California FAIR Plan Renewals on or After Oct 15, 2026: What Commercial Owners and Builders Should Check

If your California commercial property or business owner’s policy sits on the FAIR Plan, today is not a rumor date. For policy terms effective on or after October 15, 2026, the California FAIR Plan’s CDI-approved new rates apply to Dwelling Fire, Commercial, Commercial High Value, and Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) business. Earthquake Authority (CEA) business is outside that bulletin’s affected lines.

That matters for warehouse owners, retail and office risks, and builders with buildings under construction who landed on the FAIR Plan because the voluntary market said no. A renewal notice is the wrong day to discover what the policy actually covers—and what it does not.

What actually changed

The California FAIR Plan issued a broker bulletin (widely circulated in August 2026) tying the new rate basis and related broker-commission restructuring to policy terms effective October 15, 2026, or later. Policies written or renewed before that date keep the prior rate and commission structure for that term. Terms that start on or after October 15 move to the new basis.

We are not publishing average percentages or “what you will pay.” Premium depends on the property, the rating factors, and the market that will actually write you. What you can do is treat every FAIR Plan renewal on or after today as a market-search event, not a rubber stamp.

FAIR Plan is last-resort property coverage

The California Department of Insurance describes the FAIR Plan as privately run last-resort coverage for Californians who cannot find a home in the regular market. It is not a full commercial insurance program by itself. At renewal, confirm in writing:

• Which causes of loss your FAIR Plan commercial or BOP form actually names.
• Whether general liability, business income, and other lines you need sit on separate policies—and whether those policies still match your operations, COI requests, and lender or landlord requirements.
• Whether a Difference-in-Conditions (DIC) wrap or another voluntary-market option is available for the same risk this year.

The FAIR Plan’s own bulletin tells brokers to keep running diligent searches in the traditional marketplace and place coverage there whenever it is available. That advice is for your benefit, not just the broker’s.

What to do this week if you renew on or after Oct 15

1. Pull the renewal packet early. Compare the effective date on the declaration page to October 15, 2026. If the new term starts on or after that date, you are on the new rate basis.
2. Ask for a voluntary-market search in writing. Have your broker document which admitted and specialty markets were tried, and why the risk stayed on (or left) the FAIR Plan.
3. Match the rest of the program. Builders: check builders risk and your construction insurance stack (GL, WC, COIs). Commercial owners: walk the full business insurance picture, not just the property layer.
4. Do not wait for the notice to be the first conversation. If the risk is wildfire-exposed or hard-to-place, start the re-shop before the renewal is locked.

Oversight context: AB 1680 (Make It FAIR Act)

On September 30, 2026, Governor Newsom signed a CDI-sponsored package that includes AB 1680, the Make It FAIR Act. Per the Department of Insurance, AB 1680 strengthens oversight of the FAIR Plan—corrective actions from examinations, claims-handling practices, financial accountability, and policyholder protections. It does not replace your renewal checklist. It does mean the last-resort market you may still need is under tighter statutory scrutiny.

Who this is for

California commercial property owners, BOP insureds, and contractors with buildings under construction who are on the FAIR Plan—or who were forced there after a non-renewal. We place commercial and specialty coverage nationwide; FAIR Plan is a California-specific last-resort layer that still shows up in construction and commercial accounts across the state.

Get a second look before you bind

If your FAIR Plan term renews on or after October 15, 2026, send us the declaration page and we will help you pressure-test the voluntary market and the rest of the program. Call (916) 967-7715 or use our contact form. Lions & Coventry Insurance Services — California License #0G22084.

Sources: California FAIR Plan broker bulletin on rate and commission restructuring for terms effective October 15, 2026 (Commercial / Commercial High Value / BOP / Dwelling Fire; CEA excluded from that bulletin’s commission change); California Department of Insurance press release, September 30, 2026 (AB 1680 Make It FAIR Act). No premium figures published—pricing depends on the risk. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.

AB 1795 & AB 1642 Signed: What Sacramento Restoration Contractors Should Check on Smoke Claims

On September 15, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1795 (Chapter 240, the Smoke Damage Recovery Act) and companion AB 1642 (Chapter 239). The Governor’s announcement and the same-day CDI press release frame the pair as first-in-the-nation standards for testing, remediating, and clearing residential properties damaged by wildfire smoke — including homes that never burned. CDI estimates more than 13,000 of roughly 40,000 claims after the January 2025 fires involved that kind of smoke damage.

Lions & Coventry Insurance Services is an independent brokerage at 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C in Citrus Heights. We place construction insurance for Sacramento–Loomis contractors on rebuild and remediation work. This is a field note on signed statutes, not legal advice.

