The Great Pumpkin's annual ascent from the sincerest patch is always a spectacle—but the 2025 vintage comes with a non-festive twist: a 35.8% spike in "ride" fares, leaving homeowners clutching their candy bags and wailing, "I got a rock!" (And no, Linus, faith alone won't cover the upcharge.)
As the leaves turn and jack-o’-lanterns flicker across California, October isn’t just about tricks, treats, and Snoopy doing his World War I flying ace impression. For rural families—especially in my Senate District 4—it’s when the line between “what happened” and “right now” gets blurrier than Charlie Brown’s ghost costume with the asymmetrical cut eyeholes.
Old promises we thought were set in stone pop up like Lucy pulling the football away again, only this time it’s your insurance bill.
In 1965, Los Angeles had riots and brush fires, and private insurance companies ran off faster than the kids when Violet offered “you blockhead” party invitations. So in 1968, the state put together the FAIR (Fair Access to Insurance Requirements) Plan—think of it as Linus’s blanket for people no one else would cover. It pooled a little money from every insurer to offer basic fire protection. No frills, no theft coverage, no “good vibes” liability—just enough to keep a roof over your head when the world was literally on fire.
It was meant for city blocks, not the wild foothills. For decades, it snoozed in the corner like Schroeder’s piano—barely noticed by rural families.
Fast-forward to 2025 and the sleepy banquet isn’t so cozy anymore. Wildfires rewrote the rules, and private companies bolted like the Peanuts gang when the lights go out at a Halloween party. State Farm, Allstate—they dropped millions of policies faster than Charlie Brown drops the football. By summer 2025, the FAIR Plan went from under 100,000 customers to 591,000—a 276% jump that turned a quiet sidekick into the star of a horror franchise.
My district is “Ground zero.” Nine counties in SD 4 rank in the state’s top ten for homes in the path of flames. In Calaveras and Tuolumne, FAIR Plan sign-ups doubled as insurers ghosted thousands. Premiums? Already twice the private market. It’s not growth—it’s the Peanuts version of Poltergeist: “They’re heeeere… and they brought a 35.8% rate hike!” January’s LA fires piled billions in claims onto the Plan’s $377 million piggy bank.
Officials are warning it’s “one bad fire season away from going bust.”
Consumer Watchdog’s Carmen Balber says survivors are “stuck in claims limbo” - like waiting for the Great Pumpkin that never shows. In remote Sierra towns, seniors are paying double for less coverage. It’s like trick-or-treating and getting a bill instead of candy.
And now, the October surprise: a 35.8% average rate hike (up to 60% in the riskiest ZIP codes), set to hit renewals after April Fools’ Day 2026. The San Francisco Chronicle mapped it out—half the customers face 40-55% jumps! It’s not an adjustment; it’s the moment in the movie when the ghost actually shows up behind Charlie Brown.
In Merced and Stanislaus, family farms are one premium spike away from foreclosure. One farmer told me, “Communities won’t survive!”
This 35.8% specter isn’t just a rate hike—it’s the moment Lucy permanently keeps the football. Some will say we always knew that was coming, but we still held out hope for Charlie Brown.
Senate District 4 stands haunted when it comes to property insurance, but we’re going to keep fighting against these rate hikes and for a sustainable insurance market, because good grief, someone has to!
State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, a Republican from Jackson, represents California’s 4th Senate District—13 counties from the Sierra Nevada to the Central Valley. And yes, she still believes in the Great Pumpkin… but not the FAIR Plan.
Originally Published in the California Globe.