H.R. 7462 – Wildfire Insurance Coverage Study Act of 2024

AI-Generated Summary

Updated January 20, 2026 at 2:52 PM UTC

The Wildfire Insurance Coverage Study Act of 2024 directs the Government Accountability Office to examine how wildfire damage is covered by insurance. It looks at the risk of wildfires, how insurers have changed rates or denied coverage, and what state regulators have done in response. The study’s findings are to be reported to Congress within a year, helping policymakers understand gaps and potential solutions for homeowners and commercial property owners affected by wildfires.

Key Provisions

The GAO, working with the Federal Insurance Office and state insurance regulators, must conduct a comprehensive study on wildfire risk and insurance coverage.
The study will assess trends in wildfire incidents, mitigation practices, and the need for a national wildfire‑risk map.
It will evaluate how private insurers have adjusted premiums, cost‑sharing, non‑renewals, and coverage exclusions over the past ten years, and why these changes occurred.
The report will examine state regulatory actions such as rate controls, moratoria, mandatory coverage requirements, and the creation of residual market or reinsurance programs.
It will identify challenges insurers face in underwriting wildfire risk, including correlated risks, affordability, and potential impacts on insurer solvency.
The GAO must submit its findings and conclusions to Congress no later than 12 months after the law takes effect.

Legislative Activity

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5 earlier actions

HouseCalendars Latest Action

Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 489.

July 18, 2024

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HouseIntro Referral

Introduced in House

February 26, 2024

HouseIntro Referral

Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Financial Services Committee

February 26, 2024

HouseCommittee

Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held

Financial Services Committee

February 29, 2024

HouseCommittee

Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 47 - 2.

Financial Services Committee

February 29, 2024

HouseCommittee

Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Financial Services. H. Rept. 118-589.

Financial Services Committee

July 18, 2024

HouseCalendars

Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 489.

July 18, 2024

Floor Debate

3 members

What members said about H.R. 7462 on the floor

2 Republicans1 Democrat

Rep. Zachary NunnR-IA-3 · Jul 22, 2024

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7280) to require the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to testify before the Congress annually, and…

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7280) to require the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to testify before the Congress annually, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. De La Cruz) and her bill, H.R. 7280, the HUD Transparency Act.

Mr. Speaker, our country is suffering from an affordable housing crisis, particularly in rural areas, like rural Texas, rural Iowa, and even rural North Carolina. Across the country, there is a shortage of over 7.3 million affordable and available rental homes for low-income renters.

In my home State of Iowa, 10.6 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and the average household income is no more than $10,000, or less than the national average.

These housing problems are the result of bad policies at the agency overseeing housing, HUD.

With 8,500 nationwide employees and an annual budget of more than $75 billion, it is concerning that the HUD inspector general has highlighted many unacceptable problems at the agency, such as substandard housing conditions and even life-threatening issues with HUD-funded units.

It is common sense to require the inspector general of HUD to testify before Congress at least once per year. We owe it to the families served by HUD and to American taxpayers to create the platform required to be able to continue to shine a bright light on these important issues.

Congresswoman De La Cruz' bill is a positive step forward. It supports the opportunity for the inspector general of HUD to come before us to detail what is happening and help us find those critical solutions.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the HUD Transparency Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Nickel) for his comments. I associate myself with many of his remarks and recognize there is a great opportunity to continue to work forward in a bipartisan way to help address particularly the rural housing shortage across America.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. De La Cruz).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, I recognize the incredible work of the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. De La Cruz). In only her freshman year, she is already standing on the front line of taking care of not only her constituents but recognizing this threat across the country, the challenges it poses, and offering a real solution that has earned overwhelmingly bipartisan support from the House Financial Services Committee and the team there.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues on the House floor today to support H.R. 7280, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Rep. Wiley NickelD-NC-13 · Jul 22, 2024

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7280, the HUD Transparency Act of 2024, sponsored by Representative De La Cruz, which would require the…

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7280, the HUD Transparency Act of 2024, sponsored by Representative De La Cruz, which would require the inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to testify before Congress on an annual basis.

