IB 

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] 


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A BILL 

To require the Government Accountability Office to conduct 

a study regarding insurance coverage for damages from 

wildfires, and for other purposes. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wildfire Insurance Cov5 erage Study Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GAO STUDY REGARDING INSURANCE FOR WILDFIRE 

7 DAMAGE . 

8 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

9 States, in consultation with the Director of the Federal In10 surance Office and State insurance regulators, shall conduct 

11 a study to analyze and determine the following: 

12 (1) RISK ASSESSMENT.—The extent and nature 

13 of wildfire risk in the United States, including— 

14 (A) identifying trends in declarations for 

15 wildfires under the Fire Management Assistance 

16 grant program under section 420 of the Robert 

17 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As18 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187), with respect to ge19 ography, costs, probability, and frequency of 

20 wildfire disasters; 

21 (B) identifying mitigation practices that 

22 would assist in reducing costs and risks for in23 surance policies covering damages from wildfires; 

24 (C) identifying existing programs of the 

25 Federal Government and State governments that 


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1 measure wildfire risk and assess their effective2 ness in forecasting wildfire events and informing 

3 wildfire response; and 

4 (D) analyzing and assessing the need for a 

5 national map for measuring and quantifying 

6 wildfire risk. 

7 (2) EXISTING STATE OF COVERAGE.—With re8 spect to the existing state of homeowners insurance 

9 coverage and commercial property insurance coverage 

10 for damage from wildfires in the United States— 

11 (A) the extent to which private insurers 

12 have, during the 10-year period ending on the 

13 date of the enactment of this Act, adjusted rates, 

14 policyholder cost-sharing provisions, or both for 

15 such coverage (after adjusting for inflation) and 

16 the geographic areas in which adjusted rates, 

17 policyholder cost-sharing, or both have increased; 

18 (B) the extent to which private insurers 

19 have, during the 10-year period ending on the 

20 date of the enactment of this Act, declined to 

21 renew policies for such coverages and the geo22 graphic areas to which such declinations ap23 plied; 


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1 (C) the events and economic factors that 

2 have contributed to any such increased rates and 

3 declinations to renew policies; 

4 (D) in cases in which private insurers have 

5 curtailed their overall wildfire exposure, the ex6 tent to which homeowners insurance coverage 

7 and commercial property coverage were termi8 nated altogether and the extent to which such 

9 coverages are still offered but with coverage for 

10 damage from wildfires excluded; and 

11 (E) the extent to which, and circumstances 

12 under which, private insurers are continuing to 

13 provide coverage for damage from wildfires— 

14 (i) in general; 

15 (ii) subject to a condition that mitiga16 tion activities are taken, such as hardening 

17 of properties and landscaping against 

18 wildfires, by property owners, State or local 

19 governments, park or forest authorities, or 

20 other land management authorities; and 

21 (iii) subject to any other conditions. 

22 (3) REGULATORY RESPONSES.—With respect to 

23 actions taken by State insurance regulatory agencies 

24 in response to increased premium rates, policyholder 

25 cost-sharing, or both for coverage for damage from 


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1 wildfires or exclusion of such coverage from home2 owners insurance policies— 

3 (A) the extent to which States have lever4 aged their respective authorities to regulate rate 

5 increases; 

6 (B) the extent to which States have enacted 

7 any moratoria on such rate and policyholder 

8 cost-sharing increases or exclusions and on non9 renewals; 

10 (C) the extent to which States require home11 owners insurance coverage to include coverage 

12 for damage from wildfires or make sales of home13 owners insurance coverage contingent on the sale, 

14 underwriting, or financing of separate wildfire 

15 coverage in the State; 

16 (D) the extent to which States have estab17 lished State residual market insurance entities, 

18 reinsurance programs, or similar mechanisms 

19 for coverage of damages from wildfires; 

20 (E) any other actions States or localities 

21 have taken in response to increased premium 

22 rates, policyholder cost-sharing, or both for cov23 erage for damage from wildfires or exclusion of 

24 such coverage from homeowners policies, includ25 ing forestry and wildfire management policies 


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1 and subsidies for premiums and cost-sharing for 

2 wildfire coverage; 

3 (F) the effects of actions taken by States on 

4 the availability, coverage level, and affordability 

5 of homeowners insurance coverage; and 

6 (G) the effectiveness and sustainability of 

7 such actions taken by States. 

8 (4) CHALLENGES IN UNDERWRITING WILDFIRE

9 RISK.—With respect to the challenges faced by private 

10 insurers underwriting wildfire risk, what is or are— 

11 (A) the correlated risks and the extent of 

12 such risks; 

13 (B) the factors affecting the extent of private 

14 insurers’ ability to estimate magnitude of future 

15 likelihood of wildfires and of expected damages 

16 from wildfires; 

17 (C) the effects of the need to increase more 

18 affordable housing options, which may contribute 

19 to increased homebuilding in more remote, heav20 ily-wooded areas with higher wildfire risk; 

21 (D) the potential for wildfire losses suffi22 ciently large to jeopardize insurers’ solvency; 

23 (E) the extent to which, and areas in which, 

24 risk-adjusted market premiums for wildfire risk 


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1 limit affordability or availability of coverage for 

2 consumers; 

3 (F) the effects of various existing and poten4 tial State and Federal Government responses to 

5 help address these challenges and mitigate wild6 fire risk, including actions such as— 

7 (i) improved forest management poli8 cies; 

9 (ii) improved data to estimate risk; 

10 (iii) relocating homeowners from wild11 fire zones; 

12 (iv) offsetting a portion of insurers’ 

13 charged risk-adjusted premiums with 

14 means-tested government affordability pro15 grams for lower income homeowners; 

16 (v) encouraging the increased use of 

17 private reinsurance and other risk-sharing 

18 mechanisms by insurers to better diversify 

19 wildfire risk; and 

20 (vi) developing programs that offset the 

21 costs of wildfire risk for consumers and in22 dustry; 

23 (G) the available policy responses if private 

24 insurers exit the wildfire coverage market and 


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1 the potential advantages and disadvantages of 

2 each such response; 

3 (H) the effects of the availability and af4 fordability of wildfire coverage, policyholder cost5 sharing, or both, on— 

6 (i) local communities that are dis7 proportionately vulnerable to wildfires, in8 cluding on low- or moderate-income prop9 erty owners and small businesses; 

10 (ii) rebuilding in communities pre11 viously damaged by wildfires; 

12 (iii) the availability and affordability 

13 of housing supply; and 

14 (iv) the demand for wildfire insurance 

15 coverage by property owners; 

16 (I) the effects of potential State prohibitions 

17 on termination of policies due to wildfire claims 

18 on insurer solvency; and 

19 (J) the manner in which private insurers 

20 are modeling or estimating future wildfire risk. 

21 (b) REPORT.—Not later than the expiration of the 12- 

22 month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this 

23 Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the Congress 

24 a report identifying the findings and conclusions of the 

25 study conducted pursuant to subsection (a). 


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Union Calendar No. 489 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7462 

[Report No. 118–589] 

A BILL 

To require the Government Accountability Office to 

damages from wildfires, and for other purposes. conduct a study regarding insurance coverage for 

JULY 18, 2024 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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