California regularly looks out for its insurance consumers. In past wildfire seasons the insurance department has asked carriers to expedite claims handling, advance additional living expense payments, waive certain inventory requirements and other measures to assist insureds during a difficult time.

On July 28th, the California Insurance Department released a bulletin outlining a variety of protections required of insurers:

• Carriers can no longer deduct the land value of the claim if the survivors decide to relocate instead of rebuilding. This is significant as the standard ISO HO 00 03 clearly states: "we do not cover land, including land on which the dwelling is located."
• Residents under mandatory evacuation, even if they suffer no damage, will receive additional living expense payments for at least two weeks, and extensions for good cause.
• Additional living expense payments may not be restricted if the property is uninhabitable even if the property itself is not damaged, such as when power or water lines are damaged making the premises uninhabitable. Carriers may provide generators or a portable water source in order to make the premises habitable.
• Survivors do not have to use company inventory forms and may group like types of property together such as clothing, books, cds instead of individually itemizing every item.
• A sixty-day grace period for premium payments must be offered for those within the area affected by a state of emergency.
• Insureds must be informed in writing if they buy a policy that does not cover fire or if the company removes such coverage upon renewal.
• Policies that provide dwelling coverage will be required to automatically include 10 percent for ordinance or law coverage for building code upgrades.