Jane Kim explains why she should be California’s next Insurance Commissioner | CA Politics 360
Jane Kim, an attorney and former San Francisco Supervisor, is running to be California’s next insurance commissioner.
For the first time, voters will decide between two Democrats for the statewide office, as Kim faces State Senator Ben Allen in the general election in November. The two are vying for the position as California faces a homeowners insurance crisis and as the state continues to grapple with the loss of several private insurance companies following devastating wildfires.
Kim sat down for a wide-ranging conversation about her campaign on California Politics 360.
“I’m running for an office which oversees a $3.3 trillion insurance industry. It’s the most important job that many Californians haven’t heard of,” Kim said. “The role of this office is to be the watchdog for everyday Californians. For consumers, it’s really the only backstop between the industry and making sure that, that they’re playing fairly, by the rules and that also we have affordable and available insurance,” Kim said.
She highlighted her 20 years of experience as an organizer, civil rights attorney, and elected official, including her time on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and school board. Most recently, Kim has been working with the Working Families Party, which is a political group made up of labor unions and more progressive-leaning advocates.
“I’ve really spent my whole life dedicated to championing consumers, and fighting for rules and, programs that really make this economy work for all of us,” she said.
When asked repeatedly if she has any direct experience with the insurance industry, Kim did not directly respond but described her interpretation of the role of the insurance commissioner.
“I think that there is often sometimes there’s a misunderstanding about what this job actually is. This job is the consumer watchdog office. It is a leadership and policy role to help make the system work for everyday people. That is what I’ve dedicated my career to as a civil rights attorney, as a legislator,” she said.
Kim outlined her priorities if elected, saying her first action would involve understanding the agency’s operations and leadership.
“My first action wouldn’t be that sexy,” she said. “I, essentially, I’m running to be a head of a public agency. And so we would have to invest our time getting to know the organization, the senior leadership, and and how it functions. The goal that I have running for this office is to make insurance affordable, to make it available, and to make sure that claims are fast and fair,” she said.
At the center of Kim’s campaign is a push to establish a state program for universal natural disaster insurance. The program would still partially rely on private insurance companies to help administer the insurance. Kim pointed to examples of this in other countries such as France, Spain, and New Zealand.
“What’s so interesting about these programs is that they use some of the capital that’s generated from the premiums, and they use it to actually drive down risk, to invest in prevention of fireproofing and flood proofing. So instead of just pricing it, they actually invest some of the capital in preventing it,” she said.
When asked how she would ensure private insurers would buy in to the program, she argued that such a program could stabilize the market for insurers and consumers.
“I actually think that this is the only solution to stabilizing the market for insurers and for consumers. We will essentially the state be taking on, in some ways what is considered the riskiest part of the portfolio for the private market, which is increasing climate disaster,” she said. “If anything, I think that this would drive more insurers to come back to the state of California because they would continue to provide home insurance for all of the other kind of garden variety: burglaries in the home, the flood from your water pipes, the fire in your kitchen. The piece the state would take on is disaster.”
When asked about the cost of this program, Kim could not say.
“It is a big program, and it couldn’t happen in one fell swoop. It would have to be staged. There would be a period of capitalization so that we could grow a reserve as large as what the private market has today. We would, of course, want the private market to participate in this and buy into it as well to help us get there” Kim said.
California’s current Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara spent years changing regulations to allow private insurers to use catastrophe modeling when setting rates. In exchange, those insurance companies agree to provide coverage in higher wildfire-risk areas.
Kim said she would build upon that work.
“The current model right now does nothing about risk. It just prices it. We’re not addressing the fact that there’s $1 billion storm every three weeks. We’re not figuring out how to generate revenue. And then plow it back into our communities and community wide resiliency infrastructure that actually would prevent the damage from actually happening,” Kim said.
Candidate for California governor Xavier Becerra has said he would declare a state of emergency to freeze insurance rates if elected. Earlier this year during an insurance candidate commissioner forum ahead of the primary election, every candidate said he does not have the authority to do that, except Kim.
Kim changed her response to the question in the interview with California Politics 360.
“He can’t freeze the rates,” Kim said. “That’s not an authority granted to the governor’s office.”
“I’m really excited to work with the next governor of California to figure out how we fix this crisis and whether that is the right pathway to do so. I think it’s more the indication that he understands that this is a crisis and he wants to do something,” Kim said.
When asked what makes her different from Senator Allen, Kim said “Many of the candidates that were running for the seat are telling you that they are the best person to drive this broken car down the highway, that the hold it all together. It’s falling apart.”
“But I actually want to repair it. I’m running on a very unique and ambitious platform that is talking about a public, nonprofit disaster for all program. I want to expand our already existing, low cost, nonprofit auto insurance program, and I want to guarantee health care for every child in California,” she said.
Kim concluded by expressing her excitement for the campaign and her endorsements from teachers, nurses, SEIU California, and other leaders. “Our message of fighting for affordability, to make this economy work for all of us is resonating across the state,” she said.
KCRA 3 Political Director Ashley Zavala reports in-depth coverage of top California politics and policy issues. She is also the host of “California Politics 360.” Get informed each Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on KCRA 3.