Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions

Barbara Richardson

Several major homeowner’s insurance companies have effectively pulled out of California. State Farm announced recently it will no longer sell most types of new insurance policies in the entirety of the Golden State. Allstate stopped selling new home insurance policies there last year.

Why? State Farm cited wildfires and sky-high construction costs. Or, to use their phrase: “rapidly growing catastrophe exposure.” 

Climate change has been driving fears of an impending crisis in the insurance industry nationwide and questions about whether large swaths of the country will become, essentially, uninsurable. 

What does this mean for Arizona — especially as wildfire season begins? The Show spoke more about it with Barbara Richardson, Arizona’s director of insurance and financial institutions. 

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