The Harbor Freeway at rush hour in Los Angeles. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock) OPINION: The California Department of Insurance, having identified a disparity, has established a worthy goal of expanding auto insurance discounts to more low-income consumers and communities of color. But as it pursues that goal, the department must keep in mind a foundational principle in healing problems: Do no harm.
Motorists in Oceanside drive through flooded streets after the arrival of a tropical storm.(Photo: DBSOCAL, via Shutterrstock)OPINION: From mudslides to droughts, fires to earthquakes, natural disasters are an inexorable part of our way of life. Needless to say, the cost of these disasters is staggering. In 2018 alone, wildfires in our state accounted for nearly a quarter of all insurance company disaster claims nationwide.
A photo illustration of a driver on the road. (Image: Minerva Studio, via Shutterstock)OPINION: California’s track record regarding treatment of its teachers is mediocre at best. Budget cuts, overcrowded classrooms, a lack of school supplies, paychecks completely out of touch with the cost of living—teachers know what it’s like to be low priority.
A man surveys the charred debris of Glen Ellen home following a 2017 wildfire. (Photo: Rebecca Jane Call, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Recently Capitol Weekly printed an article by David Farber (“Don’t fix unbroken system for claims adjusters,” April 16) asserting that the California Department of Insurance (CDI) was advocating for a bill, SB 1291 by state Sen. Bill Dodd, which would, in Farber’s words, “create a shortage of claims professionals” in the aftermath of last year’s devastating wildfires. Farber couldn’t be more wrong.
Destruction from last year's Wine Country fires. (Photo: Janos Rautonen, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The current system allows claims adjusting companies that employ professional adjusters to secure a license covering its employees, which is practical and efficient and meets the needs of California’s consumers. Far from unique, this system has been proven to work in states like Montana and Utah. However, if the department’s bill, SB 1291 is enacted, it would totally upend a perfectly functional system for licensing independent insurance adjusters by disallowing state licensing for companies to cover its professionals
A view of a densely populated area of the eastern San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles. (Photo: Trekandshoot, Shutterstock)OPINION: According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s report The Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2015, nearly eight million people in California were living in poverty in 2015. The report indicated that the state’s poverty rate was 20.6 percent—well above the national rate of 15.1 percent—and surpassed the rates of every other state in the nation.