Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi was considering changes to existing auto insurance regulations that would have reduced the consideration given to a drivers' location when pricing auto insurance. The end result would have been to decrease accuracy and fairness of pricing for auto insurance, create forced subsidies, and result in rate increases for a majority of California good drivers.
Under the flawed proposal sponsored by Consumers Union and the Foundation for Taxpayers and Consumers Rights, auto insurance rates would have gone down for drivers in only five of the most heavily urbanized California counties, while rates for drivers in the remaining 53, mostly rural counties, would go up.
Beginning in December 2003 with the first of eight regional public hearings, Commissioner Garamendi started the process of information-gathering to determine how and when to make changes to auto insurance formulas.
Grassroots/Coalition Building
In a brief three-month period (and literally, starting from scratch), BCF developed a coalition of nearly 300 groups and individuals, including local mayors, city councilmembers, county supervisors, business and community groups in the 53 counties negatively impacted by the plan. Our strategy was to target rural areas of California which would be hardest hit by this plan.
Members of Californians Against Higher Insurance Rates actively opposed the proposal by declaring it unfair that drivers in rural areas of California, where there are fewer drivers and less risk of accident, should be forced to pay higher rates subsidize drivers in more densely populated areas of California (like LA and San Francisco) where the risk of accident, loss, and theft is higher.
BCF worked with CAHIR members to coordinate regionalized coalition opposition to the plan. CAHIR members wrote letters, testified at the evening public hearings, participated in news conferences, news interviews and editorial boards. Additionally, BCF worked with cities and counties to urge them to pass resolutions opposing the plan.
Media and Press CoverageWorking closely with local CAHIR coalition members, BCF worked on a region-by-region basis to generate media interest in the proposal and to illustrate how drivers in those areas would be negatively impacted.
Dozens of news stories and editorials appeared throughout California opposing the proposal and the impact it would have on local drivers. Some of the headlines are:
- "Proposal Penalizes Good Drivers", Fairfield Daily Republic Editorial, 1/25/04
- "Car Insurance Reforms Stick Rural Drivers With The Bill", Eureka Times Standard Editorial, 1/11/04
- "Don't Stick It To Kern Drivers", Bakersfield Californian Editorial, 1/22/04
- "County Fights For Rural Drivers, Supervisors Say Insurance Rates Go Up Under Plan", Visalia Times-Delta, 3/10/04
- "North state may pay cost of fixing insurance bias", Redding Record Searchlight, 2/22/04
- "Valley Wary of Car Insurance Changes", Marysville Appeal-Democrat, 2/4/04
- "Driven To Protest, Proposal To Change Insurance Rates Would Be Unfair To Solano", Vacaville Reporter Editorial, 1/22/04
