For decades, Oregon had only a few hundred million in insurance losses by the decade for all sorts of natural disasters — winter storms, floods and wildfires.

But in the first few years of this decade, there’s already been almost $3 billion in wildfire insured losses and more than $4 billion in insured losses overall, said Oregon’s Insurance Commissioner Andrew Stolfi. “That’s more than four times the last 40 years combined,” Stolfi said on OPB’s “Think Out Loud.”

Many homeowners in Central Oregon know what the result has been for their home insurance. It has gone up or been canceled.

The Legislature is working on solutions it hopes will bring property owners some relief. We want to single out a bill from state Rep. Emerson Levy, D-Bend, that had a public hearing on Tuesday. House Bill 3089 would redefine wildfire risk for the purposes of insurance.

Now if that doesn’t sound like much, you are right. It doesn’t lower anybody’s insurance. It doesn’t reduce any wildfire risk. What it does do is set a stage for later changes that might help.

Today, all fires covered by insurance in Oregon are essentially the same. The bill puts wildfire in a separate category. It could make wildfire insurance more like earthquake insurance. It could be a separate connected policy.

If the bill passes, and after other changes, it could be that insurers would be able to offer separate wildfire insurance policies tailored more to an individual homeowner’s circumstance. Insurers might offer tiers of insurance making some options more affordable to people.

This change is not a savior for people who have homes in areas of high wildfire risk. They may pay more, no matter what. They likely are going to need solutions beyond Levy’s bill. Levy’s bill, though, looks like a step toward ensuring some people in Oregon can insure their homes at more reasonable rates.