Democratic candidates Ben Allen and Jane Kim are squaring off to become insurance commissioner, presiding over the California Department of Insurance, the nation’s largest state consumer protection agency.
The commissioner (currently, it’s termed-out Ricardo Lara) is in charge of the department’s 1,400 employees. They oversee 1,600 insurance companies and more than 510,000 agents, brokers, adjusters, bail agents and business entities.
The list of what the office regulates encompasses home, car, health, life to car insurance and pet insurance, as well as worker’s compensation, ride-hailing and Medicare supplement (Medigap) insurance.
My colleague Laurence Darmiento provided an election preview of the race that culminates on election day, Tuesday.
Essential California spoke with former Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, a Democrat who served from 2011 to 2019, to get his thoughts on the demands and expectations of the position. Jones serves as the director of the Climate Risk Initiative at the UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy & the Environment.
What voters don’t know about this position
Jones said the office is embedded in nearly every aspect of a voter’s life.
“It’s the most important elected job or position in California, I would argue, behind only the governor and attorney general,” he said. “It affects day-to-day concerns, like health insurance, and is there when something happens to us, like life insurance and worker’s compensation.”
The California insurance commissioner also has the authority to regulate home and small-business property insurance rates, with certain limits. That means that insurers have to file their rates and justify increases to the commissioner, a process that isn’t played out in most states, Jones noted.
He said part of the current affordability crisis is linked to rising insurance rates, even ones that may not appear to have an impact. He gave as an example increased property rates that trickle down to apartment renters.
“We see this across the state that apartment owners are getting slammed with higher insurance rates,” Jones said. “Some can’t afford to eat the increase so they pass that down” by boosting rents.
Increases of last-resort and quickie insurance coverage
Jones said one of the great challenges facing policyholders and legislators in California is the alarming rate of coverage denials. He noted that the number of those needing California’s Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan for fire coverage has soared in the last decade.
The FAIR Plan is a last-resort type of fire insurance pool composed of all home insurers licensed in California. It is offered when a policyholder can’t find traditional coverage. FAIR premiums are traditionally higher than those for traditional coverage.
About 190,000 Californians were on the plan in 2019, Jones’ last year in office, according to state figures, with roughly 74,000 new policies written that year.
Also that year, insurance companies issued about 235,000 non-renewals and cancellations of policies of homeowners and fire insurance.
As of September, about 686,000 residents were on the FAIR plan, which actually represents a modest 7% year-over-year growth. In comparison, the plan saw percentage growths of 39%, 40% and 21% over the previous three years, respectively.
Another quirky solution to chronic under-coverage is the Surplus Line Market, unregulated by the state commissioner’s office.
Financial journalist Matthew Sellers wrote of the surplus line market as a “home for the unusual,” places such as a “skydiving school in rural Nevada” or “the historic Victorian waterfront.”
By the end of 2025, 300,000 Californian homeowners found themselves signing up for this insurance, which is also significantly more costly than traditional coverage.
Jones said when it comes to insurers leaving the state or not renewing policies, the commissioner’s hands are somewhat tied.
“Other than in the case of a wildfire, where the commissioner can issue a one-year moratorium on cancellations in the area, there is very little that can be done,” Jones said. “This position is not that of a king or queen.”
Keeping California’s homeowners insured is perhaps the biggest challenge for the incoming commissioner and legislators.
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Here’s today’s mini crossword, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jack Dolan, investigative reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of Newsletters
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