Wildfire property insurance
Commercial and residential property insurance costs in California have risen sharply due to climate risk, litigation, and wildfire exposure. Malibu is explicitly cited in debates over whether policyholders elsewhere should subsidize higher risk for homes in wildfire zones, and state leaders have advanced fire-mitigation and insurance-market proposals amid a broader insurance crisis.
How should California address rising property insurance costs tied to wildfire risk in places like Malibu?
How OpenCampaign quiz-takers stand on this issue
38% call it a high-priority issue (rating it 7+ out of 10).
- Liberal43%
- Lean liberal25%
- Moderate15%
- Lean conservative6%
- Conservative11%
High-priority share over time
The high-priority share has ranged 33–54% since 2016. Election-year cohorts skew casual and under-rate every issue, so the dips around 2020 and 2024 partly reflect who took the quiz, not a shift in opinion.
Where do you stand?
How should California address rising property insurance costs tied to wildfire risk in places like Malibu?
How important is this to you?
✓ You told us where you stand
Sources
is commercial property insurance costs have risen dramatically due to climate risk and litigation. Do you foresee ballot initiatives addressing insurance regulation or climate liability that could impact underwriting costs for commercial properties? You know, politically it's a tough one because when you deal with insurance, you're deal with mutualization. And so should somebody in REIA pay more because somebody has a house near a wildfire zone in Malibu?
California Has An Insurance Crisis. Senator Ben Allen Says He Has A Plan To Fix It. Senator Allen has put his money on fire mitigation and bringing stakeholders together in communities up and down the state to reduce their risk and stay insured.
Positions on this issue · liberal → conservative
- Strongly expand public insurance backstops and require insurers to keep covering high-risk wildfire zones
- Invest heavily in public fire mitigation and limit insurer withdrawals while reforming climate liability
- Balance mitigation grants, limited residual markets, and gradual risk-based pricing reforms
- Allow more risk-based rates and reduce litigation exposure so private insurers stay in the market
- End cross-subsidies; high-risk coastal and hillside owners should bear full private insurance costs