businesses that take steps to protect their properties from wildfires will soon pay lower insurance rates under a new, first-in-the-nation framework introduced by the state’s insurance commissioner. The new regulation, announced by California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, requires…
California to require insurance discounts for property owners who reduce wildfire risk
California to require insurance discounts for property owners who reduce wildfire risk

California will become the first state in the nation to require insurance premium discounts for owners of homes and businesses that are made safer from wildfires. New rules mandate that insurance companies reward consumers who take wildfire safety and mitigation actions under the state’s Safer…
UP and WRAP partners testify before Congress on insurance challenges and progress in wildfire-prone states
UP and WRAP partners testify before Congress on insurance challenges and progress in wildfire-prone states

On September 22, 2022, in invited testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance, Executive Director Amy Bach presented consumer viewpoints and initiatives that are underway to restore affordable insurance options for property owners in wildfire-prone regions.…
CDI Regulations Moving Forward
CDI Regulations Moving Forward

United Policyholders is pleased to share the news that the California Department of Insurance has now announced its intention to formally move forward with its proposed “Mitigation in Rating Plans and Wildfire Risk Models” regulations.  Once formally adopted, the regulations will legally require insurers to…
Improving Disaster Recovery
Improving Disaster Recovery

UP advocates for expedited insurance payouts and fewer paperwork hassles for disaster survivors. By helping people get the money they need to repair, rebuild and replace with fewer delays, we’re improving their ability to restore the quality of their lives and financial health. This week,…
BACH TALK: A Fairer California Fair Plan
BACH TALK: A Fairer California Fair Plan

State and Federal public officials have protected homeowners by creating insurers of last resort that people can turn to when they’re unable to find a company willing to insure their property. Well known examples are Florida and Louisiana Citizens Insurance Corporations, the National Flood Insurance…
Can AI Predict If Your House Is Going To Burn To The Ground?
Can AI Predict If Your House Is Going To Burn To The Ground?

As summer fire season looms in California, Zesty.ai is using machine learning to help insurers and homeowners to make realistic risk assessments—and reduce damage to homes and property. Standing on the outskirts of Oakland, California, Attila Toth takes in the nearby forested hills. The CEO…
Paradise rolls out new wildfire prevention standards available to all California homes
Paradise rolls out new wildfire prevention standards available to all California homes

A Paradise home received the state’s first Wildfire Prepared Home designation, kicking off a new program meant to reduce the damage from wildfires. The newly-constructed home is tucked in the burn scar of the Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California’s history, on a road…
Paradise home becomes first in the U.S. to be designated a ‘wildfire-prepared home’
Paradise home becomes first in the U.S. to be designated a ‘wildfire-prepared home’

The designation is certified by the Insurance Institute for Home and Business Safety and provides proof that a homeowner has taken scientifically proven steps to mitigate risk for total loss in a fire. PARADISE, Calif. —As the town of Paradise continues the long rebuilding process…
Advocacy Win! New Rights for Colorado Insurance Consumers (HB 22-1111)
Advocacy Win! New Rights for Colorado Insurance Consumers (HB 22-1111)

UP is pleased to share the great news that we succeeded in securing new rights for CO insurance consumers that will improve future disaster recovery when Governor Polis today signed CO HB 22-1111 into law. UP was instrumental in the negotiations and testimony that led…
Bars and restaurants lose COVID insurance decision at Wisconsin Supreme Court
Bars and restaurants lose COVID insurance decision at Wisconsin Supreme Court

Bars and restaurants that counted on business insurance to help cover major losses from 2020 COVID-19 shutdowns are out of luck, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has found. To the layperson, the forced closures due to the pandemic would seem to meet the definition of a…
Misunderstood California law could protect your home’s fire insurance. How does it work?
Misunderstood California law could protect your home’s fire insurance. How does it work?

Your insurance company may be required to maintain your fire coverage if you live in a high-risk area in California — but the law that protects your home can be misinterpreted, as was the case for a Shasta Valley resident after she received a premature…
The dilemma of property insurance on the Hill
The dilemma of property insurance on the Hill

The California Department of Insurance (CDI) is rolling out new regulations mandating that insurers in the state offer discounts to policyholders who undertake fire hazard mitigation and structure “hardening.” The rules are intended to make decisions about rate and risk more transparent and more tuned…
Taken to the Cleaners: The Importance of Insuring Environmental Pollution Cleanup and How Some Insurers Try to Avoid Coverage
Taken to the Cleaners: The Importance of Insuring Environmental Pollution Cleanup and How Some Insurers Try to Avoid Coverage

Accidental environmental pollution is virtually unavoidable in our industrialized society, and insurance coverage for liabilities and cleanup plays a critical role in the economic and environmental health of the country. Small, medium, and large businesses throughout the United States rely on their insurers to help…
California’s wildfire building codes make newer homes less likely to burn
California’s wildfire building codes make newer homes less likely to burn

In the mid-1980s, Jim and Ann Pesout fell in love with 10 acres of forest in Northern California’s Calaveras County. They bought the land and started building a house. “It took us two years. We physically pounded nails and built the house,” Ann said. “Our…
COVID: Year Two UPdate
COVID: Year Two UPdate

Have the conversation…  As businesses across the nation learned the hard way when their pandemic interruption claims were summarily rejected by insurers…one can’t blindly trust paid-for property insurance to come through in the worst of times. Throughout the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began…
Guest Blog: Fire Resistant Building Materials for New Home Construction
Guest Blog: Fire Resistant Building Materials for New Home Construction

With the climate crisis in full effect, it appears that wildfires are on the rise. Especially in states like California, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, Montana, and others, wildfires are a huge issue. Every year there are multiple dangerous outbreaks of fire that spread across countries threatening…
Regulators unveil wildfire safety plan. Will it fix rural California’s insurance crisis?
Regulators unveil wildfire safety plan. Will it fix rural California’s insurance crisis?

State regulators rolled out a “Safer from Wildfire” program Monday to encourage rural residents and business owners to gird their properties as a way of fixing the insurance crisis that’s plagued the Sierra foothills and other fire-prone areas of California the past few years. The…