During Thursday's breakfast session at the 2025 Big “I" Legislative Conference, Rep. Scott Peters (D-California) highlighted bipartisan efforts to tackle catastrophic wildfires and climate risk, emphasizing pragmatic solutions like H.R. 471, the “Fix Our Forests Act of 2025," amid rising political and environmental pressures.

Rep. Peters serves California's 50th Congressional District, which includes the cities of Coronado, San Marcos, Escondido and San Diego. First elected in 2012, he currently serves as a senior member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Budget Committee.

He focuses on advancing practical and critical climate policies, such as risk mitigation efforts to address wildfire and other natural disasters. He is also a member of Problem Solvers Caucus and, as Nathan Riedel, Big “I" senior vice president of federal government affairs, said before welcoming Rep. Peters to the stage, “is never afraid to work across party lines to get things done."

“At a tremendously partisan time, I want to tell you a bipartisan story," Rep. Peters began, going on to tell the story of working on bipartisan disaster mitigation legislation, which stemmed from a chance meeting with House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas) on an airplane.

Together, they have introduced several bills including the Fix Our Forests Act of 2025, which the House passed with a bipartisan vote of 279-141 in January.

The bill aims to improve forest management, reduce wildfire risk and protect critical infrastructure through enhanced federal, state, tribal and local collaboration. It also seeks to eliminate legal and regulatory obstacles, streamline forest management projects and encourage active management to protect powerlines and other critical infrastructure.

Earlier this year, California experienced some of its most destructive wildfires on record. Combined, the Palisades and Eaton fires in the Los Angeles area destroyed over 10,000 structures and burned more than 30,000 acres, according to the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I). Verisk estimates insured losses from the Palisades fire will range between $20 billion and $25 billion, and losses from the Eaton fire will range between $8 billion and $10 billion.

“Fires are natural in forests and we have passed the point where they're natural—they have become catastrophic," Rep. Peters said. “The Fix Our Forest Act will restore that … it will really help us get ahead of this problem."

Meanwhile, Rep. Peters, who National Journal ranks as the 4th most independent Democrat in Congress, warned against the impact the Trump administration's tariffs will have on consumers—including the insurance market—disagreeing with Rep. Scalise (R-Louisiana), who addressed attendees earlier that morning.

“These tariffs are not going to make it easier for any of us," he said. “In San Diego, we have a critical housing supply problem. It doesn't help to put tariffs on our friends in Canada for soft lumber or on drywall coming from Mexico—and I know that's not going to help insurance rates."

Further, with various federal programs touted to be on the chopping block, Rep. Peters said that he is “not very excited about the approach so far," pointing to the importance of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which provides data on risk assessments and weather extremes for the insurance industry.

Will Jones is IA editor-in-chief.