Why restoration contractors should care

Homeowner headlines dominate the signing coverage. The contractor angle is quieter. Under new Insurance Code section 2060.2, if a residential smoke-damage claim settles on an insurer’s written scope, that estimate must restore the property to no less than preloss condition and clear it for occupancy under the AB 1642 standards — and the policyholder keeps the right to select the vendor or contractor who performs the restoration. Insurer-hired or insurer-referred vendors preparing scopes or doing the work must hold the license, training, and certification the state requires for residential wildfire smoke restoration. Labor Code section 6713 also directs Cal/OSHA to propose worker certification regulations for residential smoke/fire remediation by July 1, 2029.

For a Sacramento GC or specialty remediator, that means clearer scopes tied to scientific clearance, more documented sampling, and a longer path before Additional Living Expense cuts off on covered residential smoke claims inside a wildfire impact zone. Claim volume and documentation discipline — not a marketing coupon.

What the statutes actually do

Both bills are mutually contingent; both are now chaptered, so that contingency is met. Chaptered status does not list an urgency clause, so the ordinary California effective date for non-urgency legislation is January 1 of the following year (January 1, 2027). Confirm operative dates section-by-section in the chaptered text. AB 1642’s interim lead and asbestos clearance floors apply until DTSC adopts fuller regulations.

• Presumption and ALE. Section 2060.1 creates a rebuttable presumption that wildfire smoke, ash, soot, char, or combustion byproducts present in a surviving residential property in the wildfire impact zone resulted from that wildfire. An insurer generally may not terminate ALE on a covered residential smoke claim in that zone until the property is restored to preloss condition and cleared for occupancy under AB 1642 standards or guidance, subject to policy limits.
• Testing and timelines. Section 2060.2 makes the insurer responsible for necessary sampling and testing costs to restore and clear the property under those standards, subject to policy terms. If the insurer inspects, it generally must do so within 30 calendar days after notice of claim (or after access is granted).
• AB 1642 science track. DTSC has until December 31, 2028 for lead/asbestos testing and remediation regulations, and until December 31, 2029 for broader contaminant guidance. The State Air Resources Board has until December 31, 2028 for indoor-air guidance after residential wildfire smoke damage.
• What it is not. This package centers on residential property insurance smoke claims after wildfire. It is not an automatic commercial property rewrite, not builders risk by another name, and not a guarantee that industrial smoke events (AB 1795’s separate Lineage Logistics study track through 2027–2028) trigger the same residential ALE rules tomorrow. Keep builders risk on its own rail.

Checklist for Sacramento–Loomis rebuild shops

• Confirm CSLB classification and specialty remediation licenses match the scopes you bid. When DTSC and Cal/OSHA certification tracks mature, map crew training against those deadlines.
• On residential smoke jobs inside a CAL FIRE–mapped wildfire impact zone, ask who ordered the sampling, which standard the hygienist used, and whether the homeowner or the carrier selected the remediator. Keep that paper trail with the COI file.
• Align general liability, workers compensation, and pollution or remediation endorsements with the subcontract work description — especially lead, asbestos, and indoor environmental work. See our Sacramento construction insurance hub if certificate wording is the friction.
• Do not confuse Zone 0 defensible-space rules for new builds with smoke-claim clearance standards. Related wildfire calendars; different statutes.

Talk through scopes before the next smoke bid

If you are bidding residential smoke remediation or habitational repair around Sacramento, Loomis, or the foothills and want a clean read of liability, workers comp, and certificate wording against these claim rules, call Lions & Coventry at (916) 967-7715. Office: 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C, Citrus Heights, CA 95610. License #0G22084. Monday–Friday 9am–5pm. Or use our contact form. Bring the address ZIP, claim type, and any insurer scope. This is not legal advice — it is how local contractors stay oriented when the insurance calendar and the fire calendar move together.

How California Cannabis Certificates Actually Get Rejected

Most California cannabis operators do not lose a landlord, distributor, or city desk because they “have no insurance.” They lose the afternoon when a certificate of insurance comes back rejected. The PDF looked fine. The policy existed. The reviewer still said no. That gap — between a bound program and a certificate someone will accept — is where licensed cultivators, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers get stuck.

Lions & Coventry Insurance Services is an independent brokerage at 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C in Citrus Heights. We place cannabis business insurance for DCC-licensed operators. This is a field guide to why cannabis certificates actually get rejected. It is brokerage guidance, not legal advice and not a promise that every lease exhibit is underwritable.

