SCRIPPS RANCH FIRE SAFE COUNCIL
Homeowners should not be re-traumatized
By Dave Mason
Fire Safe Council
Dear Scripps Ranch community,
As members of a fire-prone community that has lived through devastating wildfires, we at the Scripps Ranch Fire Safe Council understand all too well the emotional and logistical challenges that follow the loss of a home. That’s why we’re proud to support and thank United Policyholders (UP) for their ongoing work to ease the burden on wildfire survivors.
United Policyholders is leading the charge in Sacramento to pass Senate Bill 495 (SB 495) – a bill that offers real, compassionate relief to homeowners who have lost everything in a wildfire.
Here’s why we support SB 495: Under current rules, homeowners must create exhaustive, itemized lists of every single lost possession – from kitchen utensils toschool supplies – to collect the personal property insurance they paid for. This bureaucratic requirement is not only time-consuming, but it re-traumatizes people when they’re at their most vulnerable.
SB 495 changes that. It would require insurance companies to pay 100 percent of personal property coverage after a total loss in a declared emergency, without forcing survivors to go through the painful process of itemizing every item they lost.
The bill also:
- Extends deadlines for submitting proof of loss
- Allows for additional extensions to account for the realities of disaster recovery
- Improves oversight by empowering the California Department of Insurance to collect wildfire-related data from insurers
These reforms are long overdue. For more than 30 years, United Policyholders has been a trusted advocate for homeowners across California. Their Roadmap to Recovery® program continues to help displaced families navigate the insurance process and rebuild their lives.
At the Scripps Ranch Fire Safe Council, we thank United Policyholders for standing up for wildfire survivors, and we urge our elected leaders to pass SB 495. Wildfire recovery is hard enough – insurance shouldn’t make it harder.
Sincerely,
Scripps Ranch Fire Safe Council
www.srfiresafe.org
Facebook: @ScrippsRanchFireSafeCouncil