Wildfire Danger Could Have Been Mitigated if Calif. Wasn't Run by Ideologues
In our next-to-last column of 2024 we covered yet another warning to California officials that their forestry mismanagement was endangering resident’s homes and lives.
KTLA reports, "Another major insurer is pulling back on its offerings in California, forcing tens of thousands of customers to find other options.
"SafeCo, a subsidiary of California’s fourth-largest home insurer, Liberty Mutual, has announced that it will stop offering policies for new rental and condo customers on January 1, 2025. Existing customers will be able to keep their current policies until 2026."
That meant 88,000 condominium owners and renters were in danger of losing their insurance policies.
What we didn’t know at the time was in a few short days 10 people would lose their lives and 10,000 homes would be lost in a wildfire made deadly by California official’s refusal to adopt sound forestry management practices and the City of Los Angeles prioritizing DEI hiring and fish worship over fighting fires.
The fires are not out and already the cost is staggering. The Sacramento Bee estimates the loss will be at least $50 billion.
Now Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, " . . . has imposed a year-long ban on insurance policy non-renewals and cancellations as shellshocked Angelenos contend with multiple wildfires raging in Southern California.”
As Fox Business explained, " . . . the mandatory one-year moratorium will prevent insurers from canceling or not renewing homeowners' policies in specific areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
"The moratorium applies to all homeowners, condo unit owners, mobile home homeowners or residential renter’s insurance policies in specified zip codes.
"It covers cancellations and non-renewal due to wildfire risk."
That covers quite a bit of ground since more than 27,000 acres have burned.
There is less here than meets the eye with the moratorium.
Home owners who have experienced a total loss are already protected by a law that forbids cancellations and requires policy holders be offered two renewals of their coverage, as the Los Angeles Times pointed out.
Being offered the coverage and being able to afford the coverage are two different issues.
Regardless of whether you blame the fires on an angry climate God, imported arsonists or an act of God, the fact is California's "leaders" took no preventive measures to reduce the threat of wildfires which they knew were a distinct possibility.
That’s why Allstate terms California "catastrophe-prone."
The Good Hands People should have added, 'due to incompetent government.' And Allstate isn’t the only firm with burned hands. " . . . more and more insurers are concluding insuring California homeowners is not worth the risk."
The result of this fire prevention incompetence will have a great impact on policy holder’s wallets. As the Sacramento Bee reports, "In August, Allstate received permission from state insurance regulators to boost California homeowners’ premiums by an average of 34 percent. [And] State Farm also requested a rate hike from state regulators. The Illinois–based carrier was granted permission for a 20 percent rate increase earlier in 2024."
Pair that with the increased deductibles many insurers are currently requiring — instead of a fixed amount, say $1,000, insurers are requiring deductibles that are a percentage of the home’s worth — and home insurance is fast becoming a luxury item.
And the moratorium also means homeowners are essentially stuck with their current insurance company.
There's no shopping around for the best rate when "Some of the nation’s largest firms including a number of California’s top insurers, Allstate, Farmers, State Farm, USAA and Nationwide, had stopped accepting new policy applications, raised wildfire safety standards, sharply increased rate costs or are leaving the state altogether."
California is expensive to live in, expensive to build, expensive to insure, and expensive if you value your life and possessions.
And it all could have been mitigated if the state was not run by ideologues.
As we wrote in December, there are no winners in this situation.
There will be no winners until Golden State voters wake up and start electing candidates based on competence and not race, sexual orientation, tree huggery, or political party.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Ronald Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Mr. Reagan is an in-demand speaker with Premiere Speaker's Bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now With Added Humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.