Key Issues

Protecting Californian's, Workers Compensation. Wild Fire Insurance & Better health Resources

“California is facing challenges in the insurance market and you’re not alone.
Meet your new Insurance commissioner Dr. Vinson Eugene Allen”

California Wildfires

Addressing the impact of wildfire to protect the availability and affordability of homeowner’s insurance

Leverage the State of California’s unprecedented budget surplus to address fire prevention at the local level by expanding and streamlining CAL Fire Grant Programs.

 

  • Budget surplus estimates $68 Billion dollars
  • There are many programs related to prevention to lower the cost of home insurance or reduce the non-renewal of home insurance policies in high fire areas
    • CAL FIRE’s Wildfire Prevention Grants Program
    • CAL FIRE’s Wildfire Resilience Grants Program

 

Project Types and Activities – Qualifying projects and activities include those related to hazardous fuels reduction, wildfire prevention planning, and wildfire prevention education with an emphasis on improving public health and safety while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

 

CAL FIRE’s Wildfire Prevention Grants Program provides funding for fire prevention projects and activities in and near fire threatened communities that focus on increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities.

 

CAL FIRE’s Wildfire Resilience Grants Program provides a block grant to allow prospective grantees the ability to provide a program of financial and technical forestry assistance to nonindustrial forest landowners, where the grantee serves as the supervising entity, receives the grant from CAL FIRE and then provides outreach and/or technical/financial assistance to landowners so they can conduct forest restoration or management activities on their property. In 2020, CAL FIRE awarded $2.2M to two grantees in an initial pilot program.

Work with the Governor to secure resources to manage vegetation and ignition points within the Wildland-Urban Interface, the area where homes and other structures abut or intermingle with wildland vegetation.

The Vegetation Management Program (VMP) is a cost-sharing program that focuses on the use of prescribed fire, and some mechanical means, for addressing wildland fire fuel hazards and other resource management issues on State Responsibility Area (SRA) lands. The use of prescribed fire mimics natural processes restores fire to its historic role in wildland ecosystems, and provides significant fire hazard reduction benefits that enhance public and firefighter safety.

State Responsibility Area (SRA) is where the State of California has the primary financial responsibility for the prevention and suppression of wildland fires

Ensure and enforce actuarily sound insurance premiums to properly reflect the risk of home ownership in environmentally sensitive wildland spaces

  • Increase enforcement of actuarily sound homeowner’s insurance rates, especially the FAIR Plan rates
  • Create a 3rd party auditor of insurance rates

 

Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plans, or FAIR Plans, were established in the 1960s to provide homeowner’s insurance to people who cannot get insurance through the traditional marketplace. The California FAIR Plan Association, a pool of all insurers that are allowed to sell basic property insurance, also provides fire insurance to homeowners who have either lost coverage or are unable to find insurance in the voluntary market. California’s FAIR Plan is a last resort option.

 

It is in statue that rates for the FAIR Plan shall not be excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory, and shall be actuarially sound so that premiums are adequate to cover expected losses, expenses, and taxes, and shall reflect investment income of the plan. The devastating fire seasons in 2017 and 2018 led to a surge in new FAIR Plan policies as insurers in the voluntary market nonrenewed policyholders in fire-prone areas, according to the California Department of Insurance. Homeowners who have turned to the FAIR Plan Association for wildfire coverage have had to purchase “difference-in-conditions” policies from carriers in the voluntary market to cover liabilities not addressed in the plan’s wildfire-only policies. These plans are expensive and may not be actuarily sound.

 

I proposed an audit, which is under the authority of the Commissioner to pursue. The audit would be performed by the California State Auditor to ensure that homeowners insurance rates, which may have been artificially suppressed by Dave Jones and Ricardo Lara over the past decade, match the risk of wildfire, in order to ensure availability of coverage.  Eight out of the largest ten wildfires in our state’s history have come in the last five years. Click here to view the report.  We need to make sure fire coverage is still available to all consumers.

Leverage the State of California’s unprecedented budget surplus to address increases in insurance premiums due to organized crime.

The state of California is failing our most vulnerable. Fraud, abuse, inefficiencies within the system and onerous regulation have driven up the cost of insurance for everyone. By using the enforcement arm of the Department of Insurance, we can arrest those associated with organized crime operations across the state. We all see the news reports of shoplifting or “smash and grab robberies.” Fox 5 San Diego Reports click here.

 

This heist resulted in the loss of $250,000 in products. These are large insurance events that drive up the cost of insurance for business and consumers., not to mention the loss of wages and overall safety concern. Workers’ comp abuse and fraudulent accident claims. These operations are being run by organized crime. We need to bring down the cost of insurance in California by directing the enforcement arm of the Department of Insurance to go after organized crime: The California Department of Insurance has one of the state’s largest investigative law enforcement units click here to view the law.   I propose expanding the unit’s efforts to address organized crime activities across the state. The Governor deployed the highway patrol to address “smash and grab:” theft and has seen success, ABC7 reports click here to view.

 

However, insurance crime and fraud go far beyond simple theft. The San Diego Union Tribune covered an audit exposing millions wasted by San Diego on Workers Compensation claims and safety. According to the audit, city officials failed to investigate fraud or even red flags of fraud as reported by The San Diego Tribune, click her to read, that’s costing consumers real money.

 

We also need to use a portion of our historic surplus to provide immediate rate relief to seniors and those hit hardest by the pandemic. Californians are facing an affordability crisis. Many of my patients come from very humble means. Making ends meet is a daily struggle. I was born into a very similar situation in Cleveland, Miss. My mother passed away when I was 9 months old and I was raised by my grandmother. I remember that struggle and see it in the faces of my patients in Los Angeles.  I propose senior discounts rates for long standing clients with no claims history. I also propose the use of modern technology to prevent the disparity of insurance premiums based on geographic locations.

OUR GOALS FOR 2022

12500

Volunteers campaigning

9700

Action committee

13400

Fundraises for candidates

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