California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said he may order significant rate reductions for state personal lines insurers after a study showing their costs have diminished while their premiums remained stable or increased over the past two years.

The commissioner released a report last week that he said could support his assertions of excess p-c industry profits.

“If my understanding of these results is confirmed by my full review and hearing, I am confident that I will be ordering a significant number of insurers to reduce their rates,” he said.

The commissioner set a July 20 hearing date.

Mr. Garamendi's announcement comes in the midst of his Democratic primary campaign for lieutenant governor, which pits him against State Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, the chair of the Senate Insurance Committee, who has also been a prominent critic of the industry.

The primary election is one week from today.

The commissioner recently accused six top auto insurers in the state of trying to blackmail him by planning to hurt his campaign with a $2.4 million advertising program opposing his plan to limit the weight they give to geographic location in setting driver's rates.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer has forwarded his findings concerning Mr. Garamendi's blackmail complaint, but the commissioner's office has refused to release them.

Mr. Garamendi asserts that by lessening the effect of a driver's domicile on rates, it will put a new emphasis on safe driving, while insurance industry critics maintain it will result in non-urban drivers subsidizing city motorists.

“The shady methods [insurers] employed in a failed attempt to intimidate me into delaying the reforms demonstrate the lengths to which they will go to protect this extraordinarily profitable market they currently enjoy,” Mr. Garamendi said.

He said that starting in 2004, loss ratios dropped significantly in the homeowners market, with some reduced to just under 25 percent.

“The data we have collected shows that while companies eagerly filed applications to increase rates during periods of higher losses, there was no corresponding race to reduce rates as loss ratios tumbled,” he said.

Robert Hartwig, chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute, said that it is not uncommon for homeowners' loss ratio to increase or fall by 40 percent or 50 percent within just a few years.

“If Mr. Garamendi's standards were applied to all businesses operating in California, he would be responsible for an economic disaster of unparalleled proportions,” he said.

As for the purported excess profits of the p-c industry, Mr. Hartwig noted similar charges were leveled against the Florida market in the spring of 2004 prior to a hurricane season with devastating losses.

Special Reports /

Garamendi Suspects Excess P-C Profits

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