1. The form excludes cannabis even though the certificate looks commercial

Standard restaurant, retail, or BOP forms commonly exclude cannabis occupancy. A certificate can still print a million-dollar general liability limit. The claim that matters is whether the underlying form actually covers a licensed cannabis premises. Reviewers who know the class ask for specimen forms or cannabis-specific markets. If your “GL” was written as ordinary commercial and the exclusion list kills Schedule I / cannabis operations, the certificate was never going to survive a serious review. Start from a market that writes California cannabis — see our California cannabis insurance overview and the surplus-lines Export List notes on that page.

2. Named insured does not match the license or the lease

DCC licenses, Secretary of State filings, bank accounts, and leases often drift apart after an LLC amend or a DBA change. A certificate naming yesterday’s entity against today’s lease is an easy reject. Same problem when a microbusiness operates under one legal name and the landlord’s exhibit expects another. Fix the named insured and any DBAs on the policy before you argue with the property manager.

3. Premises / location schedule is wrong or incomplete

Cannabis underwriting is location-sensitive. A certificate for 123 Main when the licensed premises — or the leased suite — is 123 Main Unit B will bounce. Multi-license operators who add a second premises and forget to schedule it create the same failure mode. Bring the license premises list and the lease address; we schedule what you actually occupy.

4. Additional insured / primary-noncontributory wording is missing or mismatched

Landlords and distributors rarely want a bare certificate. They want additional insured status, often primary and noncontributory, sometimes with a waiver of subrogation, sometimes with completed-operations language that does not belong on a retail lease. Typing “AI as required by written contract” into the description of operations does not create an endorsement. If the form will not grant what the lease demands, we either endorse it, move markets, or tell you the exhibit is broader than the available cannabis paper — before Friday’s move-in.

5. Limits sit under the lease or trading-partner floor

Distributor licensees have an explicit commercial general liability floor in 4 CCR §15308 ($1,000,000 each loss / $2,000,000 aggregate). Leases and partner contracts often ask for more, or for separate product limits. A certificate that shows $1M when the exhibit requires $2M each occurrence is a reject even if DCC is satisfied. Read the exhibit and the regulation as two different checklists.

6. Product liability was never on the program

Premises GL and product liability are not interchangeable. Manufacturers feel this first; retailers and distributors get pulled into the same suits. A landlord may only ask for GL. A distributor or private-label partner may ask for product evidence. If product was never bound, no certificate language will invent it.

7. Workers compensation certificate names the wrong entity or shows a lapsed policy

Payroll and class codes still decide workers compensation. A certificate in a sister LLC’s name, an expired policy, or a “no employees” story that does not match the people on the floor will fail a serious counterparty review. Trim helpers and delivery days remain California employment questions — not a certificate footnote.

8. The surety bond and the liability certificate get confused

DCC’s Form 8113 $5,000 licensee surety bond is a licensing instrument payable to the State. It does not replace a liability certificate for a landlord. Operators who email a bond PDF when the property manager asked for GL evidence waste a day. Keep the bond packet and the insurance certificates in separate folders. Deep dive: California cannabis surety bond (Form 8113).

How to send a request that does not bounce

Email the lease or distribution insurance exhibit, the exact legal entity, every premises address, and the wording you were asked to meet. Say whether you need additional insured, primary/noncontributory, waiver, or product evidence. We issue certificates from the bound program — we do not invent endorsements a carrier does not offer.

California cannabis certificate rejection FAQ

Talk through the reject before the next deadline

If a landlord, city desk, or distributor sent a certificate back, call Lions & Coventry at (916) 967-7715. Office: 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C, Citrus Heights, CA 95610. License #0G22084. Monday–Friday 9am–5pm. Or use our contact form. Send the rejection note, the exhibit, and the current certificate. We will tell you whether the existing program can support the wording or whether the form itself has to change.

California Contractors Face a New Workers Comp Benchmark on September 1, 2026

September 1 is not only a calendar page for California contractors. It is also when the state’s advisory workers compensation pricing floor moved. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara approved average advisory pure premium rates of $1.65 per $100 of employer payroll for policies incepting on or after September 1, 2026 — a 6.6% increase over the approved September 1, 2025 average. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California (WCIRB) had asked for 10.4%. The California Department of Insurance settled lower after its actuarial review. That gap is not gossip; it is the difference between a bureau filing and a Commissioner’s order.

Lions & Coventry Insurance Services is an independent brokerage at 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C in Citrus Heights. We place construction insurance for Sacramento, Loomis, and nearby trades. This is a field note on a live WCIRB/CDI filing — not a quote, not legal advice, and not a promise that every renewal will rise by 6.6%.

