How a whistleblower call led to another win for insurance accountability
Senator Sasha Renee Perez
Dear friend,
Recovery follows the money. EFSN moves the money. This week brought us one milestone closer toward accountability in the fight against underpayments.
I want to tell you how SB 877 was born, because it started with you.
A few weeks after the fires, when EFSN had moved to Discord, I kept reading the same thing in our insurance channels:
• "Two weeks after the restoration company came through my house, I got a quote that left out most of what I need."
• "The adjuster came through and forgot to put in most of what I need. What an idiot."
I started to wonder: could it be that ALL these adjusters are idiots? What are the chances?
Then I got a call from a whistleblower adjuster.
"Joy, it's not that the adjusters are idiots. They submit accurate estimates. The insurers alter them down before they reach you. Some are doing this across the board on Eaton and Palisades fire claims. They do it because unlike Florida, California doesn't require them to show you the original loss estimates."
I tucked that information away.
Then last fall, Consumer Watchdog's Carmen Balber and I spent months researching and building our wishlist of insurance reforms, which became our package of insurance reform bills at fixinsurance.org. SB 877 (Pérez) was modeled after Florida's statute. It does one simple thing: requires insurers to show policyholders the original loss estimate and any revisions made to it.
Last week, SB 877 passed the California State Senate. Here's the roll call:
Yes 34. No 0. Bipartisan and unanimous.
Let me tell you what SB 877 looks like in real life.
Rossana Valverde is a senior citizen in Altadena. She and her husband Sam's home was damaged by toxic contamination left behind by smoke. State Farm sent her a loss estimate of $40,000 and a check for that amount.
But someone made a mistake. They accidentally also sent her the original loss estimate from ServPro.
It was for $98,000.
The difference between those two numbers is the difference between whether Rossana and Sam can ever remediate and get back home.
That is not an accident of math. That is a system working exactly as designed. To underpay consumers by cheating us out of the insurance benefits we've already paid for.
SB 877 ends that. Simple, powerful, and long overdue.
Its passage is what sixteen months of showing up looks like.
Congratulations to Carmen. And to every one of you who shared your story in our Discord or through efsurvivors.net. SB 877 exists and our full insurance reform package exists because of what you told us.
SB 878 (Pérez) and SB 1301 (Allen) are heading to the Senate floor this week. If all three pass, it's on to the Assembly Insurance Committee. Watch this space.
A huge, heartfelt thanks to Senator Sasha Renée Pérez and Senator Ben Allen, who authored every one of these bills and fought for every single vote. I genuinely don't know where we would be without them. When the fires broke out, we happened to be represented by two senators who truly put consumers first. That's not something to take for granted.
Whistleblowers: if you have information about insurer training manuals, compensation plans, or internal claims practices, we want to hear from you. hello@efsurvivors.net
Webinar: Behind the Pulitzer Prize
Wednesday, June 3 · 7:00–8:30 PM · Free
Join Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Susie Neilson and Megan Fan Munce of the San Francisco Chronicle for a behind-the-scenes conversation on the groundbreaking reporting that exposed how major insurers systematically underinsured and underpaid California wildfire survivors. Their investigation, Burned, earned the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting.
I am very excited to host this conversation on what they uncovered about insurance practices after the fires, how insurers used hidden systems and algorithms to reduce payouts, what survivors should know about underinsurance and claims handling, and what they plan to continue investigating as California's insurance crisis unfolds.
Read Susie's and Megan's Pulitzer-winning investigations, with the receipts of how insurers have systematically underinsured us and underpaid our claims:
Invite survivor friends and networks. All Eaton and Palisades survivors and allies are warmly welcome.
Register now:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MF3ydPMRTwa-kDWR648EPg
Nation's First Insurer Performance Survey, By Insurer — Coming Soon
Thank you to all of you who have contributed ideas for our survivor insurance survey. I owe you an apology for the wait. I got pulled into the Sacramento debates over who should bear the financial burden of the fires that the three for-profit electric monopolies repeatedly cause. (Spoiler, and it gets spicy: it should be the shareholders and executives, not the survivors, ratepayers, and policyholders. The utilities, their lobbyists, and the consultants they share with the state have other ideas. That fight is very much ongoing.)
