I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7462 
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 
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 Representa-
tives 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 2023’’. 
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 
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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 Assist-
ance grant program under section 420 of the 
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency 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 premiums for insur-
ance policies covering damages from wildfires; 
(C) identifying existing programs of the 
Federal Government and State governments 
that measure wildfire risk and assess their ef-
fectiveness in forecasting wildfire events and in-
forming 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 re-
spect to the existing state of homeowners insurance 
coverage and commercial property insurance cov-
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erage 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, increased 
rates, cost-sharing provisions, or both for such 
coverage (after adjusting for inflation) and the 
geographic areas in which such increased rates, 
cost-sharing, or both applied; 
(B) the extent to which private insurers 
have, during the 10-year period ending on the 
date of the enactment of this Act, refused to 
renew policies for such coverages and the geo-
graphic areas to which such refusals applied; 
(C) the events that have triggered such in-
creased rates and refusals to renew policies; 
(D) in cases in which private insurers cur-
tail coverage, the extent to which homeowners 
coverage and commercial property coverage are 
terminated altogether and the extent to which 
such coverages are 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— 
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(i) in general; 
(ii) subject to a condition that mitiga-
tion activities are taken, such as hardening 
of properties and landscaping against 
wildfires, by property owners, State or 
local governments, park or forest authori-
ties, 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, cost-shar-
ing, or both for coverage for damage from wildfires 
and exclusion of such coverage from homeowners 
policies— 
(A) the extent of rate regulation; 
(B) the extent of moratoria on such rate 
and cost-sharing increases and exclusions and 
on non-renewals; 
(C) the extent to which States require 
homeowners coverage to include coverage for 
damage from wildfires or make sales of home-
owners coverage contingent on the sale, under-
writing, or financing of separate wildfire cov-
erage in the State; 
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(D) the extent to which States have estab-
lished 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, cost-sharing, or both for coverage for 
damage from wildfires and 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 on the homeownership cov-
erage market of such actions taken by States; 
and 
(G) the effectiveness and sustainability of 
such actions taken by States. 
(4) IMPEDIMENTS IN UNDERWRITING WILDFIRE 
RISK.—With respect to impediments faced by private 
insurers underwriting wildfire risk, what is or are— 
(A) the correlated risks and the extent of 
such risks; 
(B) the extent of private insurers’ inability 
to estimate magnitude of future likelihood of 
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wildfires and of expected damages from 
wildfires; 
(C) the extent to which need for affordable 
housing contributes to people relocating to more 
remote, heavily wooded areas with higher wild-
fire risk; 
(D) the potential for wildfire losses suffi-
ciently large to jeopardize insurers’ solvency; 
(E) the extent to which, and areas in 
which, risk-adjusted market premiums for wild-
fire risk are so high as to be unaffordable; 
(F) the manners in which the Federal Gov-
ernment and State governments can alleviate 
any of these impediments, including through— 
(i) improved forest management poli-
cies to reduce wildfire risk; 
(ii) improved data to estimate risk; 
(iii) relocating homeowners from wild-
fire zones; 
(iv) allowing insurers to charge risk- 
adjusted premiums for wildfire risk, com-
bined with subsidized premiums for lower- 
income homeowners; and 
(v) taking a last-loss position in rein-
suring wildfire risk; 
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(G) the available policy responses if private 
insurers exit the wildfire coverage market and 
the advantages and disadvantages of each such 
response; 
(H) the effects of lack of wildfire coverage 
or more expensive wildfire coverage rates, cost- 
sharing, or both— 
(i) on local communities, including on 
low- or moderate-income property owners 
and small businesses; 
(ii) by race and ethnicity; 
(iii) on rebuilding in communities pre-
viously damaged by wildfires; and 
(iv) on the demand for wildfire cov-
erage by property owners; 
(I) the effects of potential State prohibi-
tions 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 
24-month period beginning on the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the 
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Congress a report identifying the findings and conclusions 
of the study conducted pursuant to subsection (a). 
Æ 
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