{"id":491351,"date":"2026-10-10T08:28:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T08:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/491351\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T08:28:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T08:28:35","slug":"ca-to-elect-insurance-commissioner-at-crucial-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/491351\/","title":{"rendered":"CA to elect insurance commissioner at crucial time"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Levi Sumagaysay<\/a>, CalMatters<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\""Three\"
\n\t\t\t\tCalMatters reporter Levi Sumagaysay, center, moderates a conversation between insurance commissioner candidates Jane Kim, far left, and Ben Allen, far right, during the \u201cCan California Fix Its Insurance Crisis? The Candidates Weigh In\u201d event co-hosted by CalMatters and UC Student and Policy Center in Sacramento on Oct. 8, 2026. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by CalMatters<\/a>. Sign up<\/a> for their newsletters.<\/p>\n

Bernie Sanders. Jane Fonda. There\u2019s some star power endorsing each of the two Democratic candidates to be California\u2019s next insurance commissioner.<\/p>\n

Sure, it has historically been a little-known regulatory position. But its profile and importance are rising after a decade of some of the most destructive and deadliest wildfires in the state, which have disrupted one of the world\u2019s largest insurance markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not a homeowner? The commissioner’s actions still affect your wallet<\/a> if you’re a renter<\/a>, driver, pet owner, landlord, business owner, buyer of life insurance or possible user of workers’ compensation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If voters elect Jane Kim, the former San Francisco supervisor is proposing a drastic change that could have come out of the playbook of Sanders, her most famous backer: public disaster insurance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If state Sen. Ben Allen<\/a> wins, the movie star-backed candidate wants to get everyone on board to help reduce wildfire risk \u2014 individuals, communities, fire experts, local and state officials and the insurance industry \u2014 which he says would help solve the availability and affordability issues around homeowners insurance.<\/p>\n

Voters are deciding between two candidates with a lot in common, including extensive track records of consumer advocacy, but who are offering very different ways of trying to solve the state\u2019s insurance problems. At a debate between them moderated by CalMatters on Thursday, Kim characterized her opponent as offering to \u201ctinker\u201d and uphold the status quo, while Allen referred to Kim\u2019s plans as \u201ctotally unprecedented and unmoored.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The commissioner leads the Insurance Department, whose responsibilities include approving how much insurers can charge customers for property and casualty insurance, such as home, auto, commercial, renters, pet and travel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few years ago, some insurance companies stopped writing or renewing homeowner policies in areas with high fire risk, saying the state wasn\u2019t approving their rate requests quickly enough so their prices weren\u2019t matching the risk. That pushed homeowners into the FAIR Plan, a pool of insurers required to sell policies to those who can\u2019t buy them from the regular market. The plan\u2019s policies are generally more expensive and provide less coverage.<\/p>\n

Last year, Commissioner Ricardo Lara rolled out new regulations that include faster rate reviews \u2014 when the Insurance Department looks at an insurer\u2019s request to charge more money \u2014 and letting insurance companies factor reinsurance and catastrophe models into their rates. The department says the new rules are working because some insurers have said they plan to write more policies in the state again, though the state has not shared how many<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new rules are generally leading to higher prices. Homeowners insurance rates in California rose 5% in the first half of the year, one of the largest increases in the nation, according to Insurify<\/a>, a comparison site.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, average auto insurance premiums in the state are among the highest in the nation<\/a> as replacement costs have gone up with the cost of vehicles. Both candidates said they hope to increase awareness of a state program that provides low-cost auto insurance to low-income drivers; Kim wants to expand it.<\/p>\n

The Insurance Department reviews insurer practices and conducts investigations, though it\u2019s limited in what it can order companies to do, as survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires in January 2025 have found as they struggle to rebuild<\/a> partly because of insurance-claim delays and denials.<\/p>\n

The candidates\u2019 records<\/p>\n

One of the candidates was in a position to take action on the issue: The governor recently signed Allen\u2019s Senate Bill 1209<\/a>, which increases the commissioner\u2019s ability to compel insurers to fix problems the department finds after an investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, the department found that State Farm violated the law<\/a> in its handling of claims from last year\u2019s fires in the Los Angeles area and recommended penalties, but the case has yet to go to a hearing. Although the law Allen authored, which was co-sponsored by Lara, is not retroactive, it should give the future commissioner additional power to hold insurers more accountable.<\/p>\n

Democratic state Senate President Pro Tem Monique Lim\u00f3n<\/a> is among many fellow lawmakers endorsing Allen in the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said the senator, who represents the Palisades, \u201cjumped into action the second he heard about the fire.\u201d That meant assessing the situation, rallying his staff and going to his district immediately afterward, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the start to now, he has been active,\u201d Lim\u00f3n said. \u201cHe has authored legislation, held town halls and brought stakeholders together.\u201d<\/p>\n

She worked with him on the climate bond that voters approved in 2024 that is now helping fund water infrastructure, wildfire prevention and more. Allen, who also authored a landmark plastics law to reduce pollution that continues to face blowback<\/a>, has been a champion of the environment \u2014 hence the support from Fonda\u2019s climate political action committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been able to land some of these difficult deals,\u201d Lim\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n

