Commissioner Lara and Cal Poly Humboldt announce joint effort to create nation’s first public wildfire catastrophe model
News: 2024 Press Release
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Cal Poly Humboldt announced that they will form a strategy group to undertake the nation’s first public wildfire catastrophe model. The strategy group will draw from California’s research and higher education communities to make recommendations for a new, publicly accessible data source to predict future wildfire losses. This effort will support California’s goals of building safer communities and expanding access to insurance coverage.
What you should know:
- The Department of Insurance and Cal Poly Humboldt are forming a strategy group to make recommendations for a “public wildfire catastrophe model” that will be a “first of its kind” for California and the nation when it is completed.
- A public wildfire catastrophe model predicts future losses and can be a benchmark for fair and accurate insurance rates, provide accessible data for wildfire safety efforts, and create educational and career opportunities for California students.
- Cal Poly Humboldt will chair the strategy group and invite researchers and higher education leaders from across the California State University, the University of California, and other areas. Cal Poly Humboldt is home to one of California’s three accredited forestry programs and part of the California State University, the nation’s largest public university system.
- The strategy group will create recommendations for a public wildfire catastrophe model in alignment with a new regulation on catastrophe modeling and ratemaking that the Department of Insurance is finalizing by December 2024.
- The strategy group will present its recommendations to the Insurance Commissioner by April 2025 that identifies next steps for technical needs, public benefits, and potential funding sources.
The partnership between public universities and a state regulator is unique in California government. Cal Poly Humboldt Dean of the College of Natural Resources Eric Riggs will serve as the chair for the strategy group and invite experts in climate science, forestry, and wildfire safety education from across the California State University system and other universities and non-profits engaged in wildfire safety. The strategy group will create recommendations to submit to Commissioner Lara by April 2025, an ambitious six-month timeline keeping California in the forefront of climate innovation and consumer protection.
This strategy group’s mission is enabled by a new regulation that Commissioner Lara is currently finalizing that will allow insurance companies to utilize forecasting in the setting of insurance rates. The Department will hold a public hearing today at 10AM to take public input on the proposed catastrophe modeling and ratemaking regulation. The regulation specifies that models must calculate wildfire safety benefits, such as forest-management actions by state and local fire agencies and work by public and private utilities to reduce ignition sources – something not required under current rules.
“We can’t keep our Department and Californians in the dark ages when it comes to the use of technology and climate science. We are harnessing the power of California’s unparalleled academic institutions for a public wildfire catastrophe model that will be the first in the world,” said Commissioner Lara. “A public model will be a benchmark for my Department to help keep insurance rates fair and accurate, a reliable source of data for local governments increasing wildfire safety, and a rich educational and career-building opportunity for students and researchers.”
“Cal Poly Humboldt and the California State University System are deeply committed to engaging, hands-on education focused on the workforce needs of California and scholarship on those issues of direct concern to our residents,” said Eric Riggs, Dean of the College of Natural Resources & Sciences at Cal Poly Humboldt, who will chair the strategy group. “This effort combines the collective strengths of the CSU system in forestry and applied fire science and those of other major institutions across the state to address this coupled workforce and scientific challenge. We are honored to be convening this effort to address growing risks of wildland fire for future generations.”
Among U.S. states, only Florida has a public catastrophe model used for estimating the future costs of hurricanes and windstorms. That model required five years and millions of dollars to establish and maintain. Recommendations from California’s new strategy group will include technical issues, public benefits, timelines, and potential funding sources. The strategy group expects to convene its first meeting in October 2024.
The strategy group is the first between the Department of Insurance and universities and is modeled on the partnership between state agencies that created the nation’s first wildfire mitigation framework for insurance, which ultimately led to Commissioner Lara’s Safer from Wildfires regulation. The strategy group is also designed based on the structure of successful academic partnerships such as the Pacific Offshore Wind Consortium, a joint effort between Cal Poly Humboldt, Oregon State University, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
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Led by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, the California Department of Insurance is the consumer protection agency for the nation's largest insurance marketplace and safeguards all of the state’s consumers by fairly regulating the insurance industry. Under the Commissioner’s direction, the Department uses its authority to protect Californians from insurance rates that are excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory, oversee insurer solvency to pay claims, set standards for agents and broker licensing, perform market conduct reviews of insurance companies, resolve consumer complaints, and investigate and prosecute insurance fraud. Consumers are urged to call 1-800-927-4357 with any questions or contact us at www.insurance.ca.gov via webform or online chat. Non-media inquiries should be directed to the Consumer Hotline at 800-927-4357. Teletypewriter (TTY), please dial 800-482-4833.
