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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7462 Reported in House (RH)]

<DOC>

                                                 Union Calendar No. 489
118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7462

                          [Report No. 118-589]

  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

                           February 26, 2024

  Ms. Waters introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

                             July 18, 2024

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
    [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on 
                           February 26, 2024]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 2024''.

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).
                                                 Union Calendar No. 489

118th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 7462

                          [Report No. 118-589]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                             July 18, 2024

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
```