Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Senator Pérez Hosts Altadena Fire Survivors in Sacramento In Move to Force a Vote on Insurance Reform

California State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez at the “No Kings” 2 demonstration in Pasadena on Saturday, October 18, 2025. [Paul Takizawa/Pasadena Now]

Three Senate bills targeting claim delays, low-ball estimates, and coverage denials for fire-safe homes face a committee vote today

Claire Thompson paid insurance premiums for nearly a decade. After the Eaton Fire damaged her home, her insurer told her the building needed to come down to the studs — then quietly changed its mind and slashed the estimate to an amount that made rebuilding impossible.

“The fire damage to my house did not change,” Thompson said. “But the loss estimate did, and it was reduced to an amount that made recovery impossible.”

She is among thousands of Altadena and Pasadena fire survivors now counting on Sacramento to change the rules.

Senator Sasha Renée Pérez, who represents both communities as part of the 25th Senate District, is leading a press conference today at the State Capitol to push three insurance reform bills through the Senate Insurance Committee — bills she authored in direct response to accounts like Thompson’s.

The three measures — SB 877, SB 878, and SB 1076 — collectively target the insurance failures survivors say have frozen their recoveries. SB 877, the Fair Claims Practices and Transparency Act, would require insurers to disclose every version of a loss estimate and explain each change, who made it, and why, and to deliver claims-related documents to policyholders within 15 days. SB 878, the Insurance Payment Accountability Act, would impose a 20% annual interest penalty on insurers that fail to meet claims payment deadlines — a provision that would apply to fire insurance claims arising after January 1, 2027. SB 1076, the Insurance Coverage for Fire-Safe Homes Act, would require insurers to offer and renew coverage to any homeowner who meets the state’s home hardening and defensible space standards, or face a five-year bar from California’s home and auto insurance markets.

The committee vote comes 15 months after the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena on January 7, 2025, destroying 9,414 structures, killing 19 people, and touching nearly every block in the unincorporated community just north of Pasadena.

As of late 2025, only 23 of the nearly 6,000 significantly damaged residential properties in Altadena and Pasadena had completed rebuilding and repairs, according to a Catalyst California analysis. Supporters of the bills cite Department of Angels research finding that 70% of insured Los Angeles fire survivors report that insurance delays and underpayments are impeding their recovery.

Enrollment in the California FAIR Plan — the state’s insurer of last resort, used by homeowners who cannot obtain private coverage — has grown five-fold since 2019, according to Consumer Watchdog and the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, which co-sponsor all three bills.

“Real transparency and accountability will lead to a faster recovery,” Pérez said when she introduced the first two bills on the Eaton Fire’s one-year anniversary.

On SB 1076, introduced in February, Pérez described conversations with Altadena homeowners who rebuilt to the highest fire-resistance standards and still could not secure insurance commitments for their new homes. “Being denied coverage after meeting safety standards sends the wrong message and is akin to being penalized for doing the right thing,” she said.

Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network — who said her organization has collected nearly 500 firsthand accounts of State Farm misconduct and over 1,300 accounts from all insurers — framed the insurance problem as whether rebuilding will happen at all.

“Survivors are rebuilding stronger and safer,” Chen said. “But if our community cannot access insurance even after making our homes fire-safe, our housing market will crater.”

Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena), whose 41st Assembly District includes Pasadena, is among those joining today’s press conference. Harabedian serves on the Assembly Insurance Committee and the Select Committee on Wildfire Prevention. A coalition of 40 organizations, from the California Nurses Association to the Center for Biological Diversity, sent letters to the Senate Insurance Committee on April 14 urging passage of the bills.

The press conference begins at 12:30 p.m. in Room 317 of the State Capitol and will be live-streamed at youtube.com/live/SZC4iqqZmks. The Senate Insurance Committee hearing is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Thompson’s case distills what all three bills are designed to prevent — the quiet substitution of a smaller number where a larger one once stood, with no record of who changed it or why.

“Recovery accelerates when the money shows up,” said Chen. “When it doesn’t, families are pushed out.”