Insurance reform: Can proposed regulations end cancellation of California home policies?

A WEEK AFTER negotiations to rescue California’s floundering home insurance market stalled out in the Legislature, the state’s top insurance regulator put out his own rescue plan that effectively amounts to a trade for the state’s major insurers. 

Under proposed regulations Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced this past Thursday, major insurers will be required to cover a certain share of homeowners in the state’s most wildfire-prone areas. In exchange, the Department of Insurance will allow companies to charge more to cover the rising costs of doing business in a fire-ravaged state.