Will hardening your home actually pay off?
The question I hear most on job sites and at kitchen tables across the Palisades is simple: if I spend real money hardening my home, will it lower my premium or get me off the FAIR Plan? Until now, the honest answer has been “maybe, eventually, depending on the carrier.” Harden your home against wind or hail and your carrier will tell you what it saves you. Harden it against fire and you’re left guessing.”
Two things happening right now could change that answer. A new state law, SB 894, creates low-interest financing for wildfire hardening with insurability written in as a goal. And on November 3, California elects a new Insurance Commissioner, the official who regulates the insurers that will decide how much that hardening counts.
SB 894: low-interest loans for home hardening
Governor Newsom signed SB 894 on September 29, 2026, creating the California Wildfire Resilience Loan Program. It was authored by our own state senator, Ben Allen (D-Pacific Palisades), and passed both houses unanimously with bipartisan support.
What it pays for. Once funded, the program helps owners finance work they can’t cover up front:
- Home hardening and ignition-resistant features (vents, windows, roofing, siding, eaves)
- Defensible space and vegetation management
- Smoke mitigation retrofits
- Other measures Cal Fire approves as improving a structure’s odds of surviving a fire
How it works. The program is modeled on GoGreen, the state’s energy-efficiency financing platform. Instead of handing out grants, it uses loan loss reserves, interest-rate buy-downs and credit enhancements to make private loans cheaper. It does not put a lien on your property, and no utility ratepayer money can fund it. The State Treasurer’s Office will run it.
Why it matters for insurance. “Improving insurability” is a stated goal of the law, and insurers are named as potential partners alongside lenders, contractors and local governments. They can help identify eligible homes, pool demand and arrange bulk purchasing. Cal Fire will use risk modeling to focus outreach where hardening prevents the most structure loss. In plain terms, the state is trying to connect the dollar you spend on your house to the carrier who decides whether to write your policy.
The catch. The law appropriates no money. Every piece of it depends on the Legislature funding it in a future budget. It also does not require insurers to participate or tie their participation to rate approvals. That second piece is exactly where the Insurance Commissioner comes in.
What the Insurance Commissioner does
On insurance, the Commissioner holds more power than the Governor or Washington. Federal law (the McCarran-Ferguson Act) leaves insurance regulation to the states. In California, Prop 103 made the Commissioner an elected office, independent of the Governor, with authority to approve or reject every home and auto rate increase.
That means the Commissioner decides questions that hit Palisades homeowners directly:
- Whether carriers must give real premium discounts for hardening and defensible space, and how big
- How the FAIR Plan is structured and funded, and how fast homes can move back to the admitted market
- What carriers must commit to writing in fire zones in exchange for rate increases
- How hard the department pushes on slow or denied claims
SB 894 can help you pay for the work. Whether that work earns you a better policy will depend in part on rules the Commissioner sets.
The election. Commissioner Ricardo Lara has served two terms and cannot run again. The general election is November 3, 2026. For the first time, both finalists are Democrats: state Senator Ben Allen and former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim. In the June primary, Kim finished first with about 27% to Allen’s roughly 20%.
Ben Allen vs. Jane Kim
Both candidates want to fix a broken market, and both have refused insurance-industry campaign money. They differ on whether to repair the private market or build a public alternative.
| Ben Allen | Jane Kim | |
|---|---|---|
| Core approach | Stabilize and police the private market; bring carriers back | “Natural Disaster Insurance for All”: a state-run, nonprofit pool covering wildfire and flood for every homeowner, funded from existing premium dollars |
| FAIR Plan | Reduce reliance on it; argues it was not designed to be the main insurer for fire areas | Largely replaced for disaster risk by the public pool |
| Mitigation | Neighborhood-scale fire prevention, brush clearing, updated building codes; author of SB 894 | Not a central plank of her platform |
| Rates and profits | Stricter, fact-based justification for rate filings | Cap excess industry profits, crack down on price-fixing, limit executive pay |
| Claims | Real-time reporting of delayed disaster claims; written explanation of every denial | Penalties for delays; 100% contents payout within two weeks on total losses; no rate hike for filing a claim |
| Consumer help | Expand the department’s call center; independent consumer advocate | Expand low-cost auto insurance to all drivers |
| Notable endorsements | Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, Consumer Federation of California, SF Chronicle editorial board | Sen. Bernie Sanders, SEIU California and other unions |
Common ground. Both support a public dashboard comparing carriers on claim denial rates, response times and complaints before you buy.
The debate over Allen’s approach. Supporters say it builds on what already exists: mitigation finance like SB 894, stricter oversight of rate filings, and incentives to bring carriers back into fire areas. Critics, including Kim, argue it depends on private insurers choosing to return to a market many have already left.
The debate over Kim’s approach. Supporters say a statewide public pool is the most direct way to guarantee wildfire coverage, and that her claims reforms address delays many fire survivors experienced. Critics, including Allen, say it would shift catastrophic risk onto the state and point to the California Earthquake Authority, where most homeowners today carry no quake coverage. Full platforms: benallenca.com and janekim.org/priorities.
What to do now
SB 894 money isn’t available yet, but you can position your home today.
- Document everything. Keep photos, invoices and product specs for every hardening upgrade: Class A roof, ember-resistant vents, dual-pane tempered windows, noncombustible zone 0. Carriers and future loan programs will both ask for proof.
- Ask your agent about existing discounts. California’s “Safer from Wildfires” rules already require admitted carriers to recognize certain mitigation. Ask what your home qualifies for, in writing.
- Look at the IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home designation. It is the clearest third-party standard carriers are starting to recognize.
- Plan the work now. When SB 894 is funded, homeowners with a scope and a bid in hand will be first in line.
- Vote on November 3. Check your registration at registertovote.ca.gov. The Insurance Commissioner race sits down-ballot but directly affects homeowners insurance.
If you want help figuring out which upgrades matter most for your property, or what an insurer will actually look for, call us. That’s the conversation we’re having on every rebuild in town.
See you around the neighborhood,
Frank Renfro
Pali Construction Group · palibuilds.com
(310) 708-PALI · info@paliconstruction.com
CA License #1136806
Sources: Insurance Business, SB 894 (Oct 5, 2026) · Office of Sen. Ben Allen press release (Oct 6, 2026) · SB 894 bill status · Santa Barbara Independent, primary results · ABC7, candidate interviews · Ben Allen platform · Jane Kim priorities
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