Advisory means advisory

Pure premium rates are a claims-cost benchmark. Insurers still file their own rates. Your final premium still reflects classification codes, payroll, experience modification, open claims, schedule credits or debits, and underwriting appetite. The effective date still matters if your new policy, renewal, or anniversary rating date falls on or after September 1. Treat the number as a planning signal, not an automatic invoice.

WCIRB’s 2026 State of the System report notes that average charged rates reached their lowest level in more than 50 years in 2025 and have begun to plateau, while advisory rates rose and rise again with this September filing. The same report flags cumulative-trauma claims as a significant driver of recent claim-frequency increases in California. For a contractor, that is a reminder to keep payroll reporting honest and safety documentation boringly complete — statewide averages do not bid your jobs.

Dual-wage thresholds moved the same day

The pure-premium headline is only half the September 1 package for construction. WCIRB’s September 1, 2026 regulatory amendments also update dual-wage hourly thresholds for construction class pairs. In plain English: for certain trades, payroll at or above a published hourly threshold can land in a higher-wage (often lower-rated) class; payroll below it lands in the companion low-wage class. Those thresholds rose by roughly $2 to $5 per hour for policies effective on or after September 1, 2026, according to WCIRB’s regulatory filing and consistent trade summaries of the approved dual-wage table (for example, carpentry/steel framing commonly cited at a $46 split and roofing at $33). Verify the exact phraseology and codes on your policy against the WCIRB Basic Manual and your carrier’s endorsement — do not rely on a secondary table alone.

A worker who no longer clears the new threshold may be reassigned at audit if the records do not support the high-wage class. Keep time and payroll records that match the classifications you claim. An hourly rate on a spreadsheet is not always enough if the books cannot prove hours and duties.

What a Sacramento–Loomis contractor should check this week

• Confirm every employee sits in the correct WCIRB classification and that payroll is split when the rules require it.
• Pull the experience-modification worksheet and open claims with your broker before renewal — cumulative trauma and late-reported claims can change the conversation.
• Compare estimated payroll on the policy to current staffing, overtime, helper days, and job mix. Mismatches become audit surprises.
• If you use dual-wage classes, re-check wage thresholds effective September 1, 2026 against actual pay and documented hours.
• Remember the rest of the program: general liability, commercial auto, tools, builders risk, and certificate or additional-insured wording still decide whether you mobilize. Start from our Construction Insurance page and, for local certificate friction, our Sacramento contractors notes.

How this differs from the SB 216 / SB 1455 story

Earlier this week’s neighboring posts covered Zone 0 and the Gann Fire commercial-property moratorium. On August 31 we covered the legislative timeline: SB 216’s universal contractor workers-comp mandate was delayed to January 1, 2028 by SB 1455. That is about who must carry a policy. Today’s filing is about how the advisory cost benchmark and dual-wage splits look once you are already in the system. Related. Not the same article twice.

Talk through the renewal before you reprice the bid

Before you change labor burdens or chase a low-ball certificate request, ask how the September 1 advisory rates and any dual-wage reassignment affect your payroll and class mix. Conditions vary by trade, carrier, and loss history. Call Lions & Coventry at (916) 967-7715. Office: 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C, Citrus Heights, CA 95610. License #0G22084. Monday–Friday 9am–5pm. Or use our contact form. Bring the declarations page, payroll estimate, and last audit letter. We will read the filing against your book — not against a statewide average that never swung a hammer in Loomis.

Sources (primary): WCIRB, Insurance Commissioner Issues Decision on September 1, 2026 Pure Premium Rate Filing; CDI, Commissioner Lara press release (July 10, 2026); CDI Decision and Order PDF; WCIRB, 2026 State of the System; WCIRB, September 1, 2026 Regulatory Filing (dual-wage thresholds); California Basic Underwriting Manual materials effective September 2026 (BUM PDF).

After the Gann Fire, California’s Commercial Property Moratorium Is Live. What Sacramento-Area Contractors and Owners Should Check

Wildfire season in California has a second calendar now: the insurance calendar. After Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Calaveras County on August 6, 2026 for the Gann Fire, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s office did what statute requires — it mapped the fire perimeter with CAL FIRE and CalOES, named the adjoining ZIP codes, and told insurers to pause wildfire-driven cancellations and non-renewals for a year. The California Department of Insurance press release of August 14, 2026 says that bulletin covers more than 64,000 residential policyholders across Calaveras, San Joaquin, Amador, Tuolumne, and Stanislaus counties. The new twist is commercial: for the first time under Senate Bill 547, the Business Insurance Protection Act, certain commercial property policies in those same areas get the same one-year shield.

