The Insurance Commissioner takes a vacation
Insurance Commissioner Activities
During this time of concern for the fire victims in our state, one of our local TV investigative crew did some follow-up work concerning the current Insurance Commissioner and discovered some interesting facts. A report was provided by Channel 7 On Your Side concerning the fact that our California Insurance Commissioner has been unable to attend the Senate Insurance Committee hearings held so far in 2025, which you would have expected him to do at this time. The following is a portion of the report:
“7 On Your Side obtained and analyzed hundreds of public records that detail at least forty-six cross-country and international trips all over the world -- including at least eleven taxpayer-funded excursions to places like Bogota, Paris, and Toronto. After more than a month of questioning his office, Lara's staff has been unable to identify the business purpose for nearly all of the trips.”
The issue about the Commissioner’s globe-trotting is that the purpose for the trips may have been relevant to the Commissioner’s duties, however, since California finds itself in an insurance catastrophe, his place is here and not in a European restaurant.
The functions of the Insurance Commissioner as described include the following:
The Commissioner Guides the actions of the California Department of Insurance; provides answers to members of the public about insurance Companies’ actions in California; Enforces the Laws of the California Insurance Code; Protect the California Insurance Market. The Insurance Commissioner should have been in his office and available, during this time of crisis.
California Fair Plan Outstanding Issue:
One of the major issues the Commissioner Office has not managed to answer with any great degree of success is ordering insurance carriers to pay the California Fair Plan $1 Billion dollars to assist that agency in meeting its claim obligations.
In 1968, after the Watts Riots and major wildfires, the insurance industry in California was able to develop an organization which would make it easier for hard-to-insure homes to obtain the coverage they needed, thus the California Fair Plan Program was developed.
Having been a company representative for many years, I cannot understand why an insurance company would want to pay a single dollar to another carrier for their insured’s fire damage claim. Forcing one carrier to pay the claim cost for another carrier’s claims will be met with strong legal objections.
If any of you have any questions or concerns, please send them to the email address listed below.
Respectfully Submitted
Norman Lambe
nwlambe@gmail.com