A rumored bailout of the California insurance industry fizzled before it was even announced

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INSURANCE BAILOUT IS (STILL) DEAD

Via Maggie Angst...

Rumors fly every year in the final days of the California legislative session about new bills being developed in the shadows and rushed through the lawmaking process. This year, speculation focused on a deal meant to stop California insurance providers from fleeing the state.

But the deadline to introduce legislation came and went Monday without any news of a fix, confirming earlier reports from The Sacramento Bee and other outlets that negotiations had faltered.

The deal was reportedly being negotiated by California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office and legislative staff, with input from insurance companies and their lobbyists. The goal was to encourage insurers to expand coverage in California by loosening regulations to allow them to raise rates under certain circumstances.

Although draft bill language was floating around among lawmakers and industry lobbyists, an official proposal never surfaced.

Newsom spokesperson Alex Stack said in a statement Tuesday morning that the Administration was “disappointed” the deal had imploded. He said Newsom’s office was partnering with Lara to explore options and next steps.

“This is an issue that we know will worsen with the ongoing climate crisis,” Stack wrote.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas announced Tuesday that the Assembly would hold a series of public hearings this fall focusing on access to insurance coverage.

“Our mission has always been to ensure homeowners and businesses across California can access and retain comprehensive insurance coverage,” Rivas said in a statement.

CALIFORNIA VOTERS THINK THE U.S. SUPREME COURT IS PARTISAN, SURVEY SAYS

Via Gillian Brassil...

Two-thirds of California voters think the U.S. Supreme Court justices lean on personal political beliefs more than the law to make rulings, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Overall, respondents disapprove of the Supreme Court’s job performance, a Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll found. Half of voters think the nation’s highest bench is too conservative.

The results were themselves highly partisan.

More than 80% of Democrats said political leanings were a bigger influence than the Constitution and the law. Half of Republicans said the Constitution and law guided decisions.

“The Supreme Court has emerged as a divisive, highly partisan issue in our politics,” said Eric Schickler, co-Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies. “It is now widely seen as one of conservatives’ most potent power bases, with important consequences for public views of the Court.”

The Supreme Court has recently overturned decades of precedent in federal abortion protections and race-conscious college admissions, among other decisions that have pleased more Republicans than Democrats. Six justices were nominated by GOP presidents; three were by Democrats.

More than 70% of respondents to the IGS poll agreed with a congressional proposal to create an enforceable code of ethics that emerged following recent reports of undisclosed perks enjoyed by some justices.

Right now, the Supreme Court does not have an enforceable ethics code. Federal law requires justices to file financial disclosures, including information on gifts, with minimal exceptions.

Calls for more stringent rules rose after media groups reported on undisclosed luxury trips, gifts and aid justices received. Justice Clarence Thomas traveled on a GOP mega-donor’s yacht and jet for two decades. Justice Samuel Alito took a luxury fishing trip to Alaska with a Republican billionaire who had appeared many times before the Court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor used tax-funded staff to push sales of her books.

The Berkeley poll was conducted across more than 6,000 registered voters during the final week of August. No-party preference voters were about midway between Democrats and Republicans on all the queries.

THE CALIFORNIA TRAVEL BAN COULD SOON BE A MEMORY

California’s ban on state-funded travel to anti-LGBTQ states could soon be a thing of the past. SB 447, by Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, has passed through the the Legislature and now sits on Newsom’s desk.

The bill would abolish the ban in favor of a nonpartisan advertising campaign to promote inclusivity and diversity in states hostile to LGBTQ rights.

SB 447 passed out of the Assembly Monday, 64-12, and the Senate Tuesday, 31-6. The bill carries an urgency clause, meaning it required a two-thirds vote and will go into effect immediately if signed into law.

“I remember what it was like to grow up in a time and place where conversations about someone being gay or lesbian only happened in whispers,” Atkins said in a statement. “While years have passed since then, there are still areas of our country where the LGBTQ+ community — and especially our LGBTQ+ youth — feel isolated and fearful for their safety.”

Atkins said her bill will be “a conduit of hope and compassion” to the rest of the country.

“It’s within all of us to be that light,” she said.

The bill authorizing the travel ban, AB 1887, was passed in 2016, and bars state funds from being used to pay for travel to 26 states, up from the four included in the original legislation.

With state legislatures considering more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills this year alone, it’s clear even to AB 1887 supporters that the law is no longer having the intended effect.

Newsom has until Oct. 14 to either sign or veto, though given that this bill is one of the Senate majority leader’s priorities, it is highly likely to be signed into law.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Quite frankly, we were looking forward to the fight for passage of the 2024 ballot referendum that we believe would have reversed the wholesale seizure of one segment of the California economy. A government seizure no other state in the nation has ever tried.”

- National Federation of Independent Business state director John Kabateck, in a statement following the announcement about the AB 1228 deal that averts a ballot battle over the state’s Fast Food Council.

Best of The Bee:

• California lawmakers will not ban an ingredient in Skittles, after all. But they will send Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill forbidding certain chemicals in other candies and foods, via Lindsey Holden and Maggie Angst.

• California lawmakers for the second year in a row pushed through union conflicts to pass a package of bills intended to promote the construction of thousands of new affordable homes in the state, via Andrew Sheeler and Lindsey Holden.

• California Democrats passed new rules Tuesday restricting who can carry loaded weapons in public, successfully reviving a failed attempt to strengthen the state’s concealed carry gun laws, via Maggie Angst.

• California State University students rally against annual tuition hikes of 6% over 5 years, via Cathie Anderson.

• Polling in California and nationally suggests large numbers of people are wary of a “forever war,” via David Lightman.

• Could California soon have a union for legislative staff? Lawmakers will decide this week, via Maya Miller.

• Jessica Morse, a Democrat who ran to unseat Republican Tom McClintock in Congressional District 4 in 2018, announced on Tuesday that she’ll run again in Northern California — this time in an attempt to unseat Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley in District 3, via Jenavieve Hatch.

• A first-of-its-kind bill that would shed light on corporate sources of carbon pollution in California will head to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk Tuesday after winning passage in the Legislature, via Ari Plachta.

• Striking workers in California are one step closer to receiving state-funded financial help after a key vote Monday afternoon, via Maya Miller.