Lions & Coventry Insurance Services is an independent brokerage at 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C in Citrus Heights. We place construction insurance and commercial property insurance for owners and contractors from Sacramento and Loomis out toward the foothills and Central Valley edge. This is a field note on a live CDI bulletin, not legal advice and not a substitute for the Commissioner’s ZIP list or counsel.

What the bulletin actually does

Under Insurance Code section 675.1 (the 2018 residential moratorium), and section 675.55 (added by SB 547, effective January 1, 2026), insurers generally may not cancel or refuse to renew covered property policies in listed ZIP codes for one year after the emergency declaration based solely on wildfire location. CDI’s consumer page lists the Gann Fire under 2026 wildfires with the August 6 declaration. Trade summaries of Bulletin 2026-6 describe 22 ZIP codes in and around the perimeter. Confirm your address against the Commissioner’s bulletin and ZIP list — do not rely on a newspaper map or a neighbor’s rumor.

CDI’s release is explicit about the commercial expansion: policies for homeowners associations, apartment complexes, senior living facilities, and other specified real property used primarily for residential or habitational purposes are included in those same perimeters and adjoining ZIP codes. That is the first live application of SB 547’s commercial protection after a declared wildfire emergency that the Department highlighted in the Gann Fire release. Residential total-loss claims still have longer separate protections (up to 24 months under existing law, per CDI).

What it is not

A moratorium is a pause button, not a free policy and not a rate freeze. Premiums can still move through normal prior-approval filings. Builders risk — course-of-construction coverage while a structure is incomplete — is a different product from the habitational commercial property policies SB 547 targets; if you are mid-build or mid-rebuild, keep reading your specimen form and lender requirements on builders risk separately. Statutes also leave carve-outs (for example, willful or grossly negligent acts that materially increase risk, unrelated losses that make the risk ineligible, or physical changes that render the property uninsurable). Read the bulletin and the code; do not assume every commercial line is covered.

A recent post on this site covered Zone 0 — the five-foot ember-resistant band for new construction. That is a Board of Forestry fire-safety floor. Today’s bulletin is about whether the carrier can walk away from a renewal because the ZIP code sat next to a declared fire. Related, not identical.

Checklist for Sacramento–Loomis contractors and multifamily owners

• If you own, manage, or insure an HOA, apartment, multifamily, student housing, or senior-living property in a listed Gann Fire ZIP, pull the renewal notice and the declaration date. Notices issued for wildfire risk on or after August 6 for properties in those ZIPs should be challenged against the bulletin; CDI directs insurers to offer rescission and reinstatement or renewal in those cases.
• If you are a GC or specialty trade bidding repair, rebuild, or habitational work east of Sacramento toward Calaveras, Amador, or the San Joaquin corridor, align Sacramento construction insurance certificates — general liability, workers compensation, and any course-of-construction — with the entity names on the subcontract and the owner’s lender wording. The moratorium protects certain property policies; it does not replace your liability and payroll coverage.
• Keep a paper trail: emergency declaration date, ZIP confirmation from CDI, cancellation or non-renewal letter, and your policy number. CDI’s consumer line is 800-927-4357 if a carrier refuses to honor a listed ZIP.
• After the year runs, underwriting returns to normal. Defensible space, mitigation documentation, and honest occupancy details still decide whether the next renewal is smooth or a scramble into surplus lines or the FAIR Plan plus a wrap.

Talk through the bulletin before the next renewal

If your multifamily schedule, HOA, or foothill job sits near the Gann Fire ZIP list — or you simply want a clean read of commercial property versus builders risk before the next bid — call Lions & Coventry at (916) 967-7715. Office: 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C, Citrus Heights, CA 95610. License #0G22084. Monday–Friday 9am–5pm. Send the address, policy type, renewal date, and any cancellation letter. Or use our contact form. This is not legal advice. It is how local owners and contractors stay oriented when the insurance calendar moves as fast as the fire calendar.

California Zone 0 Was Withdrawn From OAL Review. What Sacramento and Loomis Contractors Should Still Check on Builders Risk

Status update, October 5, 2026: The Office of Administrative Law’s record of actions on emergency regulations now lists file 2026-0828-03E, “Zone 0 Defensible Space,” as Withdrawn, September 8, 2026. The Board of Forestry pulled the package back before OAL ruled on it. That is not an approval and not a disapproval, and no reason has been published. On the job site, that means there is no statewide Zone 0 rule in effect today, no effective date, and no compliance clock running. The Board’s Zone 0 page still says staff are working with OAL on a final review, and a refiled package would show up again on OAL’s list of emergency regulations under review. Think of it as a sub who showed up, looked at the job, and went back to the truck. Nobody has said when they are coming back. The builders risk and documentation advice below still holds. The September timing in our original September 1 post did not, and we have marked those lines. Existing Zone 1 and Zone 2 defensible-space requirements (5 to 100 feet) still apply.

