New California Laws 2026
An act to amend Section 65589.5 of the Govern- ment Code, relating to land use. 2025 Assembly Insurance Laws AB 1, Connolly. Residential property insurance: wildfire risk. This bill requires, by January 1, 2030, and every five years thereafter, the Department of Insurance (CDI) to consider whether to update the Safer from Wildfires regulations to include addition- al building hardening measures for property-level mitigation efforts and community-wide wildfire mit- igation programs. An act to add Article 5 (commencing with Section 2095) to Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Division 2 of the Insur- ance Code, relating to insurance. AB 226, Calderon. California FAIR Plan Associ- ation. Establishes the FAIR Plan Stabilization Act, which authorizes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank), upon the request of the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan (FAIR Plan), to issue bonds to finance the costs of claims, to increase liquidity, and claims-paying capacity of the FAIR Plan, and to re- fund bonds previously issued for that purpose. An act to add Section 63087.5 to, and to add Article 11 (commencing with Section 63049.75) to Chapter 2 of Division 1 of Title 6.7 of, the Government Code, and to add Section 10100.3 to the Insurance Code, relating to insurance, making an appropriation there- for, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. AB 234, Calderon. California FAIR Plan Associ- ation governing committee. This bill requires the Speaker of the Assembly and the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Rules, or their designee, to serve as non-voting, ex officio members of the Cal- ifornia Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan (FAIR Plan) Governing Committee. An act to amend Section 10094 of the Insurance Code, relating to insurance, and declaring the urgen- cy thereof, to take effect immediately. AB 290, Bauer-Kahan. California FAIR Plan As- sociation: automatic payments. Requires, by April 1, 2026, the FAIR Plan to create a system and accept automatic payments for policyholder premiums. Pro- hibits the cancellation or non-renewal of a FAIR Plan policy solely because the policyholder is not enrolled in automatic payments. Requires the FAIR Plan to provide a 10-day period for any policyholder to pay an outstanding installment premium, in alignment with existing law. An act to add Section 10095.8 to the Insurance Code, relating to insurance. AB 487, Committee on Insurance. Insurance. Makes a number of technical and non-controversial amendments to various provisions of the Insurance Code. An act to amend Sections 822, 824, 825, 845, 845.5, 846, 847, 852, 859, 1652, 1670, 1729.2, 1757.1, 1757.2, 1800, 1802.3, 1871.7, 10123.13, 10270.2, 10295.11, and 12800 of, to amend and repeal Section 11797 of, and to repeal and add Section 11103 of, the Insurance
Code, relating to insurance. AB 594, Solache. Student health insurance. Re- quires, when a student certificate holder (a student who purchases student health insurance), or a de- pendent of a student, chooses to terminate their student health insurance coverage during the policy year, the student to only pay the premium through the date of their termination of coverage. Prohibits a student or dependent of a student from being liable for a premium payment during the time that they are not enrolled in student health insurance coverage. Requires, in the case of premium paid in full for an academic term, the student to be refunded pro rata for any time they are not enrolled in student health insurance coverage, and requires notice of the ability to terminate coverage to be provided in the student health insurance enrollment materials provided to a student or a dependent of a student. Requires a stu- dent or dependent of a student to also be notified of premium liability to the student or dependent of the student, if any, if a student or dependent of a student chooses not to terminate coverage. Requires a stu- dent that obtains or maintains health coverage that is minimum essential coverage and who requests a waiver to be granted a waiver from obtaining stu- dent health insurance coverage from their institution of higher education and prohibits the student from being required to pay a fee or premium for student health insurance coverage. Requires the above-de- scribed provisions to commence July 1, 2026. An act to amend Section 10965.03 of the Insurance Code, relating to insurance. AB 815, Ortega. Vehicle insurance: vehicle classi- fication. Prohibits a motor vehicle from being clas- sified as a common carrier, commercial vehicle, for- hire vehicle, permissive use vehicle or livery solely for the reason that the policyholder is using the vehi- cle for public social services or social service trans- portation, as defined. An act to add Section 11580.27 to the Insurance Code, relating to insurance. AB 888, Calderon. California Safe Homes grant program. This bill creates the California Safe Homes grant program within the California Department of Insurance (CDI) with the goals of reducing local and statewide wildfire losses, improving the insurability and resilience of vulnerable communities, and home hardening to mitigate wildfire risk and reduce the cost of insurance. An act to add Section 2033 to the Insurance Code, relating to insurance. AB 943, Michelle Rodriguez. Insurance agents: prelicensing education. Eliminates the requirement that certain California Department of Insurance (CDI) license applicants complete 20 hours of pre-li- censing coursework, and allows CDI to charge fees for these applicants to complete the remaining 12- hour ethics course certification requirement. An act to amend Sections 32, 1625.55, 1626, 1661, 1749, 1749.1, 1749.33, 1751.1, 1757.2, and 12815 of the Insurance Code, relating to insurance. AB 1339, Mark González. Department of Insur- Continued on page 73
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