NEW REPORT: Insurance Industry Spending Over $17 Million to Influence Outcome of June 8th Election
June 2, 2010 - Insurers and the political action committees they fund have spent more than $17 million dollars on candidates and one ballot initiative to quietly influence the outcome of Tuesday’s election, according to a new analysis by Campaign for Consumer Rights. The consumer group noted that voters are unlikely to know from the populist-sounding names of the insurance company-funded committees and front-groups that insurers are spending millions to win their agenda. Read the full report here.
Stop Prop 17
Visit our campaign at StopProp17.org
Mercury Insurance is campaigning to allow insurers to hike auto insurance rates for Californians who have had a lapse in their auto insurance for any reason. The initiative is a repackaging of Mercury-sponsored legislation invalidated by a California Court of Appeal in 2005, after the court determined the legislation would necessarily and illegally surcharge drivers who had a coverage lapse. In its decision to overturn the law, the court explained that an alleged discount given to drivers who have had continuous insurance coverage must be offset by a surcharge on people with a lapse in their coverage, writing:
"The premiums for policyholders who, because of their characteristics, do not qualify for a particular discount must be surcharged in an amount equal to the total of the discounts given to the policyholders that qualified for the discount." [Emphasis in original] 132 Cal. App. 4th 1354, 1367-1369
The Mercury initiative would allow insurers to penalize people after missing one payment or decided not to drive for a time and let their insurance lapse.
BREAKING NEWS: Mercury Insurance Submits Initiative Signatures To Trick Voters Into Paying Higher Auto Insurance Premiums
The Campaign for Consumer Rights (CCR), a California-based nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization, is the advocacy and campaign affiliate of the Consumer Watchdog (Formerly the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights). CCR and its campaign committee, Election Watchdog, were organized to protect consumers' interests in the ballot initiative and legislative process. We do not take positions on candidate elections.
Over the years CCR has co-sponsored ballot propositions on energy deregulation and HMO reform. It has fought corporate efforts to weaken the legal rights of consumers and has successfully campaigned to preserve some of the nation’s toughest municipal conflict of interest laws. Donations to CCR are not tax deductible.
