He lost his home to a fire, but plans to fix the insurance system.

By Merritt Farron, especially for CalMatters

This comment was originally posted by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

Guest Comment written by

More than a year after the devastating wildfires in Southern California, CalMatters asked candidates for the 2026 state insurance commissioner race to share thoughts on what the state can do to help victims and stabilize insurers. Read each candidate’s answers here.

When my family home burned in the Palisades fire last year, my community suffered a second trauma – navigating a completely broken insurance system that is failing consumers and insurers.

Premiums are skyrocketing, coverage is disappearing and claims processing too often adds insult to injury rather than help.

Determined to turn tragedy into progress—and to show my two sons that the best response to adversity is to create change that protects others—I became involved in State Farm’s interest rate proceedings as a consumer advocate. This experience has led me to work non-stop since June 2025 with the insurance industry and consumer protection experts to develop solutions to California’s insurance crisis.

California is the innovation capital of the world, but our government has failed to deliver the innovation our insurance system desperately needs. Millions of families, homeowners and businesses can’t get the insurance they need. Those who can get it face exorbitant prices as service deteriorates.

The role of the Insurance Commissioner is very demanding. Success requires deep expertise in business, technology and law. I bring exactly that combination from my career at Amazon and Disney. At these companies, we’ve tackled huge challenges with bold thinking, technology and a relentless focus on the customer. This is what California’s insurance system needs — not tweaks around the edges or more political posturing, but fundamental reform that works for consumers and insurers.

Here is my plan as Insurance Commissioner:

First, I would lead a technology-driven reinvention of our insurance regulations. I would redo the outdated rules from the ground up, not by adding more layers that don’t work. By using advanced technology, we can expand insurance options, lower costs and strengthen consumer protections while creating a more predictable, welcoming environment that brings insurers – large and small – back to California.

Second, I would implement CAL Reinsure, a plan I developed to replace the failed FAIR plan. The FAIR plan is on life support and has become part of the problem. CAL Reinsure removes catastrophic community fire risk from individual insurers and places it with a dedicated reinsurance authority – modeled after successful programs used by Florida for hurricanes, the UK for floods and the federal government after 9/11 for terrorism risk.

This will make it attractive and financially viable for insurers to rewrite standard home policies for all Californians. It also mandates full payment of insured recovery amounts within 30 days of a total loss, ending the trauma of “delay and rejection” so families can rebuild quickly.

Third, I would provide aggressive leadership on community safety and key cost drivers. I would establish minimum community protection standards for cities and counties to reduce fires and other risks.

At the same time, I would go line by line — homeowners, auto, business and health insurance — to expose and attack fraud, waste and other hidden costs that drive up premiums and threaten families’ financial security.

Candidate guest comments are published in the order they are received.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.