Insurance
Home›Insurance›Industry & Deals›California insurance commissioner race raises pressure…
California insurance commissioner race raises pressure on brokers
California homeowners premiums are up 84% since late 2020, while FAIR Plan enrollment has climbed to roughly 5% of single-family homes, intensifying placement and underwriting decisions for brokers.
For brokers trying to place California property business, the contest for California insurance commissioner this November is likely to shape day-to-day distribution choices and how insurers manage risk. The race is between two Democrats, former San Francisco supervisor Jane Kim and state senator Ben Allen, and they differ on issues including how much business remains private, how FAIR Plan exposure is managed, and how aggressively carriers should be pushed to underwrite mitigated risk.
A Stanford University analysis of loan-level mortgage data released in June shows the stakes for affordability. Average homeowners premiums in California are up 84% since the end of 2020, or 45% after adjusting for inflation, and average deductibles have risen from $1,813 to $2,553 over the same period.
The FAIR Plan, a state-run backstop, has also grown in importance beyond the highest-risk wildfire areas. Enrollment has increased from under 2% to roughly 5% of single-family homes statewide, with faster growth in ordinary suburban ZIP codes, increasing placement pressure on brokers across more communities.
The next commissioner will also inherit regulatory and reform questions, including how to handle litigation and claims practices involving the FAIR Plan. Insurance Business notes the outgoing commissioner Ricardo Lara's office has sued once over the FAIR Plan's handling of smoke-damage claims, and it highlights a pending license-suspension action tied to claims-handling failures from the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires that could affect admitted-market capacity depending on its outcome.