New insurance chief proposes overhaul of wildfire coverage

REBUILDING—Leo Paulo is among the few homeowners rebuilding after the Mountain fire. His new home on Santa Cruz Way features concrete sprayed over foam core panels, making it safer against fire than wood-frame construction. Acorn file photo Two years after the Mountain Fire swept through neighborhoods around Ca­marillo and Somis, destroying hundreds of structures and upending lives, California’s incoming insurance commissioner is proposing a fundamental change in how homeowners are protected against natural disasters. Jane Kim, a former San Francisco supervisor elected Nov. 3 to oversee California’s insurance industry, wants to establish a publicly operated, nonprofit insurance system that would guarantee disaster coverage for every homeowner in the state. Her proposal, called Natural Disaster Insurance for All, would remove wildfire coverage from traditional homeowners policies and place it under a state-admin­istered program funded by premiums paid into a common pool.

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