Allen has been a state senator since 2014 and is terming out. In his last legislative session, he\u00a0 authored two other laws that will affect the insurance market: One<\/a> will establish a state-backed loan program for homeowners to upgrade and harden their homes against fire. The other<\/a> will require insurers to give homeowners more details if they\u2019re planning to drop their coverage, and give homeowners time to fix the issues to try to retain their insurance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis law\u2019s going to help people help existing coverage, and keep them off the FAIR Plan,\u201d Allen told CalMatters. \u201cWe have to think about holistic solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim has not held an elected office since 2019. Her most recent jobs were California director for the Working Families Party, and before that, California political director for Sanders\u2019 2020 presidential campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A fellow former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors recalled Kim\u2019s impact during her time there. It includes helping pass the first $15 minimum wage ordinance in the state, securing tenant protections and providing free community college for the city\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to witness for eight years a woman that was tenacious and relentless,\u201d said Malia Cohen, the state controller who\u2019s running for another term<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cohen said she and Kim represented different districts in San Francisco and sometimes had opposing priorities: \u201cShe has been my enemy and my friend.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She recalled working with Kim to \u201cban the box\u201d that formerly incarcerated people used to have to check on job applications, a city ordinance that became a model for the state.<\/p>\n

At a rally last week in San Francisco where Sanders campaigned for Proposition 40<\/a>, the billionaire wealth tax, Kim delivered a speech in which she chalked up her grit to her mother and being drawn to public service from her father, both immigrants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\""Three\"From left, insurance commissioner candidate Jane Kim, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna join hands and wave to supporters during a “Ballots Over Billionaires” rally at the Curran Theater in San Francisco on Oct. 3, 2026. Photo by Manuel Orbegozo for CalMatters<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother taught me to negotiate relentlessly in a world that did not see her, and it is what allowed me to walk into a room full of older white men and demand 40% affordable and middle-income housing,\u201d Kim said, referring to her dealings with developers in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe passed legislation in San Francisco that has shaped the California landscape,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n

The candidates\u2019 platforms<\/p>\n

Kim and Allen have a lot in common. Each has promised to be tough on the insurance industry, including by pushing for insurer transparency and creating public report cards for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both candidates have support from different labor, environmental and civil rights groups. But with two Democrats vying for the position for the first time, the endorsements reflect the divide within the party<\/a> that has been highlighted by the victories of progressive candidates elsewhere, such as that of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The California Democratic Party endorsed Allen, while the California Labor Federation endorsed Kim. Both U.S. senators from California, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, endorsed Allen. U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, the Democrat from Silicon Valley who has long been aligned with Sanders, endorsed Kim.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Jane is a strong progressive,\u201d Khanna told CalMatters in San Francisco earlier this week. \u201cShe understands that the big oil companies should be paying for the extreme conditions that are causing wildfires in California.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s proposal for public disaster insurance, which she said would be funded by premiums policyholders already pay to insurance companies, would allow consumers to keep their existing coverage. It would split off fire and flood coverage. The state would run the program and could invest some of the revenue from premiums into wildfire risk mitigation and not into the fossil-fuel industry like insurance companies do, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s plan aligns with proposals by experts<\/a> who say the current insurance model is failing because of growing risks, and that public involvement<\/a> is the answer. A report<\/a> by the California Earthquake Authority, which was tasked with studying how the state can boost its catastrophe resiliency, includes an analysis of a state-backed wildfire insurer.<\/p>\n

The insurance industry and some consumer advocates have slammed her plan, saying it\u2019s a bad idea to shift catastrophic burden to the state. A San Francisco Chronicle endorsement<\/a> of Allen said Kim would \u201cblow up\u201d the insurance system during a time when the regulations Lara implemented last year need more time to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kim said onstage at the rally with Sanders in San Francisco last week: \u201cThey will tell us our ideas are too expensive or magical thinking, but the status quo is not the safest path. It is the most expensive one.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has pointed to New Zealand\u2019s public disaster system as an example. At the debate on Thursday, Allen voiced a frequent criticism: The coverage that system provides is limited and doesn\u2019t include wildfire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat matters is not the type of catastrophe but that we are covering catastrophe, and that we would work to cover up to a median price of a home,\u201d Kim responded. She said New Zealand covers catastrophes that exist in their country, like mudslides and earthquakes.<\/p>\n

Kim also wants to create a public option for low-cost auto insurance by expanding the state\u2019s existing program for low-income drivers. Allen says that would allow drivers who have more resources to take advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s plan for comprehensive wildfire risk mitigation \u2014 which the recent earthquake authority\u2019s report analyzed, too \u2014 would include pushing the insurance industry to do more than \u201cpay lip service\u201d to reducing fire risk. Some homeowners have complained that their home-hardening efforts haven\u2019t led to significant savings on their premiums, or ensured that they will be able to buy affordable insurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commissioner is uniquely positioned to force the industry to the table to be a part of the solution, to help to incentivize and reward real, meaningful resilience and risk reduction all over the state,\u201d he told CalMatters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the debate, Allen said his approach is \u201cgrounded in the realities we\u2019re facing now, and how we actually fix the system as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen has said his plan includes thinking about mitigation as early as the development process. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be building new construction that is irresponsible in high-risk areas,\u201d he said earlier this year, before he and Kim ended up being the top two vote-getters<\/a> in the June primary election.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on CalMatters<\/a> and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a> license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Levi Sumagaysay, CalMatters CalMatters reporter Levi Sumagaysay, center, moderates a conversation between insurance commissioner candidates Jane Kim,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[36944,7,9,8,383,35072,3002],"class_list":["post-491351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-bernie-sanders","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-economy","tag-election-2026","tag-insurance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491351","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=491351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}