SB 1043 adds Section 10095.6 to the Insurance Code and directs the California Department of Insurance to prepare an annual report showing the change in number of California FAIR Plan policies by ZIP Code for the prior calendar year. The report must be submitted to the Legislature under Government Code Section 9795 and posted publicly on the department’s website, with the first filing due on or before July 1, 2027, and annually each July 1 thereafter.
The bill is narrowly focused: it requires counts and changes in counts of FAIR Plan policies by ZIP Code, not dollar exposure, coverage limits, or causation. That data can help legislators, regulators, researchers, and local officials monitor where property insurance availability is shifting, but the statute leaves key implementation details — data sources, definitions, and privacy protections — to the Department of Insurance to resolve during reporting.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill requires the Department of Insurance to produce and publicly post an annual report that lists how the number of FAIR Plan policies has changed, broken down by ZIP Code, for the prior calendar year. The report must be delivered to the Legislature and posted on the department website by July 1, 2027, and annually thereafter.
Who It Affects
Primary stakeholders include the California Department of Insurance, the California FAIR Plan Association (and participating insurers that supply FAIR Plan enrollment data), state legislators, local governments in high‑risk or hard‑to‑insure areas, and researchers or advocacy groups tracking insurance availability.
Why It Matters
This reporting requirement creates a regular, public dataset tied to insurance access at a neighborhood level. That enables targeted policy responses and oversight but also creates questions about data accuracy, privacy, and how policymakers will interpret policy count changes without accompanying loss, coverage, or exposure metrics.
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What This Bill Actually Does
SB 1043 inserts a single new section—10095.6—into California’s Insurance Code that compels the Department of Insurance to produce an annual, ZIP Code‑level report showing the change in the number of California FAIR Plan policies for the prior calendar year. The statute specifies the subject matter of the report (change in counts by ZIP Code), sets the delivery vehicle (submission to the Legislature under Government Code Section 9795), and sets the timing (first report due by July 1, 2027, then every July 1).
The bill does not prescribe the format beyond public posting on the department’s website.
Because the bill is limited to “change in number of FAIR Plan policies,” the department must translate that plain phrase into an operational definition: what counts as a FAIR Plan policy, how to handle multiple policies at a single property, how to attribute policies to ZIP Codes when mailing and property ZIPs differ, and whether to report increases and decreases separately or a net change. The department will also need to decide whether to display raw counts, percent changes, or both, and whether to include historical series for context.Implementation will require data flows from the FAIR Plan Association or participating insurers to the department unless the department already maintains the necessary enrollment database.
The bill does not appropriate funds or create explicit penalties, so the DOI will have to absorb administrative costs or seek budgetary cover through normal channels. Finally, the law creates a public dataset that stakeholders will use for oversight and policy design, though the dataset’s narrow focus (policy counts only) limits what inferences can be drawn about insurance affordability, underwriting standards, or catastrophic exposure.
The Five Things You Need to Know
SB 1043 adds Insurance Code Section 10095.6, requiring an annual report on the change in number of FAIR Plan policies by ZIP Code for the prior calendar year.
The first report must be submitted and posted on or before July 1, 2027; subsequent reports are due on or before each July 1.
The report must be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to Government Code Section 9795 and publicly posted on the Department of Insurance website.
The statute confines the required metric to policy counts by ZIP Code—it does not require reporting of premiums, coverage limits, claim frequency, causes for change, or insured value.
SB 1043 contains no appropriation and imposes no express enforcement mechanism or penalties for noncompliance.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Annual ZIP‑code FAIR Plan policy change report
This single new section directs the Department of Insurance to prepare an annual report that shows the change in number of FAIR Plan policies by ZIP Code for the prior calendar year. Practically, this is a statute of specification rather than prescription: it tells the department what data to publish and when, but leaves the department discretion over definitions, presentation, and data collection methods.
Legislative delivery under Government Code Section 9795
The bill requires the DOI to deliver the report to the Legislature pursuant to Section 9795 of the Government Code, which governs how state agencies submit reports and typically triggers legislative distribution and archiving. This linkage ensures the report enters the formal legislative record and becomes available to committees and lawmakers who oversee insurance policy.
Website publication and annual schedule
SB 1043 requires the DOI to publish the report on its internet website and sets a firm annual deadline: on or before July 1, 2027, and each July 1 thereafter. The fixed calendar deadline means each report will cover the prior calendar year (for example, the July 1, 2027 report will reflect 2026 policy changes), which affects data‑processing windows and any data validation the department undertakes.
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Who Benefits
- State legislators and committees overseeing insurance and housing — they gain a consistent, public data feed showing neighborhood‑level shifts in FAIR Plan enrollment that can inform targeted inquiries and legislative responses.
- Local governments and planning agencies in high‑risk areas — ZIP‑level trend data can help identify neighborhoods losing private market coverage and prioritize mitigation, outreach, or subsidy programs.
- Researchers, consumer advocates, and journalists — the public dataset lowers the barrier to independent analysis of geographic patterns in insurance availability and market withdrawal.
Who Bears the Cost
- California Department of Insurance — must assemble, validate, and publish the report within the statutory schedule; absent an appropriation, these tasks add administrative work and potential IT costs to existing workloads.
- California FAIR Plan Association and participating insurers — likely sources of enrollment data; they may need to standardize and deliver ZIP‑level counts or respond to data requests, creating operational costs.
- Small localities and community organizations — while not direct payers, they bear opportunity costs from potential misinterpretation of ZIP‑level counts (e.g., stigma or market responses) and may need to invest in local analysis to contextualize the data.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between the value of public, neighborhood‑level transparency about insurance availability and the practical limits of such transparency: more granular, timely data helps policymakers and communities respond, but it raises privacy risks, creates administrative burdens without funding, and can be misleading if not paired with context on coverage amounts, causes of change, or data quality controls.
SB 1043 creates a useful transparency lever but leaves several consequential implementation choices unanswered. The statute specifies counts by ZIP Code but does not define 'change' (net change vs. separate in/out flows), nor does it clarify whether counts should reflect active policies at year‑end, policies issued during the year, cancellations, or renewals.
Those definitional gaps will materially affect reported results and comparability year‑to‑year.
The bill also forces a trade‑off between geographic granularity and privacy/accuracy. ZIP Codes are an accessible unit for public reporting but can be small enough in some rural or high‑risk areas that counts could identify specific policyholders or be statistically unstable.
The statute contains no privacy or suppression rules, no minimum cell counts, and no guidance on handling ZIPs that cross municipal or county lines. Finally, because the report is limited to counts, readers may over‑interpret changes as indicating causation (e.g., insurer withdrawal, pricing shifts, wildfire risk) when the underlying drivers—premium increases, underwriting changes, property sales, or reporting artifacts—are not part of the mandated dataset.
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