While this bill passed out of committee on, again, a bipartisan basis, House Democrats are working to put people over politics, and we urge our Republican counterparts to support

real solutions to combat our Nation's housing and homelessness crisis, including the Housing Crisis Response Act, the Ending Homelessness Act, and the Downpayment Toward Equity Act offered by Ranking Member Maxine Waters earlier this Congress.

This comprehensive package of bills would help spur the development of over a million affordable homes to help bring down rents, curb rising homelessness, and revive the dream of homeownership for all.

These are the types of solutions our constituents are calling on us to advance as they continue to face the crushing blow of housing inflation.

Mr. Speaker, I also note that I recently introduced the Keep Housing Affordable Act, which would bolster the low-income housing tax credit to incentivize developers to maintain the affordability of housing units for extended periods and boost the supply of affordable housing. Mr. Speaker, the high cost of housing is one of the main issues for my constituents in North Carolina.

Mr. Speaker, we were supposed to be considering another bill on the floor today, H.R. 7462, the Wildfire Insurance Coverage Study Act of 2024, sponsored by Ranking Member Waters. This bill is a commonsense measure to direct the Government Accountability Office to study the reasons why insurance companies are exiting States and refusing to provide insurance against wildfire perils.

This bill passed the committee by a broad bipartisan vote of 47-2, but unfortunately, Republican leadership pulled the vote. The majority didn't think Congress should understand why folks are losing their insurance coverage or what we can do about it.

Over the last week, communities across the country have been experiencing record heat waves as wildfires continue to ravage communities from California to Texas, Hawaii, Oklahoma, and Virginia. I hope the Speaker will quickly reconsider this ill-advised decision to pull the bill so we can bring the bill to the floor. Again, it passed 47-2 out of committee.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bipartisan bill but also remind my Republican colleagues that we must come together to advance real solutions to the worsening housing and homelessness crisis.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Rep. Monica De La CruzR-TX-15 · Jul 22, 2024

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nunn) for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge the passage of my bill, H.R. 7280, the HUD Transparency Act of 2024. I thank the bipartisan…

Bill Text

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Reported in HouseIssued July 18, 2024

IB

Union Calendar No. 489

118th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 7462

[Report No. 118–589]

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 26, 2024

Ms. Waters introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

July 18, 2024

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic

For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 26, 2024

A BILL

To require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study regarding insurance coverage for damages from wildfires, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Wildfire Insurance Coverage Study Act of 2024.

2.

GAO study regarding insurance for wildfire damage

(a)

Study

The Comptroller General of the United States, in consultation with the Director of the Federal Insurance Office and State insurance regulators, shall conduct a study to analyze and determine the following:

(1)

Risk assessment

The extent and nature of wildfire risk in the United States, including—

(A)

identifying trends in declarations for wildfires under the Fire Management Assistance grant program under section 420 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187), with respect to geography, costs, probability, and frequency of wildfire disasters;

(B)

identifying mitigation practices that would assist in reducing costs and risks for insurance policies covering damages from wildfires;

(C)

identifying existing programs of the Federal Government and State governments that measure wildfire risk and assess their effectiveness in forecasting wildfire events and informing wildfire response; and

(D)

analyzing and assessing the need for a national map for measuring and quantifying wildfire risk.

(2)

Existing state of coverage

With respect to the existing state of homeowners insurance coverage and commercial property insurance coverage for damage from wildfires in the United States—

(A)

the extent to which private insurers have, during the 10-year period ending on the date of the enactment of this Act, adjusted rates, policyholder cost-sharing provisions, or both for such coverage (after adjusting for inflation) and the geographic areas in which adjusted rates, policyholder cost-sharing, or both have increased;

(B)

the extent to which private insurers have, during the 10-year period ending on the date of the enactment of this Act, declined to renew policies for such coverages and the geographic areas to which such declinations applied;