On August 19, 2026, the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection approved the state’s first statewide Zone 0 defensible-space regulations — rules for the roughly five feet closest to a structure in State Responsibility Areas and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones within Local Responsibility Areas. In late August 2026, the package was filed with the Office of Administrative Law as emergency file 2026-0828-03E, and early-September coverage from the Los Angeles Times and Insurance Business Mag pointed to an effective window around September for new construction. (Update: the Board withdrew that filing on September 8, 2026, so that window did not happen. See the status note above.) Under the August package, existing homes would get up to five years to phase in. If you build or remodel in the Sacramento–Loomis foothills, the rule text still belongs in the bid file, even if the calendar is blank for now.

Lions & Coventry Insurance Services is an independent brokerage at 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C in Citrus Heights. We place construction insurance and builders risk for contractors across Sacramento, Loomis, Roseville, Folsom, and nearby Placer County foothill jobs. This is a bid-readiness note, not legal advice and not a substitute for CAL FIRE, your local fire authority, or counsel.

What Zone 0 actually requires

Zone 0 is the ember-resistant band from the structure outward about five feet, including areas around attached decks and stairs. Core expectations from the Board’s approved package include clearing combustibles such as firewood, wood mulch, wood chips, and debris; a vegetation-free safety area at least one foot from the structure or to the eave drip line, whichever is greater; vegetation kept clear of windows, doors, and vents within two feet; and limits on combustible attachments such as wooden sheds in the zone and wooden fences where they connect to the house. Certain maintained plants and existing trees can remain under specified conditions. Local fire agencies in Local Responsibility Areas may authorize alternative practices with substantially similar practical effects.

Under the August package, new construction would have to comply on the regulation’s effective date, once one exists. For existing structures, the Board’s phased approach prioritizes education and outreach, with harder items such as the one-foot safety zone and combustible gate or fence upgrades timed later in the five-year window. GCs bidding new homes or wildfire rebuilds in applicable hazard zones can still design to the August text (the Board has recommended early adoption, and it is cheaper than a change order), but do not tell an owner or lender it is required yet.

Why builders risk sits next to Zone 0

A homeowners policy often will not fully protect a dwelling under construction or major reconstruction. Course-of-construction — builders risk — is the property form that typically responds to fire, theft, vandalism, and certain weather damage to the structure and materials during the build. Lenders and many contracts require it. After a wildfire loss, survivors and contractors routinely need that coverage until occupancy and a new homeowners policy start. Builders risk is property coverage, not liability: injuries on site still need general liability and workers compensation on the contractor side.

For Sacramento-area trades, the intersection is underwriting and documentation. Carriers pricing builders risk in high fire-hazard ZIP codes already ask about location, construction methods, and site conditions. Owners and GCs will increasingly expect landscape and attachment details that match the proposed fire-safety floor. Confirm who buys the policy (owner vs GC), who is named as additional insured and mortgagee, whether off-site materials are included, and whether wildfire is excluded or limited on the specimen form before you mobilize.

Compliance is not an automatic insurance discount

Insurance Business Mag’s coverage of the Board vote draws a line brokers should repeat: Zone 0 is a fire-safety requirement. California’s Safer from Wildfires program separately requires participating insurers to offer credits for specified mitigation measures, including a five-foot ember-resistant zone — but carriers use their own filed rating and verification procedures. Clearing Zone 0 does not automatically guarantee a particular discount or an offer of coverage. If an insurer requires an inspection, California’s wildfire-mitigation rules require a free inspection option and acceptance of a CAL FIRE or local fire-department inspection as evidence. Completed mitigation can trigger a revised wildfire risk score within 30 days. Keep photos, receipts, and inspection reports with the job file.

Bid checklist for Placer and Sacramento contractors

• Confirm whether the site is in an SRA or a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone in an LRA before finalizing landscape and fence scopes.
• Show Zone 0-compatible hardscape, fence, and attachment details as a priced option in new-construction bids until a refiled regulation actually takes effect.
• Align Sacramento construction insurance certificates — builders risk, GL, and workers compensation — with the entity names on the subcontract and the lender’s mortgagee wording.
• Ask the builders risk carrier how they treat WUI locations and ordinance-or-law exposure on rebuilds; route owner mitigation documentation through the carrier’s filed Safer from Wildfires process.

