A $16-million effort by auto insurers to ease regulations may not be over despite state voters’ decision to reject Proposition 17, which would have allowed drivers to take their continuous-coverage discount with them if they switched carriers.
Proposition 17 was narrowly defeated, basically keeping auto insurance rate practices in place, at least for now. The “no” votes were 52 percent, with “yes” grabbing 48 percent with all precincts reporting early Wednesday.
Prop 17 Auto Insurance Pricing Defeated
Give proponents of Proposition 17 credit for chutzpah. Their TV commercials tell voters that there’s “only one place to get the facts about Prop. 17: the official voters guide.” But then they quote from the opinions the Yes on 17 campaign inserted into the guide’s arguments and rebuttals section. No matter what the campaign commercials claim, the measure would not let drivers “take their continuous coverage discounts with them.” Instead, it would create a new type of discount whose magnitude and effect are, at this point, unpredictable.
Mercury Agents’ Declarations Confirm Government Findings of Discrimination; Company Didn’t Want to Insure Diabetics, Middle Eastern Drivers or Women Married to Younger Men: Mercury’s “Cougar” Clause
Mercury Insurance Group, a major backer of a hotly contested insurance measure on the June ballot, faces potentially costly fines in the wake of a new state report alleging that California’s third-largest insurer is violating state laws “despite agreements with the state to terminate illegal behavior.”
Prop. 17, which is almost entirely funded by Mercury Insurance, is designed to fool voters into believing it is simply a change in the law that would allow insurers to offer a “continuous coverage” discount on policies to new customers who switch auto insurance companies.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Allen Sumner declined to delete wording submitted by insurer Mercury General Corp., the main sponsor of Proposition 17, in voter information pamphlets.
Just what California voters will see when they evaluate an automobile insurance ballot question will be the subject of a hearing in Superior Court in Sacramento March 12.
L.A.-based auto insurer Mercury General Corp. is spending millions of dollars to convince California voters to make it easier for the company to woo customers of its rivals.