Oregon lawmakers discuss insurance rates as record wildfires threaten homes

PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — A group of Oregon lawmakers and insurance representatives met to discuss homeowners insurance rates on Monday as the record wildfires burning around the state have destroyed at least 25 homes and threaten many more.

In 2021, the Oregon Legislature directed the Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State University to develop a statewide map outlining wildfire risks in every part of the state. Insurance premiums increased 30.3% following the map’s publication, causing concerns that some premium rate increases were related to the published wildfire risks. The state pulled the wildfire risk map in 2022 in response to public criticism and published a new version of the map in 2024 .

“Wildfires in Oregon have burned more acres of land in 2024 than in any year since reliable records began,” the group of lawmakers said. “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.”

In 2023 the Legislature passed SB 82, which forbade insurance companies from using state wildfire maps as a basis for increasing premiums or canceling or declining to renew homeowner insurance policies. On Aug. 12, Oregon State Sen. and Chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire Jeff Golden (D-Ashland), Rep. Emerson Levy (D-Bend), the vice-chair of the House Committee on Energy and Environment, and Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang met for an updated discussion on the issue.

“Too many central Oregonians are unable to buy adequate and affordable homeowners insurance coverage,” Levy said in a joint statement. “… 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.”

Golden said that protecting the at-risk areas of the state will take “hard, creative, thoroughly collaborative work.”

“That especially includes an unprecedented collaboration between government and the insurance industry,” Golden said.

Although the 2024 wildfire season is Oregon’s largest on record, it is far from the deadliest. The 2020 Labor Day Fires were among the worst natural disasters in the state’s history, destroying more than 4,000 homes and killing 11 people .

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