R.J. Lehmann

1 month ago | laweconcenter.org | R.J. Lehmann

Why California’s Plan to Harden Homes Against Wildfires is Broken ICLE’s work on California’s Prop 103 was mentioned in this San Francisco Chronicle piece. Read full story here.

2 months ago | laweconcenter.org | R.J. Lehmann

Ray Lehmann, editor in chief at ICLE, was quoted in this E&E News story about FEMA’s insurance program running out of funds. Read full article here. The federal program that provides most of the nation’s flood insurance has run out of money to pay claims, forcing it to borrow $2 billion from taxpayers. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which runs the program, said Monday that claims worth billions of dollars due to catastrophic hurricanes in 2024 “have depleted” the program’s reserves.

2 months ago | laweconcenter.org | R.J. Lehmann

Ray Lehmann, editor-in-chief and senior fellow at ICLE, shared perspective on this Reason story about a proposed bill in California that would allow individuals and insurers to sue oil companies for wild fire damages. Read the full article here. The bill is “a twist on preexisting California law that allows insurers to collect from public utilities if there’s any nexus between wildfire and utility lines,” says Ray Lehman, a senior fellow at the International Center for Law and Economics.

Jan 23, 2025 | laweconcenter.org | R.J. Lehmann

R.J. Lehmann, editor and chief and senior fellow at ICLE, shared perspective in The Dispatch on the regulatory challenges with homeowners’ insurance in the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires. Read the full story here. “Regulators have two roles, R.J. Lehmann, editor-in-chief for the International Center for Law & Economics, told Bloomberg: to make sure insurers are solvent, and to protect consumers. Insurers sometimes need to be saved from themselves.

Jan 17, 2025 | laweconcenter.org | R.J. Lehmann

Ray Lehmann, editor-in-chief and senior fellow at ICLE, contributed to this Al Jazeera story on the L.A. wildfires. Read the full article here. In 2017, the Thomas Fire razed 1,060 structures in California’s Ventura and Santa Barbara. In July 2018, the Mendocino Complex Fire destroyed 280 structures in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa and Glenn counties, and in November 2018, the Camp Fire destroyed almost 19,000 buildings in Northern California’s Butte County.