California FAIR Plan secrets: Why the state's insurer of last resort is so secretive

Since the LA fires on January 7, much more attention has been put on the California FAIR Plan, the state's fire insurer of last resort. Once thought of as a small, rarely-used backstop, the plan is now one of the largest in the state. Yet, it's also one of the most secretive insurers in California, able to withhold more information than even the private companies that run it.

This may not have mattered much when the plan was small and needed little oversight. But new rules passed last September mean that anyone with property insurance will now pay to cover the FAIR plan's debts.

"The reason all of us should care is that we're now on the hook, all of us, in case the FAIR Plan runs out of money," said Dave Jones, California's Insurance Commissioner from 2011-2018.

The plan did run out