The market backdrop driving the legislation
The bills arrive as California’s FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort, has absorbed a surge in policies insurers have declined to renew directly in the private market. The plan’s total exposure reached roughly $768 billion by mid-2026, up around 250% since September 2022, with policies in force climbing to nearly 697,000 over the same period, an increase driven largely by private carriers pulling back from wildfire-exposed areas.
