California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and the California Department of Insurance are continuing to try and revamp the state’s intervenor process, in which groups or people are paid for intervening in rate hearings.
Lara and the CDI submitted the Intervenor and Administrative Hearing Bureau Fairness and Accountability rulemaking package to the Office of Administrative Law for final review, saying a change of this magnitude would mark the most significant modernization of the intervenor system since Proposition 103 was enacted in 1988.
The regulations propose to:
- Clarify “substantial contribution” and reasonableness standards for an intervenor’s request for compensation
- Define the role of the Department’s Administrative Hearing Bureau in settlement agreements and requests for compensation
- Require regular status updates from AHB Administrative Law Judges every 30 days to all parties
- Expand public reporting by posting intervenor activity and statistics on the CDI’S website
The reforms follow months of public engagement, including input from consumer advocates, insurers, and members of the public.
The reforms a component of Lara’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy, an overhaul of California’s insurance regulations aimed at stabilizing the market and expanding coverage options.
OAL has up to 30 working days to complete its review. Once approved, the regulations will be filed with the Secretary of State and take effect shortly thereafter.
Marine heat waves are supercharging damage caused by hurricanes and tropical cyclones across the globe, a new study found.
Researchers looked at 1,600 tropical cyclones — the broader category of storms that includes hurricanes — that made landfall since 1981 and found those that went over the extra-hot water were more likely to intensify rapidly, a problem that’s becoming more frequent. This resulted in 60% more disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damage — adjusted for inflation — when they hit land, according to a study in Friday’s journal Science Advances.