(C)

the events and economic factors that have contributed to any such increased rates and declinations to renew policies;

(D)

in cases in which private insurers have curtailed their overall wildfire exposure, the extent to which homeowners insurance coverage and commercial property coverage were terminated altogether and the extent to which such coverages are still offered but with coverage for damage from wildfires excluded; and

(E)

the extent to which, and circumstances under which, private insurers are continuing to provide coverage for damage from wildfires—

(i)

in general;

(ii)

subject to a condition that mitigation activities are taken, such as hardening of properties and landscaping against wildfires, by property owners, State or local governments, park or forest authorities, or other land management authorities; and

(iii)

subject to any other conditions.

(3)

Regulatory responses

With respect to actions taken by State insurance regulatory agencies in response to increased premium rates, policyholder cost-sharing, or both for coverage for damage from wildfires or exclusion of such coverage from homeowners insurance policies—

(A)

the extent to which States have leveraged their respective authorities to regulate rate increases;

(B)

the extent to which States have enacted any moratoria on such rate and policyholder cost-sharing increases or exclusions and on non-renewals;

(C)

the extent to which States require homeowners insurance coverage to include coverage for damage from wildfires or make sales of homeowners insurance coverage contingent on the sale, underwriting, or financing of separate wildfire coverage in the State;

(D)

the extent to which States have established State residual market insurance entities, reinsurance programs, or similar mechanisms for coverage of damages from wildfires;

(E)

any other actions States or localities have taken in response to increased premium rates, policyholder cost-sharing, or both for coverage for damage from wildfires or exclusion of such coverage from homeowners policies, including forestry and wildfire management policies and subsidies for premiums and cost-sharing for wildfire coverage;

(F)

the effects of actions taken by States on the availability, coverage level, and affordability of homeowners insurance coverage; and

(G)

the effectiveness and sustainability of such actions taken by States.

(4)

Challenges in underwriting wildfire risk

With respect to the challenges faced by private insurers underwriting wildfire risk, what is or are—

(A)

the correlated risks and the extent of such risks;

(B)

the factors affecting the extent of private insurers’ ability to estimate magnitude of future likelihood of wildfires and of expected damages from wildfires;

(C)

the effects of the need to increase more affordable housing options, which may contribute to increased homebuilding in more remote, heavily-wooded areas with higher wildfire risk;

(D)

the potential for wildfire losses sufficiently large to jeopardize insurers’ solvency;

(E)

the extent to which, and areas in which, risk-adjusted market premiums for wildfire risk limit affordability or availability of coverage for consumers;

(F)

the effects of various existing and potential State and Federal Government responses to help address these challenges and mitigate wildfire risk, including actions such as—

(i)

improved forest management policies;

(ii)

improved data to estimate risk;

(iii)

relocating homeowners from wildfire zones;

(iv)

offsetting a portion of insurers’ charged risk-adjusted premiums with means-tested government affordability programs for lower income homeowners;

(v)

encouraging the increased use of private reinsurance and other risk-sharing mechanisms by insurers to better diversify wildfire risk; and

(vi)

developing programs that offset the costs of wildfire risk for consumers and industry;

(G)

the available policy responses if private insurers exit the wildfire coverage market and the potential advantages and disadvantages of each such response;

(H)

the effects of the availability and affordability of wildfire coverage, policyholder cost-sharing, or both, on—

(i)

local communities that are disproportionately vulnerable to wildfires, including on low- or moderate-income property owners and small businesses;

(ii)

rebuilding in communities previously damaged by wildfires;

(iii)

the availability and affordability of housing supply; and

(iv)

the demand for wildfire insurance coverage by property owners;

(I)

the effects of potential State prohibitions on termination of policies due to wildfire claims on insurer solvency; and

(J)

the manner in which private insurers are modeling or estimating future wildfire risk.

(b)

Report

Not later than the expiration of the 12-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the Congress a report identifying the findings and conclusions of the study conducted pursuant to subsection (a).

July 18, 2024

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed