A California ballot box. (Photo illustration, Hafakot, via Shutterstock)It’s like a poker game: If you want to play, you have to ante up. And this year, the ante for Nov. 8 was nearly $48 million. That’s how much the rival interests for an array of initiatives paid to get on the ballot. That’s not money spent on the merits of the initiatives. It’s the money spent simply to get the propositions before the public.
Richard M. Allen, director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, points out the American Canyon Quake. (AP Photo/Alex Menendez)California is known as much for earthquakes as it is Hollywood or surfers, but relatively few homeowners have bothered to buy earthquake insurance. A little better than one in every 10 residential properties is covered throughout California. In Napa, where Sunday’s 6.0 magnitude quake caused an estimated $1 billion in damage, the coverage level is even lower than that – perhaps 5 percent, according to the California Earthquake Authority
OPINION: Recently the Assembly unanimously passed my bill AB 2293. This common sense legislation will clarify insurance coverage plans for transportation network companies (TNC), such as Uber, Lyft and others. My bill also requires important disclosures from TNCs that ensure drivers and all parties are aware of the insurance policy coverage in place. The legislation, AB 2293, passed 71-0 in a unanimous and bipartisan vote and now moves on to the Senate policy committee.