Legislation to make wildfire risk scores more transparent passed out of the Washington state Senate on nearly unanimously.
Senate Bill 5928, which passed 48-1, is being pushed by Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Judy Warnick (R – Moses Lake).
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Insurers use third-party wildfire risk scores to evaluate a property’s exposure and to determine eligibility for coverage, pricing and renewals. Companie
s establishing these scores use satellite images, property data, insurance loss data and fire science to create risk assessments to sell to insurance companies. Th
ese scores, however, may fail to account for community or property-level mitigation efforts, according to Kuderer.
Related: Washington Bill Granting Restitution to Insurance Consumers Passes State Senate
SB 5928 requires insurers to disclose wildfire risk scores when used, explain the factors behind the score and provide plain-language steps consumers can take to i
mprove their score. Property owners who have done mitigation work since their last evaluation, or see inac
curacies with their current evaluation, will be able to appeal those decisions.
The bill now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.
For all of 2025, Travelers recorded an improvement of about 26% in net income to about $6.3 billio
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n. The insurer posted a 43% increase in its underwriting profit compared to 2024, finishing at about $4.3 billion despite a $355 million increase in catastrophe loss
es to about $3.7 billion for all of 2025. Catastrophe losses included the California wildfires to start the year.
Focusing on Q4, total net premiums were up 1% to about $10.9 billion. Travelers’ business insurance segment grew net premiums 2% to about $5.5 billion, led by do
mestic growth. Underwriting income was $877 million for Q4 2025 compared with $808 million a year ago. The combined ratio in the segment improved to 84.4 from 85.2 the year prior.
In personal lines, underwriting income for Q4 went up more than $300 million to about $1.1 billion. Catastrophe losses net of reinsurance were $37 million compa
red with $79 million a year ago. The Q4 combined ratio improved 6.7 points to finish at 74.0. Total domestic net premiums for Q4 were flat compared to the prior year, at about
$4.1 billion. There was 3% growth in Travelers’ homeowners business.