FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 1, 2026
CONTACT: Jarice Thompson, jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org
Jennah El Ashmawi, jennah.el-ashmawi@greenlining.org
Statement to the Next California Insurance Commissioner: Fully Restore The Consumer Intervenor Program
Washington DC – In response to California’s recent rollback of the insurance consumer intervenor program, organizations representing over 500,000 Californians and the former California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones released a statement calling on the next California Insurance Commissioner to swiftly and fully restore the consumer intervenor program, which has saved Californians billions of dollars on their insurance premiums.
From the statement: “Californians voted for Prop 103 in 1988 to create and fund formal consumer representation in insurance rate setting to counter insurance industry lobbying and influence on the process. California voters recognized that setting rates through backroom negotiations between the industry and the Department of Insurance was a recipe for regulatory capture and rate inflation. They chose to lower insurance costs and improve transparency and oversight by providing the public more opportunity to offer input and challenge industry claims.”
The rollback, recently finalized by outgoing California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, will make it much harder for consumers to engage and fund their efforts to challenge insurance rate hikes, which will ultimately result in higher insurance rates. The organizations write: “The Department of Insurance’s own information confirms that over the past two decades, consumer intervenors have saved Californians more than $6.5 billion in insurance premiums—while costing just a fraction of that amount to operate without slowing down the review process.”
“In the midst of a climate and affordability crisis, Commissioner Lara has inexplicably chosen to incapacitate the consumer intervenor program and put his thumb on the scale in favor of insurance companies in the rate setting process,” said Alex Martin, Climate Finance Policy Director at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. “The next California Insurance Commissioner must stand up to the industry and fully restore this time-tested program on Day 1, so consumers can continue to challenge unfair pricing and profiteering.”
“Decades of discriminatory policies and corporate actions have baked inequity into California’s insurance system, leaving communities of color and low-income communities more exposed to rising costs and climate disasters,” said Max Vargas, President and CEO at The Greenlining Institute. “We know what happens when public oversight is weakened – industry influence grows, consumers pay the price, and existing inequities deepen. The next Insurance Commissioner must fully restore the Consumer Intervenor Program.”
All current candidates in the race for the next California Insurance Commissioner were asked for a response to the statement and given three days to respond. Those who responded said:
Keith Davis: “I support transparency, accountability, and making sure consumers actually have a voice in the rate-setting process. If the Consumer Intervenor Program is helping protect Californians from unnecessary rate hikes and saving people money, then I support keeping it strong.”
Merritt Farren: “As someone who has acted as an Intervenor in a Rate review proceeding (that of State Farm’s 2025 request) I can attest both to the importance of the Intervenor mechanism for insuring that consumer rights are fully protected and to the fact that, notwithstanding suggestions to the contrary, it is the process set up for rate reviews, not the Intervenor mechanism, that is responsible for the unnecessarily lengthy time rate proceedings can take. Ricardo Lara’s recent regulatory changes designed to cut off Intervenor compensation are an underhanded attempt to gut the efficacy of the Intervenor mechanism itself and one of the first things I will do as Insurance Commissioner is reverse entirely the regulatory changes he recently made.”
Robert Howell: “Robert Howell will support maintaining and strengthen the policies defined in Prop 103. Having inputs from consumer groups would be critical in determining Insurance rates going forward.”
Sean Lee: “California consumers deserve a meaningful seat at the table when insurance rates affecting their families and businesses are being decided. If elected Insurance Commissioner, I will support a transparent and accessible rate-setting process, review the recent changes to the Consumer Intervenor Program, and work to ensure that consumer voices remain an effective counterbalance in protecting the public interest.”
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