A one-year moratorium on non-renewal of residential property insurance policies, issued November 14 by the California Department of Insurance and Commissioner Ricardo Lara, is just the latest of
The
The moratoriums are part of a consumer protection law authored by Lara in 2018 as a state senator. The law requires the one-year moratoriums for any location where the governor has declared a state of emergency. They have been issued between July and November in each year, with eight so far in 2024, the highest number since nine were issued in 2021. According to the department, the moratoriums in 2024 before the most recent one collectively affect about 1 million policyholders.
The commissioner's rate reform plan, which it calls the "
"The one-year moratoriums are an important real-time protection against non-renewals in the wake of a serious wildfire," stated Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog, in an email response. "However, they aren't a long-term solution. For that, we have to prevent insurance companies from non-renewing anyone who protects their home from wildfires."
