Homeowners’ insurance: declared disaster areas.

Senator Pérez's proposal to accelerate insurer response times for California property owners affected by disasters would reduce the mandatory response period from 90 to 75 days when owners seek to identify their insurance carriers through the Insurance Commissioner's office.

The legislation maintains the existing framework where property owners in declared disaster areas who cannot identify their insurers may request assistance from the Insurance Commissioner. Under this process, the Commissioner electronically transmits the property owner's information to potential insurers, who must then confirm whether they provided coverage for the property when the disaster occurred. The bill preserves key provisions specifying that these communications do not constitute the filing of claims or admission of coverage, and insurers must provide responses at no cost to property owners. Additionally, insurers remain exempt from the response requirement if they determine they did not issue a policy for the property in question.

The measure retains current liability protections for the Insurance Commissioner, insurers, and their representatives when acting in good faith to carry out these provisions. It also continues to require insurers to maintain dedicated email addresses for receiving property owner information from the Commissioner's office.