An Oregon bill that sought to reduce wildfire insurance rates by rewarding homeowners for mitigation efforts has died in the state legislature after the insurance industry mounted late opposition, despite bipartisan support from lawmakers.
Senate Bill 1540 would have required insurers to disclose models and scoring methods used in wildfire coverage to Oregon's Department of Consumer and Business Services. It also called on them to detail how those tools informed underwriting decisions.
The bill cleared the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire with a unanimous vote but stalled in the Senate Rules Committee without a floor vote. Oregon's Assembly adjourned sine die on March 6, two days before the constitutional deadline.
Kenton Brine, president of the Northwest Insurance Council, a trade group, said the legislation represented "too much, too soon" for a 35-day session.
He noted the bill would have required state agencies to develop data for use by insurers and catastrophe modelers, with the mandate on insurers to incorporate that data taking effect before the information was guaranteed to be ready.
"That puts a lot of 'hope' on the data side but imposes significant and costly mandates on insurers to respond regardless of whether the data is ready and accurate," Brine said in an email.
A separate provision would have granted the state insurance commissioner authority to disapprove insurer filings that include wildfire risk modeling. Brine said the language incorrectly assumed insurers have direct control over the contents of risk models.
Oregon lawmakers modeled Senate Bill 1540 on similar legislation that passed in Colorado last year. Governor Jared Polis signed House Bill 1182 into law in May 2025, requiring insurers to incorporate property-specific and community-level mitigation efforts into their models or offer discounts to policyholders who demonstrate such efforts. That law takes effect in July 2026.
The Rocky Mountain Insurance Association did not oppose the Colorado measure. Carol Walker, the group's representative, called it "a step in the right direction" for insurance availability in mountain areas, the Aspen Times reported at the time.
Sen. Jeff Golden, who sponsored the Oregon bill, told Capital Press that proponents had "made additional concessions to the insurance industry" that went beyond the Colorado legislation.
He said lawmakers heard throughout the session that the industry was "liking it better all the time," only for opposition to harden before a vote could be held.
The bill comes as Oregon homeowners face growing pressure over wildfire insurance coverage. The Cotality Wildfire Risk Report 2025 identified approximately 128,000 homes in the state at moderate or greater wildfire risk, placing it among the top five western US states for exposure.
The report found that major insurers have pulled back from central, southern and eastern Oregon counties, forcing many homeowners into last-resort coverage or quadrupled premiums. Across the western US, Cotality identified more than 2.6 million homes at such risk, representing $1.3 trillion in reconstruction value.
The Northwest Insurance Council has asked Oregon lawmakers to convert the bill into a working group for Oregon's 160-day 2027 session. Golden, who is not seeking reelection, will not be there to push the effort forward.
Brine said he is confident other legislators will carry the issue, adding that insurers and risk modelers "have and can partner with policyholders, firefighting agencies, insurance and forestry departments and elected officials in this work."
