Finance & Insurance Week: Ubiquity of Natural Disasters & New Insurance Producer Requirements in CA

Most U.S. Counties Suffered Natural Disaster in Past Decade

Between 2011 and 2021, 90 percent of counties in the United States suffered a hurricane, flood, wildfire, drought or other natural event severe enough to have been declared a federal disaster, according to a report from Rebuild by Design, a nonprofit created by the Department of Housing and Urban Development shortly after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 to research how to address climate change. Over 700 counties endured five or more federally declared disasters over that 11-year period, the report said.

The states with the most such disasters - at least 20 each - were California, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee. But the report said five other states, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota and Vermont, actually received the most federal disaster funding per person. (NEW YORK TIMES, INSURANCE JOURNAL, REBUILD BY DESIGN)

New Requirements Coming for Insurance Producers in CA

Insurance agents and brokers doing business in California will be subject to new requirements at the start of next year. Under legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in September (SB 1242) producers will be required to report suspected fraud to the California Department of Insurance within 60 days of determining it may have occurred. The law will also require prospective and current licensees to complete an hour of study on insurance fraud as part of their continuing education requirements. It will also require the state insurance commissioner to submit fingerprint images and other information from applicants for licensing to the Department of Justice for criminal background checking, meaning applicants that fail to disclose prior criminal convictions will likely be denied a license. (INSURANCE JOURNAL, STATE NET)

-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK