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California is borrowing lessons from Alabama on climate resilience
Home at 16006 Anoka Drive, left, survived the Palisades Fire, while the house across the street did not on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025.
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Brian van der Brug
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
California lawmakers want the Insurance Department to give out grants to retrofit homes for fire resistance in the wake of the Los Angeles firestorm and growing risk across the state, but finding money for it will be difficult. California is talking to other states in hurricane country like Alabama to learn about how communities can become more climate resilient.
Why it matters: Insurance and firefighting experts agree that building with ember-resistant siding, roofs and eaves and removing flammable landscaping from around a home can help avoid damage during a wildfire. Several other legislative proposals this session would create a home hardening commission to set standards for fire-resistant buildings and offer insurance discounts for those who meet them.
Trying to find the money: Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who is sponsoring the proposal, AB 888, and Assemblymember Lisa Calderon, who is authoring it in the Legislature, dropped their idea of tapping the growing revenue from a tax on insurance premiums for the fund in April after the state Department of Finance pushed back, citing an uncertain budget outlook.
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What’s next: The bill passed the Assembly Insurance Committee unanimously on Wednesday and heads to the appropriations committee next. Lara and Fowler met with legislative leaders and the governor’s office to try to find other pots of money for the retrofits.
What’s Alabama got to do with it: Alabama set up a nation-leading grant program for wind-proofing roofs in 2012 after a series of bad hurricanes. Lara brought Alabama Insurance Commissioner Mark Fowler to Sacramento last week to testify in support of the bill and make the point that both blue and red states can work to make communities more resilient to catastrophes made worse by climate change.
What did they say: In an interview with POLITICO, Fowler and Lara spoke about their unlikely bromance and how to manage expectations as risk — and insurance rates — increase nationwide. Lara said his decisions to let insurers raise rates in order to make them stay in the state may make him unelectable and may make the insurance commissioner job undesirable to future politicians. But, he said, he didn’t want to see the market fail.
For more, read the full story in POLITICO’s California Climate newsletter.
This story is published in partnership with POLITICO.
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