Candidate commentary: California’s insurance crisis is pervasive but fixable

With the first anniversary of the devastating Southern California wildfires approaching, CalMatters asked candidates for the 2026 state Insurance Commissioner race to share thoughts on what the state can do to help victims and stabilize insurers. This is the third response. Read the other candidate responses here and here.

California is facing an insurance crisis that threatens the financial security of families, homeowners, and small businesses across the state. 

Coverage is becoming harder to obtain, premiums are rising, and policy cancellations are increasing. These developments are understandably alarming. But the good news: There is hope.

I have been a licensed insurance professional since 1988, and with close to 40 years of experience I can tell you, insurance is not merely a financial product, it is a promise. It is a cornerstone of economic stability that allows families to recover from tragedy and businesses to survive unforeseen loss. That system has served California well for generations. It can do so again.

Throughout my career as an insurance agent and business owner, my work began long before a claim was ever filed. The most important service we provided was preparation, making sure clients were properly protected before disaster struck. When the unthinkable did occur, being present to guide them through recovery was both a responsibility and a privilege. That is the role insurance is meant to play in society.

So how did we arrive at a moment where insurers are pulling back, denying coverage, or leaving entire markets? The answer is not sudden greed or indifference. It is the result of decades of accumulating regulations, rigid price controls, insufficient wildfire prevention and mitigation, and other unmanaged risk factors that have steadily eroded the system’s stability.

Insurance is fundamentally about pricing risk accurately. When that process is constrained, insurers cannot reliably operate. The result is exactly what Californians are experiencing now: reduced availability, deteriorating service, fewer choices for consumers and escalating prices.

Customers are angry and confused. Agents are left without options for their clients. Insurers face mounting losses. Meanwhile, political finger pointing has replaced serious discussion, and trust in the system continues to erode.

California does not need to choose between consumer protection and a functioning insurance market. We can have both. Achieving that balance requires a recommitment to basic principles: Free markets, actuarial soundness, California managing wildfire risks and allowing private sector innovations.

Insurance thrives on predictability and trust. When those elements are restored, capital returns, coverage expands and our working families benefit from greater choice and better service.

When a functioning free market is restored in California, capital will return and support the growth of insurers willing to serve the state. Renewed competition will naturally reduce dependence on the FAIR Plan and allow for its depopulation.

The FAIR Plan was never intended to insure the many. It was designed as a last resort option for a limited number of high risk properties. Its long-term stability depends on removing the excess burden created by the absence of a competitive private market.

As insurers are once again able to grow and write policies in California, coverage will shift back where it belongs, into the private market, restoring balance and choice for our community.

The insurance industry has long been a quiet but essential pillar of our economy. With truth, discipline, and hard work it can be again. This crisis is fixable. 

The candidate guest commentaries are being published in the order in which they were received.