Lawmakers, fire officials meet with C.O. insurance reps to discuss homeowner policy troubles amid record wildfire season

 BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Oregon State Senator Jeff Golden (D-Rogue Valley), Chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire, joined Representative Emerson Levy (D-Central Oregon), Vice-Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Environment, Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang, local insurance industry representatives, and community wildfire protection experts in Bend on Monday to discuss wildfire, resiliency and homeowners insurance. 

“Convening this meeting is just the latest way that Commissioner Chang and other communities are showing how fully they understand that protecting our communities through the summers ahead will take hard, creative, thoroughly collaborative work,” Golden said in a news release on the 90-minute meeting at the county Administration Building.

“That especially includes an unprecedented collaboration between government and the insurance industry that strives to make sure that adequate and affordable homeowner’s insurance will be available to citizens who do all they can to reduce wildfire risk,” he added.

Wildfires in Oregon have burned more acres of land in 2024 than in any year since reliable records began. With much of the wildfire season still ahead, communities in Central Oregon are concerned about what increased risk will do for their homes and insurance premiums.

Publicly available data shows that from 2021 to 2023, insurance premiums increased 30.3 percent, increasing concerns that some premium rate increases could be tied to wildfire risk.

In 2021 the Oregon Legislature passed SB 762, directing the Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State University to develop a comprehensive statewide map of wildfire risk. In 2023, the legislature passed SB 82, which forbids insurance companies from using any statewide wildfire map as the basis for increasing a premium, canceling a homeowner insurance policy, or declining to renew it. 

“Too many Central Oregonians are unable to buy adequate and affordable homeowners insurance coverage. This collaboration between stakeholders is exactly what we need to be doing to move into the 2025 legislative session prepared to deliver for Oregonians,” said Levy. “Over 1 million acres have burned so far this year in Oregon due to wildfires. We can do more to incentivize and reward fire risk reduction. We will continue working with the insurance industry and our Fire Marshals to keep homes safe and keep costs down.”