Fire Victims "Burned" By Legislature

The LA Times has an interesting article about the legislative process. Basically, after the San Diego fires, bills were introduced to give homeowners more rights. Not surprisingly, the insurance companies gave a ton of money to the Assembly Insurance committee members and the bills died.

I am not going to get into the debate about government here and lobbying. I am going to suggest that the insurance companies spend a lot of money every year on lobbying and they expect a payoff. The insurance commissioner, also an elected position, needs money to be elected or re-elected or, when he is termed out, elected to a new position. In my opinion, this makes it extremely difficult for meaningful legislation to be passed especially when the insurance commissioner is a career politician and not someone with a working knowledge of insurance.