Californians are facing a property insurance crisis that is impacting homeowners, renters, and small businesses across the state. As legislators representing communities from San Francisco to San Diego, we are hearing the same message over and over again: coverage is disappearing, premiums are skyrocketing, and people are being forced to make impossible choices just to stay in their homes.
Between 2023 and 2025, State Farm alone received approval for cumulative rate increases totaling 45%, raising average annual premiums by $841. Meanwhile, enrollment in California’s insurer of last resort has quadrupled since 2019, with more and more homeowners forced to rely on expensive and inadequate coverage. These increases are largely the result of costly and devastating extreme weather disasters like fires and floods. As a result of rising prices, more than 1 in 5 California homeowners are uninsured because of canceled policies and unaffordable premiums.
Hearing from constituents about this crisis and the way they have been directly impacted by extreme weather events motivated us to introduce Senate Bill 982, the Affordable Insurance and Recovery Act. In recent years, extreme weather events have caused unfathomable economic damage, and those costs are passed on to homeowners, renters, and small businesses through higher rates for insurance. The horrific Los Angeles wildfires caused over $75 billion in insured losses and claimed the lives of 31 Californians. Members of our own districts have been directly impacted as well. In San Diego, devastating flooding turned lives upside down overnight in 2024, damaging nearly 5,000 structures. In San Francisco and across the Bay Area, residents face growing uncertainty as insurers pull back from entire communities.
The outlook for the months ahead is troubling. A survey by the California Department of Water Resources found this year’s April 1 snowpack at just 18 percent of average, the second lowest on record. Because snowpack provides roughly 30 percent of California’s water, these measurements are critical for managing the state’s water supply and preparing for the dry season.
The lowest snowpack on record occurred in 2015, when levels fell to just five percent of average and California was in a historic drought. The state imposed its first-ever statewide water restrictions and faced catastrophic wildfires, including the Valley Fire, which destroyed nearly 2,000 structures—events that drove widespread losses and disrupted insurance markets.
Insurance is meant to provide stability in times of crisis. Instead, it is becoming a source of instability–fueling housing insecurity, driving up rents as landlords pass along higher costs, and even derailing home purchases when buyers can’t secure coverage. In 2024, 13% of California real estate agents reported that they had deals fall through in 2024 after buyers couldn’t secure affordable home insurance policies.
SB 982 takes a practical step toward addressing this crisis by focusing on affordability and accountability. The approach is grounded in a simple principle: the costs of these disasters should not be borne solely by the people least able to afford them. Large multinational oil and gas corporations spent decades lying to the public about their products’ contribution to climate change and working to undermine the transition to cleaner energy sources. They’re uniquely responsible for the mess we’re in; it’s only fair they share the financial consequences.
SB 982 empowers the Attorney General to take Big Oil to court to recover their share of climate change’s contribution to weather disasters that raise the cost of insurance. Those funds would then be used to stabilize the state’s insurer of last resort program, protect consumers from sharp premium increases, and help people make their homes safer and more resilient to wildfire.
The economic benefits of SB 982 could be significant. Imagine if money being spent on higher insurance premiums was instead circulating in our state’s economy. Independent modeling shows that recovering even a portion of recent climate-related insurance price hikes could save the average Californian household $3,800, generate billions in economic activity, and create jobs across the state.
Californians understand the urgency. Recent polling shows that 92% of California voters believe it’s important to reduce home insurance costs and 66% of voters want the billion-dollar corporations responsible for causing climate change to offset climate-driven home insurance increases to help policyholders and taxpayers save money. Californians believe that large corporations should be held responsible for the costs associated with their products.
We know this legislation is not a silver bullet. The insurance crisis has multiple causes and will require continued action on multiple fronts. But doing nothing is not an option. Every year we delay, more families lose coverage, more costs are shifted on renters and small businesses, and more communities are pushed to the brink.
No one should be priced out of their homes because they can’t afford insurance. This bill is about making sure they aren’t.
Scott Wiener and Akilah Weber Pierson serve in the California State Senate.