After backlash, Oregon lawmakers shift to wildfire resilience incentives

15 December 2022

Published by: https://www.bakercityherald.com

USA – SALEM — Oregon lawmakers will consider changing their approach to wildfire prevention in 2023, potentially focusing on incentives for landowners to make defensible-space and home-hardening upgrades.

The shift in strategy comes after rural landowners raised objections over the summer to a state wildfire map, which displayed high-risk areas subject to stricter regulations.

The backlash prompted state officials to withdraw the wildfire map and solicit more feedback from rural communities on Senate Bill 762, which was passed last year to improve Oregon’s wildfire readiness.

“It really gave the impression that this bill is about regulation, punishment, coercion,” even though the state plans to assist landowners with grants, said Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Committee.

As lawmakers prepare to refine the state’s approach to the threat of wildfires, the bill’s public relations problem is the “elephant in the room,” Golden said during a recent legislative hearing.

“What the public saw was regulations. Regulating private property elements that haven’t been regulated before,” he said.

In next year’s legislative session, which begins in mid-January, the committee wants to build on the work of “wildfire adapted communities” that are already making progress in reducing their vulnerabilities, he said.

Potential legislation is likely to establish a link between those achievements and beneficial insurance outcomes, Golden said.

Among the controversies that arose from the state’s wildfire map was the claim that insurance companies raised premiums or terminated their policies for landowners identified as facing high or extreme risks.

According to a state-mandated survey, however, no insurance companies changed their policies due to the state wildfire map and many weren’t even aware of its existence, said Andrew Stolfi, the state insurance commissioner.

“Every single company said they did not use the map and did not plan to use the map for underwriting and rating purposes,” Stolfi said.

However, changes in the state’s insurance market have been driven by growing wildfire risks and the destruction wrought by the catastrophic Labor Day fires in 2020, Stolfi said.

“Insurance companies base their decisions on real-life experience. It’s therefore no surprise the large wildfire-related losses we’ve seen over the last decade have influenced insurers’ decision-making,” he said.

State insurance regulators are considering a “legislative concept” that would require companies to specifically explain the reasons they’ve increased rates or refused to renew a policy, Stolfi said.

The legislative concept, which may be introduced as a bill next year, would provide homeowners with more time flexibility when rebuilding after a fire, he said. Defensible-space and home-hardening measures would also have to be considered in insurance cost and policy decisions.

“We want to ensure that insurers are taking account of these activities,” Stolfi said.

15. December 2022/by GFMCadmin