119-hr550

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 550 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 550

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

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 January 16, 2025

Ms. Waters (for herself and Mr. Sherman) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

 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 2025''.

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 costs and risks 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, adjusted rates, policyholder 
 cost-sharing provisions, or both for such coverage 
 (after adjusting for inflation) and the geographic 
 areas in which adjusted rates, policyholder cost-
 sharing, or both have increased;
        (B) the extent to which private insurers have, 
 during the 10-year period ending on the date of the 
 enactment of this Act, declined to renew policies for 
 such coverages and the geographic areas to which such 
 declinations applied;
            (C) the events and economic factors that have 
 contributed to any such increased rates and 
 declinations to renew policies;
            (D) in cases in which private insurers have 
 curtailed their overall wildfire exposure, the extent 
 to which homeowners insurance coverage and commercial 
 property coverage were terminated altogether and the 
 extent to which such coverages are still 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, policyholder cost-sharing, or both for coverage 
 for damage from wildfires or exclusion of such coverage from 
 homeowners insurance policies--
        (A) the extent to which States have leveraged their 
 respective authorities to regulate rate increases;
        (B) the extent to which States have enacted any 
 moratoria on such rate and policyholder cost-sharing 
 increases or exclusions and on non-renewals;
            (C) the extent to which States require homeowners 
 insurance coverage to include coverage for damage from 
 wildfires or make sales of homeowners insurance 
 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, 
 policyholder cost-sharing, or both for coverage for 
 damage from wildfires or 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 of actions taken by States on the 
 availability, coverage level, and affordability of 
 homeowners insurance coverage; and
        (G) the effectiveness and sustainability of such 
 actions taken by States.

    (4) Challenges in underwriting wildfire risk.--With respect 
 to the challenges faced by private insurers underwriting 
 wildfire risk, what is or are--
        (A) the correlated risks and the extent of such 
 risks;
        (B) the factors affecting the extent of private 
 insurers' ability to estimate magnitude of future 
 likelihood of wildfires and of expected damages from 
 wildfires;
            (C) the effects of the need to increase more 
 affordable housing options, which may contribute to 
 increased homebuilding in more remote, heavily-wooded 
 areas with higher wildfire risk;
            (D) the potential for wildfire losses sufficiently 
 large to jeopardize insurers' solvency;
        (E) the extent to which, and areas in which, risk-
 adjusted market premiums for wildfire risk limit 
 affordability or availability of coverage for 
 consumers;
        (F) the effects of various existing and potential 
 State and Federal Government responses to help address 
 these challenges and mitigate wildfire risk, including 
 actions such as--
            (i) improved forest management policies;
            (ii) improved data to estimate risk;
            (iii) relocating homeowners from wildfire 
 zones;
            (iv) offsetting a portion of insurers' 
 charged risk-adjusted premiums with means-
 tested government affordability programs for 
 lower income homeowners;
            (v) encouraging the increased use of 
 private reinsurance and other risk-sharing 
 mechanisms by insurers to better diversify 
 wildfire risk; and
            (vi) developing programs that offset the 
 costs of wildfire risk for consumers and 
 industry;
        (G) the available policy responses if private 
 insurers exit the wildfire coverage market and the 
 potential advantages and disadvantages of each such 
 response;
        (H) the effects of the availability and 
 affordability of wildfire coverage, policyholder cost-
 sharing, or both, on--
            (i) local communities that are 
 disproportionately vulnerable to wildfires, 
 including on low- or moderate-income property 
 owners and small businesses;
            (ii) rebuilding in communities previously 
 damaged by wildfires;
            (iii) the availability and affordability of 
 housing supply; and
            (iv) the demand for wildfire insurance 
 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 12-month period 
beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 
General shall submit to the Congress a report identifying the findings 
and conclusions of the study conducted pursuant to subsection

    (a) .
 <all>