Talk to a local broker before the next foothill bid

If you are pricing a new home, ADU, or remodel in Loomis, Granite Bay, Folsom, or Sacramento foothill tracts in designated hazard zones, call Lions & Coventry at (916) 967-7715. Office: 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C, Citrus Heights, CA 95610. License #0G22084. Monday–Friday 9am–5pm. Send the plans or scope, job address, estimated values, and who carries builders risk in the contract. Or use our contact form. This is not legal advice. It is how local contractors stay bid-ready while Zone 0 waits on a refiled package and another OAL review.

California Contractors: SB 216 Was Delayed to 2028. 2026 Is Not a Free Pass on Workers Comp

Senate Bill 216 set a statewide rule: licensed contractors would eventually need workers compensation on file with the Contractors State License Board whether or not they had employees. That universal date was originally January 1, 2026. Senate Bill 1455 pushed it to January 1, 2028. The delay is real. A free pass for 2026 is not. If you have employees, you already need coverage. If you hold a high-risk classification, you already needed it. Sacramento, Loomis, Roseville, and Folsom general contractors still want a current workers compensation certificate before you mobilize.

Lions & Coventry Insurance Services is an independent brokerage at 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C in Citrus Heights. We place construction insurance for Sacramento contractors and trades across the metro. This is a bid-readiness note, not legal advice and not a substitute for CSLB or counsel. For the program underneath the certificate, start with our construction insurance overview and workers compensation page.

Who already has to carry workers compensation

Contractors with employees have always been in the workers compensation system. Hiring a laborer, a helper, or a “1099” who works under your direction does not wait for 2028. The no-employee exemption is a sworn statement that you do not employ anyone in a way that triggers coverage. CSLB also already requires coverage — exemption or not — for C-8 concrete, C-20 warm-air heating, ventilating and air-conditioning, C-22 asbestos abatement, C-39 roofing, and C-61/D-49 tree service. Those classes were pulled forward under SB 216. The 2028 date does not reopen an exemption they already lost.

If your license is in one of those classes, or you have payroll, the 2026 question is whether the certificate on file with CSLB matches the policy, the legal entity, and the work you are actually doing. A lapsed policy still suspends the license. Work performed while suspended is unlicensed work.

SB 291 raised the cost of getting this wrong

Senate Bill 291, effective January 1, 2026, raised the civil-penalty floor for uninsured contractors. A sole-owner licensee found to have employed workers without maintaining workers compensation coverage faces a minimum of $10,000 per violation. Partnerships, corporations, limited liability companies, and tribal business licensees face a minimum of $20,000. Subsequent violations can add more, up to $30,000 per occurrence. CSLB also cannot renew or reinstate a license in that disciplinary posture until a current Certificate of Workers’ Compensation Insurance or Certification of Self-Insurance is on file in the business name. False exemption filings and hiring after an exemption without first filing coverage are in the same bucket.

CSLB is also building a real exemption-verification process. The statutes point the board toward audits, proof, and other evidence that a no-employee claim is true, with a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2027. 2026 is the year that process ramps. If you sometimes bring a helper onto a Citrus Heights remodel or a Roseville tenant improvement, an exemption that looked tidy on a renewal form is the exposure. Budget the premium while the market still has time to write you.

Stay bid-ready in Sacramento, Loomis, Roseville, and Folsom

Owners and general contractors in this corridor bid against start dates, not the Legislature’s calendar. A workers compensation certificate naming the right entity, with the GC as certificate holder, is still the paper that lets a specialty trade unload. School districts, public works, and commercial GCs will not wait until 2028. If the certificate is missing, expired, or issued in a different company name than the subcontract, the job stalls.

Certificates are evidence, not coverage. Keep the policy continuous, tell the carrier when payroll or class mix changes, and get the cert out of a local office that can fix a wording problem the same afternoon. That is the point of our Sacramento contractor certificates guide: additional insured, class codes, and workers compensation have to match the subcontract before Friday, not after the crew is sitting in the parking lot. We would rather price an honest class code now than explain a suspended license or a $10,000-plus penalty after a helper gets hurt.

Call before the next renewal or the next bid

If you have employees, a high-risk classification, or a no-employee exemption you are no longer sure about, call Lions & Coventry at (916) 967-7715. Office: 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C, Citrus Heights, CA 95610. License #0G22084. Monday–Friday 9am–5pm. Send the CSLB license, current certificates, payroll or a clear statement that you work alone, and any GC insurance exhibit sitting on the next bid. Or use our contact form. This is not legal advice. It is how Sacramento-area contractors stay able to bid while the 2028 mandate, 2027 verification, and 2026 penalties all sit on the same calendar.

