California SB 429: Insurance: assigned risk plan.

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 Bill Text - SB-429 Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program.

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 |Add To My Favorites |Track Bill | Version: 10/10/25 - Chaptered
 09/17/25 - Enrolled
 09/02/25 - Amended Assembly
 07/17/25 - Amended Assembly
 07/02/25 - Amended Assembly
 03/26/25 - Amended Senate
 02/18/25 - Introduced

 SB-429 Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program.(2025-2026)

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 Date Published: 10/13/2025 09:00 PM

SB429:v93#DOCUMENTBill Start

 Senate Bill

 No. 429

 CHAPTER 541

An act to add Article 12 (commencing with Section 970) to Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 1 of the Insurance Code, relating to insurance. 

 [
 Approved by

 Governor
 October 10, 2025.

 Filed with

 Secretary of State
 October 10, 2025.
 ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 429, Cortese.
 Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program.

Existing law creates the Department of Insurance and prescribes the department’s powers and duties. Existing law generally regulates the business of insurance in the state, including the underwriting and ongoing monitoring of insured risks. Existing law generally requires an insurer or insurance producer to have underwriting guidelines that establish the criteria and process under which an insurer makes its decision to provide or to deny coverage.

Existing law requires an admitted insurer with written California premiums totaling $10,000,000 or more, to submit a report, as specified, to the commissioner with specified fire risk information on its residential property policies. Existing law requires the commissioner to post on the department’s internet website a report on wildfire risk compiled from data collected from specified insurers.

This bill, upon appropriation for these purposes, would establish the Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program to fund the development, demonstration, and deployment of a public wildfire catastrophe model, as defined, and to provide grant funding to one or more universities for eligible projects with specified criteria for the purpose of creating a research and educational center responsible for developing, demonstrating, and deploying a public wildfire catastrophe model that provides significant wildfire safety benefits to California communities and assists alignment of federal, state, and local wildfire risk reduction efforts. The bill would create the Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Account within the Insurance Fund for these purposes.

The bill, also upon appropriation for these purposes, would require the department to create a framework and multiyear plan with available data for the development, demonstration, and
 deployment of a public wildfire catastrophe model that includes specified information and to publish the plan on the department’s internet website. The bill would require the department to provide recommendations to the Senate Committee on Insurance, Assembly Committee on Insurance, Assembly Committee on Emergency Management, Budget Committees, and the Governor for future budget allocations related to these provisions before September 1, 2026.

Digest Key

 Vote:
 MAJORITY 
 Appropriation:
 NO 
 Fiscal Committee:
 YES 
 Local Program:
 NO 

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Article 12 (commencing with Section 970) is added to Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 1 of the Insurance Code, to read:

 Article
 12. Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program

970.

 (a) The Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program is hereby established.

(b) The purpose of the program is to provide funding to one or more universities for the purpose of creating a research and educational center responsible for developing, demonstrating, and deploying a public wildfire catastrophe model that provides significant wildfire safety benefits to California communities and assists alignment of federal, state, and local wildfire risk reduction efforts.

(c) Projects eligible for a grant under this article include either of the following:

(1) The development of a public wildfire catastrophe model that
 can provide insight for state and local emergency planners, aid wildfire safety efforts that protect lives and property, increase research and development on wildfire risk mitigation strategies, inform actuarial analyses, create training opportunities for students and professionals, and support effective insurance regulation and financial oversight of insurance, risk assessments