In The News

KTVU-SF (FOX) – San Francisco, CA: Using Models To Predict Insurance Rate Hikes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GAY6xfdKTA Harvey Rosenfield of Consumer Watchdog says this new plan would allow the insurance companies to propose these models without public scrutiny, and there's this there's nothing in this regulation that requires the insurance companies to reduce anybody's rates...

KBCW 44 Cable 12 – San Francisco, CA: Chevy Camaro Thefts On The Rise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmuyO5DfVM8 Carmen Balber says we have seen this problem with other cars impact consumers ability to get auto insurance. Insurance companies cannot just increase prices overnight they have to go the insurance commissioner and prove that the thefts have...

The Los Angeles Times – Editorial:  What’s behind California’s high gas prices? Don’t trust the oil industry for answers

By The Times Editorial Board, LOS ANGELES TIMES https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-03-18/editorial-whats-behind-californias-high-gas-prices-dont-trust-the-oil-industry-for-answers If you live in California you’ve probably run across ads blaming high gasoline prices on state laws and policies. They’re online, on television, in mailers, on highway billboards and even on gas pumps...

E&E News – Oil-friendly ad blitz targets Calif. climate policies

By Anne Mulkern, E&E NEWS https://www.eenews.net/articles/oil-friendly-ad-blitz-targets-calif-climate-policies/#:~:text=climate%20policies,-By%20Anne%20C&text=Coalitions%20that%20won%27t%20reveal,higher%20gas%20and%20electricity%20prices. Oil industry allies in California are filling television and computer screens statewide with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign that blames state climate policies for pushing up gasoline and electricity costs. Some key details around the ads...

KXTV-SAC (ABC) – Sacramento, CA: Proposed Insurance Changes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKIfzHcWuv8&feature=youtu.be Carmen Balber with Consumer Watchdog worries the state's process of approving these models won't be transparent enough.

KNX-AM (Radio) – Los Angeles, CA: New Insurance Proposal Does Not Help Homeowners As Much As It Benefits Insurers

By Staff Reporters, KNX-AM – Los Angeles, CA  Click below to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast segment.

Politico – Pressure at the Pump

By Wes Venteicher, Politico California Climate PRESSURE AT THE PUMP: A group of environmental and consumer groups is pressuring the California Energy Commission to hurry up and impose a profit cap on oil refiners ahead of the usual summer surge...

The Mercury News – Commissioner unveils plan for home insurers to base California rate hikes on catastrophe prediction models 

By John Woolfolk, THE MERCURY NEWS https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/03/14/commissioner-unveils-plan-for-home-insurers-to-base-rate-hikes-on-catastrophe-prediction-models/amp In an effort to staunch the exodus of home insurers fleeing the state, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Thursday unveiled a proposal for letting those insurers use computer models of possible future catastrophes to...

The Los Angeles Times – California’s home insurer of last resort sees enrollment surge, raising concerns over its finances

By Ruben Vives, LOS ANGELES TIMES https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-15/californias-home-insurer-of-last-resort-sees-enrollment-surge-raising-concerns-over-its-finances#:~:text=Roach%20said%20the%20Fair%20Plan,was%20%2450%20billion%20in%202018. With home insurers scaling back coverage in the state, enrollment is surging in California's backstop insurance plan -- as is the plan's risk of sustaining losses that it can't cover. Victoria Roach, president of...

KNX-AM (Radio) – Los Angeles, CA: Insurance Rates Continue to Climb Up

By Staff Reporters, KNX-AM – Los Angeles, CA  Click below to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast segment.

Politico – Ricardo Lara is playing with fire

By Camille Von Kaenel, POLITICO With help from Blanca Begert, Alex Nieves and Hannah Northey https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-climate/2024/03/14/ricardo-lara-is-playing-with-fire-00147237 BURNING PLAN: Climate-change-fueled wildfires have scared insurance companies out of California. Now, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is trying to let climate change show up in rates in an...

ABC7 – What’s California doing to address the insurance crisis?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssxyylYXWtw "One of the other things that we're urging the state to do is create a public model to look at climate risk in California that allows us to look at the local level at steps homeowners and communities...

The San Diego Union Tribune – John Gomez withdraws his lawsuit against San Diego attorneys’ group he once presided over

By Jeff McDonald, THE SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/story/2024-03-14/gomez-withdraws-his-lawsuit-against-san-diego-attorneys-group-he-once-led SAN DIEGO — John Gomez, the firebrand San Diego litigator known locally through several high-profile lawsuits and frequent television commercials, has dismissed an eye-popping legal complaint he filed late last year against a local attorneys...

VC Star – Ventura County hospitals receive 239 complaints, reports show; Los Robles cited most

By Tom Kisken, VENTURA COUNTY STAR https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/health/2024/03/08/ventura-county-hospital-violations-2023/72635858007 State regulators received more complaints, found more violations and assessed more fines at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks than any other hospital in Ventura County last year. California Department of Public...

Los Angeles Times – He claims to have saved California homeowners billions. The insurance industry hates him

By Sam Dean, LOS ANGELES TIMES https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-03-01/consumer-watchdog-insurance-industry-harvey-rosenfield Insurance industry groups have called it a “bomb-throwing bogus advocacy” group, a “publicity-seeking, dark money front,” and an organization out to protect its own “financial $elf-interest$.” These are the kinds of attacks that Harvey...

POLITICO – Department of Finance repays loan to CalRecycle as beverage recycling costs rise

Consumer advocates had raised concerns the fund wouldn’t have enough money to cover greater recycling rates and upcoming reforms. By Camille Von Kaenel, POLITICO https://politicopro.com/article/2024/02/department-of-finance-repays-loan-to-calrecycle-as-beverage-recycling-costs-rise-00144255?source=email SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California officials told lawmakers on Thursday they repaid a $100 million loan they...

Elk Grove News – Big Oil pumped $25.4 million into lobbying California officials in 2023

By Dan Bacher, ELK GROVE NEWS https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2024/02/big-oil-pumped-254-million-into.html Big Oil spent more money on lobbying in California in 2023 than any other year on record besides 2017.  The oil and gas industry spent $25,445,606 on lobbying in California in 2023 and $25,445,606 in 2017, according to...

E&E News – Californians already pay sky-high pump prices. It might get much worse.

By Anne Mulkern, E&E NEWS https://www.eenews.net/articles/californians-already-pay-sky-high-pump-prices-it-might-get-much-worse California gasoline pump prices could jump by as much as 47 cents per gallon next year under a proposed overhaul of a state regulation on fuels. The potential price hike would make California gasoline —...

KCBS-AM (Radio) – San Francisco, CA: PG&E Got a 22% Rate Hike And Then Reported 25% Increase in Profits

By Staff Reporters, KCBS-AM – San Francisco, CA  Click below to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast segment.

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