![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_XM_210721_DixieFire__3_1_C5OT0GG1_L825478009.JPG\" "\\"The")
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The Dixie Fire burns near Highway 70 on July 21, 2021, in the Feather River canyon in Plumas County. <\/p>\n
Xavier Mascare\u00f1as<\/p>\n
Sacramento Bee file<\/p>\n
As California has responded year after year to devastating wildfires, it has become impossible to ignore persistent problems plaguing the state\u2019s insurance system<\/a>. In particular, the fires that struck Southern California in January 2025 exposed outdated regulatory constraints unable to cope with escalating climate risks. Left to suffer were homeowners and businesses.<\/p>\n Major insurers, including State Farm and Allstate, announced they would stop issuing new homeowners policies and declined to renew many existing ones. This abrupt shift forced countless Californians to turn to the California FAIR Plan<\/a> \u2014 a last-resort, high-cost insurance pool that was never intended to be the main option for so many residents.<\/p>\n It\u2019s apparent to the board that Californians must elect an insurance commissioner who understands the intricacies of the insurance industry \u2014 and who can bring real-world expertise to reforming a system in urgent need of repair.<\/p>\n With those qualifications in mind, we endorse Patrick Wolff, a financial analyst and a licensed property and casualty insurance agent. We believe his experience equip him to foster a resilient, consumer-focused insurance ecosystem in California.<\/p>\n Ten people in all filed to run for insurance commissioner, including Ben Allen,<\/a> a state senator, a thoughtful legislator and former chair of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.<\/a> Also running is Steven Bradford<\/a>, who served in the California Assembly and senate. Allen and Bradford are impressive people whose legislative experience and public advocacy skills are notable. However, much more than political credentials is required of the insurance commissioner.<\/p>\n The job demands the ability to tackle complex regulatory challenges head-on.<\/p>\n That should include modernization of Proposition 103, the landmark 1988 ballot measure governing insurance rates<\/a> and oversight. Decades-old rules are failing to keep pace with the complex realities of California\u2019s climate and insurance markets.<\/p>\n Leading with thoughtful expertise<\/p>\n Wolff brings more than 25 years of business and financial experience, much of it rooted in insurance and financial markets.<\/p>\n In the early 2000s, he built a home and auto insurance brokerage business at a major bank, gaining hands\u2011on experience with customers, carriers and the mechanics of the market. Over the past two decades, he has excelled as a financial analyst, scrutinizing industry trends, including those specific to the insurance sector.<\/p>\n This blend of operational and analytical expertise closely aligns with the technical demands of the insurance commissioner\u2019s job.<\/p>\n Wolff impressed with his clear-eyed vision for retooling California\u2019s insurance landscape.<\/p>\n \u201cThe job of insurance commissioner is to regulate all of our insurance markets, and that\u2019s what I really want to hone in on,\u201d Wolff told us.<\/p>\n He said he is driven by a desire to advocate for millions of Californians struggling with soaring insurance costs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a question of bold or not bold,\u201d Wolff said. \u201cIt\u2019s a question of, is it really thoughtful, and does it really function in the way you want it to? Unintended consequences are one of the fundamental facts of regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolff wants to empower consumers by making critical information and data readily accessible.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to create a program that takes data that already exists at the Department of Insurance. \u2014 called market conduct annual surveys \u2014 and makes (it) public so that customers are empowered,\u201d Wolff said. \u201cIt\u2019s not enough to trust the market. It\u2019s not enough to regulate the market. You have to verify. You have to look at California and compare us to all the other states around us.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolff is a former national chess champion<\/a> who, in January 2025, played nine opponents at once at Sacramento\u2019s Capitol Park. California\u2019s insurance crisis will be an even more daunting opponent for Wolff if he is elected.<\/p>\n BEHIND THE STORY MORE <\/a> What are editorials, and who writes them? <\/p>\n Editorials represent the collective views of the editorial boards of McClatchy Media\u2019s California opinion teams.<\/p>\n They do not reflect the individual opinions of board members or the views of reporters in the news sections of The Sacramento Bee and its sister publication, the San Luis Obispo Tribune. Reporters do not participate in editorial board deliberations or weigh in on board decisions.<\/p>\n In Sacramento, the board includes Executive Editor Chris Fusco, California Opinion Editor Marcos Breton, opinion writers Robin Epley, Tom Philp, LeBron Antonio Hill, Cathie Anderson and op-ed editor Hannah Holzer.<\/p>\n In San Luis Obispo, it includes Opinion Editor Stephanie Finucane.<\/p>\n We base our opinions on reporting by our colleagues in the news section, and our own reporting and interviews. Our members attend public meetings, call people and follow-up on story ideas from readers just as news reporters do.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read more by clicking the arrow in the upper right.<\/p>\n Tell us what you think <\/p>\n You may or may not agree with our perspective. We believe disagreement is healthy and necessary for a functioning democracy. If you would like to share your own views on events important to California, you may write a letter to the editor (150 words or less) using this form<\/a>, or email an op-ed (650-750 words) to opinion@sacbee.com<\/a>. Due to a high volume of submissions, we are not able to publish everything we receive.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dixie Fire burns near Highway 70 on July 21, 2021, in the Feather River canyon in Plumas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-297903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}