California Commissioner Orders Another Moratorium on Insurance Cancellations

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Monday ordered insurers to preserve residential insurance coverage following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest emergency declarations.

The commissioner’s order shields policyholders within the wildfire perimeter or in adjacent ZIP codes of the Mountain, Barnes, and Fork fires in Siskiyou, Modoc, and Madera counties from insurance non-renewal or cancellation for one year from the date of the governor’s Sept. 19 declaration regardless of whether they suffered a loss.

Last week Lara ordered a moratorium on cancelations, shielding policyholders within the wildfire perimeter or in adjacent ZIP codes of the Mosquito and Fairview fires in Riverside, Placer, and El Dorado counties. That followed Lara’s order shielding properties within the perimeter or in adjacent ZIP codes of the Mill Fire

The latest moratorium order includes 30 ZIP codes in the Siskiyou, Modoc, and Madera counties, affecting roughly 31,000 wildfire survivors.

Consumers can go to the California Department of Insurance website to see if their ZIP code is included in the moratorium.

Lara’s ability to issue moratoriums is a result of a law that he authored in 2018 while serving as state senator to provide temporary relief from insurance non-renewals and cancellations to residents living within or adjacent to a Governor-declared wildfire disaster.

Source: insurancejournal.com