California Put Commercial Cannabis on the Surplus Lines Export List. Here Is What That Means for Operators

In late 2025 the California Department of Insurance updated the state’s surplus lines Export List. After a June 17, 2025 public hearing, CDI Bulletin 2025-16 added commercial cannabis-related operations to that list, with the change taking effect November 24, 2025. For a licensed cultivator or dispensary, the practical translation is this: a surplus lines broker can place nonadmitted cannabis coverage without first documenting a diligent search of admitted carriers. That is a formal acknowledgment that the admitted market is not an adequate home for this class — not a promise that insurance got cheaper or easier.

Lions & Coventry Insurance Services is an independent brokerage at 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C in Citrus Heights. We place cannabis business insurance for licensed operators, not a one-size “marijuana policy.” This post is brokerage guidance, not legal advice. Read it next to our cannabis insurance in California overview and the standing cannabis business insurance page.

What “export list” means in plain English

California generally wants surplus lines — coverage written by nonadmitted insurers — used only when the admitted market cannot reasonably write the risk. The usual proof is a diligent search: a licensed surplus lines broker documents that admitted carriers were asked and declined, or that the coverage is not available from them. The Export List is the Commissioner’s shorter path. For the lines and risks on that list, the search step is waived. The broker still has reporting duties, and the insurer still has to be an eligible surplus lines market. What drops away is the paperwork theater of asking admitted companies that do not write commercial cannabis in the first place.

If you run a licensed grow, storefront, distribution warehouse, or manufacturing kitchen, you have probably already lived the admitted-market problem. Standard restaurant or retail packages exclude cannabis. Landlord certificates still have to be issued. Product, crop, and payroll still have to be underwritten one account at a time. The Export List does not invent a new policy. It recognizes that placing this class in the surplus lines market is the ordinary way the coverage gets written in California, not an exception that has to be re-proved on every submission.

What the list does not change

Federal scheduling did shift for one slice of the market: since April 28, 2026, state-medical-licensed marijuana is Schedule III, while adult-use marijuana remains Schedule I. Adult-use cannabis remains illegal under federal law even when the state license is current. That is why many admitted carriers still will not touch the occupancy, why banking and landlord requirements stay picky, and why surplus lines is still the reality for most commercial cannabis placements. An Export List entry does not convert a nonadmitted policy into an admitted one. It does not put the California Insurance Guarantee Association behind the claim the way an admitted insolvency would. It does not force a carrier to quote indoor cultivation, extraction, or delivery. Appetite, exclusions, and price are still underwriting decisions.

In 2026 operators still face expensive property — especially indoor cultivation, where electrical load, lighting, HVAC, and fire protection drive the application. Product liability is still a separate conversation from premises general liability. Workers compensation is still a payroll and class-code product, and “helpers” on a trim or delivery day are still a California employment question. The Export List makes the placement path cleaner. It does not make the risk cheaper.

What to ask a broker before you bind

Ask whether the market is admitted or surplus lines, and whether the form was placed under the Export List or after a documented diligent search. Ask which legal entity and which premises are named, and whether the form actually covers cannabis occupancy or only looks like a commercial package. Ask how property treats building, equipment, stock, and living plants — those are not interchangeable. Ask whether product liability is on the same paper as general liability or a separate limit, and what happens if you private-label or co-pack. Ask how workers compensation classes split cultivation, manufacturing, retail, and delivery. Ask who can issue an additional-insured certificate the afternoon a landlord or distributor demands one.

Bring licenses, canopy or square footage, construction and protection details for indoor rooms, payroll estimates, and any lease or distribution agreement that already names insurance wording. A broker who cannot explain surplus lines versus admitted, or who treats the Export List as a discount coupon, is not placing the account. Because we are independent, we shop markets that write California cannabis rather than forcing the class into a form that excludes it.

Talk to a Citrus Heights cannabis broker

Licensing up, renewing, or replacing a program that was bound before the 2025 Export List update? Call Lions & Coventry at (916) 967-7715. Office: 7816 Uplands Way, Ste C, Citrus Heights, CA 95610. License #0G22084. Monday–Friday 9am–5pm. Or use our contact form. This is not legal advice and not a CDI interpretation. It is how we talk through surplus lines cannabis placements with licensed operators who still have to buy property, product, and workers compensation in 2026.