[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4969 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4969

  To require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study 
regarding insurance coverage for damages from wildfires, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2024

 Mr. Heinrich introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 2024''.

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 premiums 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, increased rates, cost-sharing 
                provisions, or both for such coverage (after adjusting 
                for inflation) and the geographic areas in which such 
                increased rates, cost-sharing, or both applied;
                    (B) the extent to which private insurers have, 
                during the 10-year period ending on the date of the 
                enactment of this Act, refused to renew policies for 
                such coverages and the geographic areas to which such 
                refusals applied;
                    (C) the events that have triggered such increased 
                rates and refusals to renew policies;
                    (D) in cases in which private insurers curtail 
                coverage, the extent to which homeowners coverage and 
                commercial property coverage are terminated altogether 
                and the extent to which such coverages are 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, cost sharing, or both for coverage for damage 
        from wildfires and exclusion of such coverage from homeowners 
        policies--
                    (A) the extent of rate regulation;
                    (B) the extent of moratoria on such rate and cost-
                sharing increases and exclusions and on non-renewals;
                    (C) the extent to which States require homeowners 
                coverage to include coverage for damage from wildfires 
                or make sales of homeowners 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, cost 
                sharing, or both for coverage for damage from wildfires 
                and 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 on the homeownership coverage 
                market of such actions taken by States; and
                    (G) the effectiveness and sustainability of such 
                actions taken by States.
            (4) Impediments in underwriting wildfire risk.--With 
        respect to impediments faced by private insurers underwriting 
        wildfire risk, what is or are--
                    (A) the correlated risks and the extent of such 
                risks;
                    (B) the extent of the inability of private insurers 
                to estimate magnitude of future likelihood of wildfires 
                and of expected damages from wildfires;
                    (C) the extent to which need for affordable housing 
                contributes to people relocating to 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 areas in which, risk-
                adjusted market premiums for wildfire risk are so high 
                as to be unaffordable;
                    (F) the manners in which the Federal Government and 
                State governments can alleviate any of these 
                impediments, including through--
                            (i) improved forest management policies to 
                        reduce wildfire risk;
                            (ii) improved data to estimate risk;
                            (iii) relocating homeowners from wildfire 
                        zones;
                            (iv) allowing insurers to charge risk-
                        adjusted premiums for wildfire risk, combined 
                        with subsidized premiums for lower-income 
                        homeowners; and
                            (v) taking a last-loss position in 
                        reinsuring wildfire risk;
                    (G) the available policy responses if private 
                insurers exit the wildfire coverage market and the 
                advantages and disadvantages of each such response;
                    (H) the effects of lack of wildfire coverage or 
                more expensive wildfire coverage rates, cost-sharing, 
                or both--
                            (i) on local communities, including on low- 
                        or moderate-income property owners and small 
                        businesses;
                            (ii) by race and ethnicity;
                            (iii) on rebuilding in communities 
                        previously damaged by wildfires; and
                            (iv) on the demand for wildfire 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 24-month period 
beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 
General of the United States shall submit to the Congress a report 
identifying the findings and conclusions of the study conducted 
pursuant to subsection (a).
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