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- Written by: California Department of Insurance
The Gender Non-Discrimination in Automobile Insurance Rating Regulation became effective on Jan. 1, 2019.
"My priority as Insurance Commissioner is to protect all California consumers, and these regulations ensure that auto insurance rates are based on factors within a driver's control, rather than personal characteristics over which drivers have no control," said Jones.
This is not the first regulatory action Commissioner Jones has taken to prevent gender-based discrimination in California's insurance industry.
In 2012, the commissioner promulgated regulations that prohibit and prevent the denial of coverage or denial of claims for medical services based upon an insured or prospective insured's actual or perceived gender identity.
Prior to his election as insurance commissioner, then Assemblymember Jones authored legislation (Assembly Bill 119, in 2009) to prohibit gender-based discrimination in the pricing of health insurance.
Thanks to that law, California eliminated gender-based pricing in health insurance before that became the national standard under the Affordable Care Act.
The commissioner's Gender Non-Discrimination in Automobile Insurance Rating Regulation mandates that all automobile insurance companies operating in California file a revised class plan that eliminates the use of gender as a rating factor.
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- Written by: California Department of Insurance
This settlement resolves the department's accusation alleging improper insurance sales practices related to Wells Fargo's online insurance referral program.
The improper practices resulted in consumers being signed up and charged for insurance products without their consent.
"The Department of Insurance's investigation found that Wells Fargo was signing up and charging customers for insurance without their consent," said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. "Banks and other financial institutions should never be allowed to prey on their customers' trust without being held accountable."
Wells Fargo has agreed to not transact any new business during the remaining term of its two insurance licenses, which expire in July and September 2020, respectively.
The company also agreed to not apply for a license for at least two years following the expiration of their current licenses.
The Department of Insurance said $5 million of the penalty is due immediately. If the company ever seeks to return to the California insurance marketplace, it will then pay the remaining $5 million penalty. The department may also decline to issue a new license.
In November 2017, the department served on Wells Fargo an accusation seeking revocation of Wells Fargo's insurance license for improper insurance sales practices.
The accusation was the result of an investigation opened at the direction of Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, which found that from 2008 to 2016, Wells Fargo customers were issued approximately 1,500 insurance policies without their knowledge or permission.
In some cases, employees told consumers to enter their personal information on a policy application merely to receive a quote, but Wells Fargo employees later submitted the application to the insurer to purchase the policy without the consumer's permission.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The purpose of the seminar is to provide information to winegrape growers that are interested in learning how crop insurance can lower farming risk.
Speakers include:
– John Aguirre, president, California Association of Winegrape Growers;
– Katie Delbar, Mendocino-Lake County executive director, USDA Farm Service Agency;
– Jeff Yasui, director of the Davis Regional Office, USDA Risk Management Agency;
– Greg Merrill, CIC, AFIS, executive vice president, Pan American Insurance Services;
– John Fremoire, vice president, Regional Claims – Crop, NAU;
– John Wienstroer, vice president, Branch Operations, NAU.
Speakers will provide valuable details so growers can make informed decisions in advance of the Jan. 31 deadline to sign up for coverage for the 2019 crop year.
The seminar is presented by Allied Grape Growers, California Association of Winegrape Growers, Pan American, Lake County Farm Bureau, Lake County Winegrape Commission, Mendocino County Farm Bureau, Mendocino WineGrowers Inc. and NAU Country.
Advance registration is required. Growers may reserve a space by visiting http://bit.ly/ins-seminar.
For more information, contact the Lake County Winegrape Commission at 707‑279‑2633.
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- Written by: California Department of Insurance
The report reveals that the investigation initiated by Jones with five other insurance commissioners in 2011 has resulted in life insurance companies paying out nearly $10 billion in life insurance benefits owed to beneficiaries across the United States, and of that more than $1 billion alone has been paid to California beneficiaries.
"One of the most important and far reaching actions during my term as Insurance Commissioner has been our investigation of life insurance companies' failure to use the Death Master File database to identify life insurance policyholders who had died and whose beneficiaries were owed payments," said Jones. "Nearly $10 billion in life insurance benefits have been paid to beneficiaries across the United States as a result of our investigation and enforcement efforts, demonstrating once again the importance of strong regulatory actions by insurance commissioners to protect consumers."
Commissioner Jones led the National Association of Insurance Commissioners multi-state insurance commissioners' investigation into life insurers' use of the DMF database, which was initiated after it was discovered life insurers used the DMF database to their benefit to identify deceased annuity holders, so they could stop making annuity payments to them, but failed to use the database to identify deceased life insurance policyholders and failed to pay benefits to their beneficiaries.
In February 2012, Commissioner Jones announced the first of many DMF regulatory settlement agreements with life insurers.
The settlement agreement required the life insurer to check the DMF to determine whether any of its historical and existing life insurance policyholders, owners of annuities, and holders of retained asset accounts have died, and then to search for and pay their beneficiaries, and to routinely check the DMF and pay beneficiaries on an ongoing basis.
To date, insurance commissioners have reached regulatory settlement agreements with or concluded the investigation of 31 of the top 40 life insurance companies, constituting more than 80 percent of the total life insurance market, based on market share.