Legislation for a fully transparent public wildfire catastrophe model was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom late Friday.
The new law, SB 429, aims to empower California consumers by challenging the secretive wildfire risk algorithms used by insurance companies to raise rates.
The bill’s author, Sen. Dave Cortese (D-15), mandates California universities and the Department of Insurance to develop the model, with funding approved in the 2025 budget.
Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog, emphasized the need for transparency.
“Homeowners are fed up with insurance companies’ black-box models that penalize consumers for fire risk but refuse to explain how they calculate it,” said Balber. “Even when they do everything to protect their homes from wildfires, homeowners face extreme price hikes or lose their insurance completely.”
SB 429 requires full public access to all aspects of the wildfire catastrophe model, including documentation, programs, and the underlying data and algorithms.
