Governor Newsom signs executive order launching next phase of whole-of-government response to the economic and insurance consequences of climate crisis

What you need to know: Governor Newsom signed an executive order to expedite the state's response to mitigate the impacts and fairly allocate the costs of natural disasters and further stabilize the insurance market and energy utility sector.

SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom today launched the next phase of California's all-in response to the ongoing economic impacts of the climate crisis, including the insurance crisis felt across the U.S. and globally as climate change creates new risks to property owners and insurers as well as the destabilization of the energy utility sector that directly impacts ratepayers and wildfire survivors.

The Governor signed an executive order that calls for multiple state agencies and departments to collaborate on research and recommendations to develop long-term durable tools to mitigate and fairly allocate the costs of recovering from natural catastrophes, further stabilize the insurance market and utility sector, make insurance more affordable and accessible, protect ratepayers, ensure compensation for wildfire survivors, and more. Text of the executive order is available here.

The executive order comes after the Governor signed SB 254 (Becker) to create the next generation of the state's Wildfire Fund to support wildfire survivors and protect ratepayers from excessive utility liability costs. One major component of SB 254 directs the state's wildfire fund administrator to prepare a report by April 2026 analyzing new approaches to responding to catastrophes, including wildfires. This executive order expedites the state's work to undertake that analysis, reflecting the Governor's urgency to protect Californians from the costs of catastrophic wildfire, and other climate threats and natural disasters.

"There's no Republican or Democrat thermometer - red and blue states alike, and countries around the world, are facing this climate-fueled insurance crisis. And California is taking action. Already, we've seen positive action to stabilize our home insurance market as insurers submit plans to write policies in areas where Californians have been running out of options. We're taking a whole-of-government response to protect Californians from wildfire while boosting coverage options and bringing down costs."

Governor Gavin Newsom