byMatthew Kupfer :sfstandard – excerpt
It happened like clockwork.
On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order calling for swift action to expand insurance coverage options for consumers. Hours later, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara outlined what he termed “the largest insurance reform” in decades.
The regulation, to be drafted by the end of 2024, would allow insurance companies to use controversial forward-looking modeling in setting rates in return for covering more Californians living in areas with the most wildfire risk.
The strategy took direct aim at a rapidly growing problem in the state and a serious liability for political leaders: dwindling access to homeowners insurance.
Newsom took executive action after an 11th-hour bill to alleviate the state’s insurance woes died in the legislature earlier this month.
But the new strategy unveiled by Lara cannot legally alter California’s regulatory framework: Proposition 103, a powerful law passed by voters in 1988 that has governed insurance for over three decades. But it may undermine it…(more)