HB 1547 Summary

• Establishes the Hawaii Wildfire Relief Fund as a public body within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to provide wildfire property insurance when private market coverage is unavailable.

• Creates a board of directors consisting of the insurance commissioner and six gubernatorially-appointed members to oversee fund operations and adopt a plan of operation within 90 days of appointment.

• Provides wildfire coverage up to $750,000 per residential risk and $500,000 per commercial risk with mandatory deductibles, funded through assessments on property and casualty insurers (3.75% of gross premiums in non-covered event years, up to 5% following a covered event).

• Establishes a special mortgage recording fee of 0.1% on recorded mortgages and amendments to fund the Wildfire Reserve Trust Fund, with authority to impose up to 7.5% annual surcharges on all property and casualty insurance premiums following covered events.

• Authorizes the Director of Budget and Finance to issue revenue bonds and general obligation bonds to support the fund and appropriates general revenues for fiscal year 2024-2025, effective July 1, 2024.