Long Shots initiative may have a huge effect on CA insurance

From LevagsCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

The proposed vote initiative would drastically change the way ownership insurance was regulated in California by canceling voters of the law, adopted almost four decades ago.

Proposal 103 regulates residential, automotive and other types of ownership and victim insurance in the country since 1988. It requires insurance companies to seek approval by the selected insurance commissioner to raise their premiums and allow the members of the public to assess the increases.

The initiative – which experts call a long shot – would throw it all away. Insurance companies will not need the approval of the state to increase the premiums of the holders of their policies; The commissioner will be appointed by the governor instead of being selected; And the public will no longer be able to intervene in tariffs.

The independent insurance agent who presented the proposed measure, Elizabeth Hamak, writes that she “saw first -hand the dysfunction”, which prop. 103 is “It has become our country.” The hammock did not immediately respond to CalMatters’ request for an interview.

Danny Ritter, Vice President of the American Property Insurance Association, said that the insurance industry group did not participate in the preparation of the measure and “retains a judgment” while examining it.

In order to qualify for the vote in November 2026, the efforts of the initiative will have to collect more than half a million signatures by April.

If the initiative qualifies for a vote next year and is approved by voters, it can also throw a wrench in the insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara plan To try to repair the insurance market of the state, as insurers refused to renew policies or write new ones, as the risk of wild fire increased.

Lara has developed her plan around the boundaries of this insurance legislation, while giving the insurance industry certain discounts, such as allowing them to use catastrophes and take into account their costs of reinsurance in determining their tariffs. In return, the insurance department asks the insurers to retain or increase their policies In areas viewed with high fire riskS The implementation of the plan began this year.

The insurance department did not immediately answer questions about the proposal or how it would affect Lara’s plan.

The consumer keeper, based in Los Angeles, the intercession group whose founder wrote Prop. 103 mostly to deal with rising car insurance prices, said in a statement that the proposal seems to be not a “serious” or well-funded campaign. The group also quotes a report This has found a prop. 103 has saved California drivers more than $ 150 billion for car insurance over the years as well as a Poll This has found users to blame insurance companies for growing premiums.

“We are confident voters want more accountability than insurance companies,” Carmen Balber, CEO of the group, told Calmatters. She said the cancellation of prop. 103 “will mean speed of prices for home and car insurance policies.”

Amy Bach, CEO of UNITED POLICY POLICERS, based in San Francisco, said that while prop. 103 has “important consumer protection”, the intervention process has led to a delay in approval-from which insurers have long complained-and political pressure that has contributed to the problematic insurance market in California.

“I do not give the measure to vote a high degree of success,” Bach said. “People are not satisfied with the escalation of bonuses.”

Another consumer advocacy group says prop. 103 has helped maintain the California prices for home and car insurance lower than the national average.

The Federation of Users of America, an organization for research and advocacy based in Washington, “has been studying state insurance markets for decades, and this initiative would create the regulatory system used in countries that have observed some of the most dramatic rates in the whole country,” says Douglas Heller, director of the insurance group.

Heller added that California was not alone in straightening an insurance crisis and that “removing the supervision of insurance companies at this point would be to turn off the fire service in the middle of the flame.”

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.