New bill would allow disaster survivors to claim over half of their losses

OREGON — State representatives will be working on passing a bill that will change the recovery process for disaster survivors to get more from their insurance companies at a faster rate and with less hassle.

House Bill 2982, if passed will allow fire and disaster survivors to get a 70% buyout from their insurance company instead of having to file inventory claims.

“If you still want to pursue an inventory to get the maximum amount from the insurance company you can certainly do that, we are not closing the door on that but we realized that for a lot of people, the inventory process was just exhausting,” said Rep. Pam Marsh, District 5.

Currently, all disaster survivors have to fill out a full inventory list of the possessions that they lost to their insurance company in hopes of receiving any form of compensation back for their loss.

“And frankly in many cases, they just walked away from money they could’ve claimed because they just couldn’t deal with the inventory,” Marsh continued.

On February 22, residents can express their feedback and give testimonies of how easy or difficult it was for them to garner settlements with their insurance companies via written statement or public comment virtually at the legislative meeting.

“We want legislators to really hear what it was like for people to go through this arduous process,” Marsh said. “We are expecting that we’ll have a good representation from fire survivors and we are also reaching out to other organizations that represent fire survivors.”

Once the meeting is over Marsh said their next plan is to have the bill pass through the committee onto the house floor and into the Senate.

The process will not be retroactive but will lay the groundwork for an easier process for the next disaster that may strike.

“Their testimony and experience for this for the record will are truly critical because it will enable us to change the law so that when we have the next disaster people will have an easier path to start the process of recovery,” Marsh said.

If you would like to comment or leave a written statement you can email Rep. Marsh: Rep.PamMarsh@oregonlegislature.gov