"Californians whose homes have been destroyed totally or partially by wildfires should not get hung up in insurer red tape when trying to put their lives back together," said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. "Our Wildfire Survivors Insurance Recovery legislative package strengthens the laws protecting wildfire survivors in the insurance claims process and will improve their chances for recovery." 

The unprecedented fires of 2017, including the North Bay fires that destroyed and damaged 21,000 homes, have underscored the challenges homeowners face when trying to navigate the insurance claims process. 

Jones and his legislative colleagues have met with fire survivors across the state and have heard first-hand the challenges they are facing to obtain their insurance benefits. The struggles that fire survivors are facing under the existing law led Jones to direct the Department of Insurance to develop a package of proposed statutory changes to strengthen the law.

Related: 7 tips for a more effective insurance claim

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) expressed in a statement their intent to work with legislators on the Wildfire Survivor Recovery Blueprint to ensure the measures developed will protect policyholders and improve the recovery process without creating unintended consequences that could damage California's highly competitive homeowners' insurance marketplace.

"The 2017 unprecedented wildfires in Northern and Southern California brought the largest loss of life and destruction of property in the state's history with more than $9 billion in claims so far," said Mark Sektnan, vice president, state government relations for PCI. "However, insurance is the economic catalyst that will rebuild and revitalize these communities."

"Each catastrophic event provides new lessons and insurers adapt accordingly to improve the claims process. Insurers are committed to working with policymakers to design feasible legislation that helps policyholders while keeping California's insurance market functioning and healthy."

Here are the 8 bills introduced in the Wildfire Survivor Recovery Blueprint:

A wildfire victim sorts through the rubble after a devastating 2017 wildfire swept through northern California. (Photo source: AP Photo)

The 8 bills of the Wildfire Survivor Recovery Blueprint

SB 894 (Dodd) allows an insured the option to combine unused primary structures, other structures, contents, and additional living expenses coverage amounts to rebuild their home – protecting insureds who may be underinsured for the Primary Structure yet have unused coverage in the Other Structures coverage or Contents coverage. Also, this proposal extends policy renewal protections for an insured from one renewal to two renewals or 24 months, whichever is greater. After a declared disaster, this bill extends the time to collect Additional Living Expenses (ALE) benefits from 24 months to 36 months.

SB 897 (McGuire) clarifies the scope of ALE Coverage. After major events, unique situations arise that should be covered under ALE. 

AB 1722 (Aguiar-Curry) extends the time to rebuild and collect full replacement cost from 24 to 36 months after a declared disaster.

AB 1797 (Levine) requires an insurer to conduct a Replacement Cost Estimate for new residential insurance policies and at each annual renewal. Currently, insurers are not required to conduct replacement costs estimates or to update the estimates on a regular basis to keep up with the rising costs of construction over the life of the insurance policy.

Related: Insurance coverage for home destroyed by fire turns on a semicolon

AB 1799 (Levine) requires insurers to provide a copy of complete policy documents to insureds upon request, while also clarifying what documents are to be provided.