Congress orders study of wildfire insurance crisis threatening homeowners

What it does

This bill directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study wildfire insurance coverage in the United States over the next 12 months. The study will examine wildfire risk trends, how private insurers have changed rates and coverage over the past decade, how states have responded to insurance gaps, and what challenges insurers face in offering affordable wildfire coverage. The GAO will report findings to Congress, providing data to inform future policy decisions about wildfire insurance availability and affordability.

Why we flagged it

The bill's sole operative mechanism is a directive to the GAO to conduct a comprehensive study and report findings. It creates no new law, imposes no restrictions, and allocates no direct spending—it is a fact-finding exercise designed to inform future policy.

What the text implies

• Study scope includes analysis of state-level insurance regulation effectiveness, potentially laying groundwork for federal intervention or preemption of state insurance authority if states are found inadequate.
• Explicit examination of 'potential State prohibitions on termination of policies due to wildfire claims' and their effects on insurer solvency may signal future debate over whether such protections are sustainable or require federal backstop.
• Study includes analysis of 'means-tested government affordability programs' and 'programs that offset costs of wildfire risk for consumers and industry'—framing that could support either public-sector subsidies or public-private risk-sharing mechanisms.
• Examination of 'relocating homeowners from wildfire zones' as a policy response introduces managed retreat / climate adaptation into the legislative record, potentially supporting future relocation assistance or zoning reform.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill creates transparency and evidence-gathering on a critical public problem—wildfire insurance becoming unaffordable or unavailable in high-risk areas—without imposing costs or restrictions on citizens. It funds analysis that will inform future policy to address housing affordability, community resilience, and insurance access in wildfire-prone regions.

Named in the bill

Government Accountability Office (GAO), Comptroller General of the United States, Federal Insurance Office, State insurance regulators, Fire Management Assistance grant program, Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Private insurers, State residual market insurance entities

Where it stands

1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.

• Jan 16, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jan 16, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

4 lobbying clients named this bill on 8 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $6,385,758 in lobbying spend. A filing names 96 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.

Maxine Waters, the sponsor, reported $453,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Property Casualty Insurance Association — $3,540,000 on 2 filings
• Reinsurance Assn of America — $1,100,000 on 3 filings
• National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies — $1,005,758 on 2 filings
• Liberty Mutual Group — $740,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 23, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.