Kuderer kicks off Community Connect outreach on May 16

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer is visiting Eastern Washington communities in May as part of her Community Connect outreach events, focusing on meeting residents of wildfire-threatened areas and discussing their issues with home insurance.

“Large-scale wildfires are becoming more commonplace, and wildfire risk is an increasingly important aspect of home insurance,” Kuderer said. “I’ve heard from plenty of Washingtonians about their concerns with what that risk is doing to their home insurance rates and coverage, and I’m excited to talk about it.”

The first two Community Connect series events are:

• May 16, Deer Park: Kuderer and OIC consumer staff will join the Wildfire & Forestry Safety Fair. 
• May 20, Medical Lake: Kuderer will host a town hall with Mayor Terri Cooper on May 20.

Wildfire and homeowner insurance efforts

Home insurance nonrenewals and cancellations have more than doubled since 2021, largely in response to increased wildfire risk in certain pockets of the state. 

Kuderer co-chaired the Wildfire mitigation and resiliency standards work group in 2025, which produced a series of recommendations aimed at reducing insurance nonrenewals and mitigating fire damage. Two of those recommendations resulted in OIC-sponsored bills during the 2026 legislative session. 

One of those bills would have required insurance companies to disclose wildfire risk scores when used, explain the factors behind the score, and provide plain-language steps that consumers can take to improve their score.

The other would have created a pilot version of the Strengthen Washington Homes voluntary grant program to help retrofit existing homes using the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) Wildfire Prepared Home standards. 

Both bills passed the state Senate with strong support, but neither advanced out of the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee. 

“It’s disappointing to see two strong consumer protection bills not make it out of committee,” Kuderer said, “but we’ll be on the road this summer to share information and help people address the issues wildfire risk presents.”

Other resources for homeowners

The IBHS recently added Washington to its list of states in which its Wildfire Prepared Home designation is available. The Wildfire Prepared program is a set of research-based mitigation actions that help homeowners and builders in high-risk areas better protect their homes and neighborhoods from wildfire. These home-hardening standards drive insurer confidence and market stability by directly reducing the likelihood of a home igniting. 

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