California Bill Requiring Insurers to Offer Discounts for Fire Mitigation Passes Senate

California homeowners could see discounts on their insurance policies under a proposed bill, which recently cleared the Senate floor on a 29 to 8 vote. Authored by Sen. Josh Becker in February, Senate Bill 1060 looks to expand the list of acceptable fire mitigation protections that state insurers must offer discounts for when writing new policies. “The devastating impacts of increasingly frequent and severe wildfires have accelerated insurance rate increases, nonrenewals, and market instability, causing an insurance crisis in California,” the Menlo Park-based Democrat said in an April analysis of the bill. Under current California law, properties made of non-combustible materials, free of flammable debris such as wood piles, and those with mitigations that prevent embers from entering during a fire are already eligible for discounts. Homes with a buffer around them known as a “defensible space” to slow down fires also qualify, according to lawmakers....