The survey is nearly ready, being refined with pro bono legal counsel to a small, high-impact set of questions. Once it launches, this will be the nation's first public, insurer-by-insurer record of wildfire insurance performance, released as open data so anyone can compare outcomes across thousands of households.
Watch your inboxes in early to mid June.
News Around the Recovery
The soil cleanup that wasn't quite finished. Tony Briscoe/LA Times. The EPA declared the Eaton fire cleanup a success this week, but new testing shows nearly 1 in 5 Altadena properties still exceed California's residential lead standard, with some sites nearly nine times the limit. I I call on federal officials to release the full report: "From the beginning, people have been very worried that they did not thoroughly clear these sites. Now 16 months later, people are taking it upon themselves to test or bioremediate to ensure it's safe to rebuild. It would've been much easier if homes had been cleared to safe levels the first time around."
Will Her Daughter Be Safe at Pali High? Emily Baumgaertner Nunn / NY Times. A Palisades mom navigates the impossible math of wildfire recovery: her smoke-damaged home, her daughter Pearl's senior year at Sears (the retrofitted department store standing in for Pali High), and the question no official can answer: when is it actually safe to go back? A heartbreaking and essential read for every family still living this. Thank you, Michelle Villemaire, for sharing your story.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/us/palisades-high-school-la-wildfires.html
Outside investors in Altadena: the real picture. Doug Smith/LA TImes. Developers now hold nearly half of vacant lots sold in Altadena, and some are building context-sensitive homes that neighbors actually like — but at $1.6 to $1.95 million a house, affordability remains the open question.
Survivors go to Sacramento. Jamie Kennedy/Spectrum News. DENA Rise Up, My Tribe Rise, NDLON, and EFRU bused 80+ Altadena survivors to Sacramento to fight for our insurance bills, urgent housing relief from Edison, AB 1642 and the CARE fund. This is what survivor advocacy looks like.
Community Events
Altadena Forever Community Picnic Saturday, May 30 · 3:00–6:00pm · Loma Alta Park, 3330 N. Lincoln Ave., Altadena Yoga, sound bowls, kids' zone, Dodger Dogs. Hosted by Supervisor Barger, LA County Parks & Recreation, and the Dodgers Foundation. Bring a chair or blanket. (424) 499-8448
Friends of the Altadena Library Annual Meeting with Paradise Mayor Steve Crowder Tuesday, June 2 · 6:00–7:30pm · Altadena Community Center The mayor who led Paradise through rebuilding after the 2018 Camp Fire comes to Altadena to share what he learned. Everyone is welcome. Space is limited. Register here.
Have an Eaton or Palisades survivor community event you'd like featured here? Send it to hello@efsurvivors.net
One More Thing: Please Vote ASAP
This is a crucially important election. I've voted. Have you?
Election Day is this Tuesday, June 2, but please don't wait. Vote today.
California is an all-mail ballot state. If you're registered, you received a ballot to your home address.
If you have your mail ballot: Sign and drop it in a ballot box or return by mail. No stamp needed.
If you're displaced and forwarding your mail: note that ballots do NOT get forwarded by USPS. If you have a mail forwarding order on file but have not updated your voter registration mailing address directly with the registrar, your ballot will be returned to the registrar.
If you don't have your ballot or you missed the May 18s a what registration deadline: walk into any Vote Center, register same-day, and vote.
Vote Centers open now through June 1, 10am–7pm. Election Day June 2: 7am–8pm.
• Altadena Community Center · 730 E. Altadena Dr. Pasadena City Hall · 100 N. Garfield Ave.
• Pacific Palisades Mobile Vote Center (Palisades Recovery Coalition - thank you PRC!) · 15233 La Cruz Dr. · May 23, 24, 25, 30, 31 · 8am–3pm only
More locations: locator.lavote.gov. Questions: (800) 815-2666
Keep your home address as your registered address unless you have permanently relocated. It keeps you in your original voting district.
SB 877 passed 34 to 0 because you told us what was happening to you. Your experience led to a whistleblower call, then a policy brief, then a bill — which we are fighting to make law.
Recovery follows the money. Together, step by step, we are moving the money so that every family has a real chance to get home.
That is what this community does.
Hugs,
Joy
The Every Fire Survivor's Network (EFSN) connects 10,000+ fire survivors and allies across Eaton, Palisades, Malibu, and Topanga. Together, we remove barriers and help families get home. Join us: efsurvivors.net
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