California’s next insurance commissioner, Jane Kim, is moving to strip wildfire coverage away from private insurers and replace it with a state-run, nonprofit fund for homeowners statewide.
Kim, a former San Francisco supervisor, defeated fellow Democrat Ben Allen in the race for insurance commissioner and declared victory Friday at Dolores Park in San Francisco. She secured roughly 53% of the vote to Allen’s 47%, a margin that has grown to about 400,000 votes as ballot counting continued. Allen called Kim Friday morning to concede.
“We are here to say no more. We are going to make insurance work for us again,” Kim told supporters.
“We are going to take on this $3-trillion industry because they have been profiting for way too long by raising our premiums, canceling our coverage and fighting our claims.”
Her proposal, called “Natural Disaster Insurance for All,” would pull wildfire coverage out of standard homeowners policies and place it under a public nonprofit fund available to every current California homeowner. Premiums collected under the plan would go toward paying claims rather than executive salaries, shareholders or advertising.
“The idea is that every current homeowner would be covered, and it would be a nonprofit fund where premiums don’t have to go to CEO pay, shareholders and Super Bowl ads,” Kim said.
A market already in crisis
The proposal arrives as California’s homeowners insurance market continues to shrink. Seven of the state’s largest property insurers have limited or paused writing new homeowners policies, citing wildfire risk and rising costs. Homeowners insurance premiums have jumped 84% since 2020, according to Stanford research.
Enrollment in the FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort, has nearly tripled and now covers about 5% of California homes, up from under 2% — evidence the squeeze has spread well beyond the state’s most fire-prone zip codes.
Kim’s fund would create a separate public safety net specifically for wildfire risk, rather than leaving homeowners dependent entirely on a private market that is pulling back.
Getting it done
Turning the idea into policy will require buy-in from state lawmakers and local leaders to settle how the fund would be financed and run.
“This office is not a dictatorship. We’re going to have to work with community leaders across the state to make our big ideas possible,” Kim said.
Even so, Kim, 49, said she expects measurable progress within her first year in office.
“I really believe we’re going to have some wins in our first year because there is a lot of work that can be done to make insurance more affordable, more available and more fair.”
Kim now inherits oversight of one of California’s most strained industries, with homeowners facing rising premiums, policy cancellations and shrinking options for coverage.
