Friday’s letter sent ahead of a committee vote on a bill that would repeal the state’s own wildfire risk map
By April Ehrlich, Oregon Public Broadcasting
Two Oregon lawmakers are calling on major insurance companies to stop using their own internal wildfire risk maps to drop homeowners’ policies — at least until next year.
In a Friday press release, Sens. Anthony Broadman, D-Bend, and Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, said they sent a joint letter to major insurance providers — including State Farm, All State and Liberty Mutual — calling them to pause this practice until January 2026.
“Constituents contact us with increasing frequency to say that they have been ‘dropped’ or not renewed by one of you,” the letter reads, calling it a “rigged system.”
Broadman and McLane asked the companies to respond to their demand by Monday. This comes ahead of a committee vote on a bill that would repeal the state’s own wildfire risk map. While insurance companies are prohibited from using the state’s map to make policy decisions, these companies have long used mapping data from other sources.
The problem with the companies’ internal maps, the two Central Oregon lawmakers say, is insurers’ reliance on mapping data instead of on-the-ground assessments. Broadman and McLane specifically call out insurance companies’ use of Verisk — a company that uses property data and aerial images taken by drones to help insurers determine wildfire risk.
Some states are considering limiting insurers’ use of drones to take aerial photos of people’s homes and use that information to make policy decisions.
Verisk executives appear to be aware of the risk of such limits on their business.
“To get ahead of what we consider to be an emerging issue, Verisk is actively working with the insurance trades to develop information to respond to growing regulatory and legislative concerns over the use of aerial imagery and analytics,” Verisk vice president of government affairs Nancy Crespo said in a video meant for insurers earlier this month.
Climate change is making wildfires, floods and hurricanes more frequent and severe, and that’s driving up insurance companies’ payouts. But in Oregon, insurers have consistently made money off homeowners this past decade, according to data compiled by the New York Times.
Oregon homeowners are also getting much less than what they pay for through insurance. In 2023, Oregon insurers paid out less than 52 cents for every dollar they collected in premiums, despite premiums increasing by nearly 11% the previous year — according to data compiled by the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit that advocates for consumers’ rights.
April Ehrlich is a reporter covering lands and environmental policies in Oregon and Southwest Washington at OPB. This article first appeared on opb.org.
