Senate’s Unorthodox Plan for Insurance Bills OKd

The state Senate set in motion Thursday an unorthodox plan to quickly enact insurance legislation that could be held out to voters next November as an alternative to a bevy of proposed ballot initiatives.

But critics of the plan, reportedly endorsed by legislative leaders in both houses, charged that the extraordinary procedure would circumvent the Legislature’s own committees and enable a small group of lawmakers to write economically high-stakes bills.

As outlined to the Senate by Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), chairman of the Insurance Committee, a pair of conference committees would mount a traveling road show and hold hearings throughout the state to receive testimony from the public on what the bills should include.

Robbins said the hearings would be open to sponsors of the initiatives and other citizens and would be held in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and Fresno. About half a dozen proposed initiatives are now in circulation for signatures to qualify for the November ballot, seeking a range of insurance controls, mostly aimed at reducing the cost of premiums.

The legislative scheme seeks to fashion insurance bills and enact them before the November election, thus providing an alternative for voters that would make passage of the initiatives unnecessary.

Normally, conference committees of three members of the Assembly and three of the Senate meet in the Capitol to resolve remaining differences in bills that have passed both houses. Often, limited testimony is taken and the finished product is returned to each chamber for a “yes” or “no” vote. Usually, at this stage in the process, policy and financial implications already have been considered by committees of the Legislature.

But Robbins noted that seven proposed ballot initiatives are in circulation and that the Legislature should move quickly to fashion legislation that can be advertised to voters as a superior alternative to the initiatives. Not all the measures are expected to qualify for the general election ballot.

Controlling the cost and assuring availability of automobile and other forms of insurance are problems the Legislature has failed to solve for the last couple of years as citizen and special interest demands for change have intensified.

‘Maximum Input’

Robbins told the Senate that the plan for the traveling conference committees must start now to give the public “maximum input.”

“What’s the rush?” asked Sen. Milton Marks of San Francisco, chairman of the Democratic caucus. “Most of us don’t know what is going on.”

“What’s the big rush?” echoed Sen. Rose Ann Vuich (D-Dinuba), reflecting the concerns of others who voiced skepticism at bypassing ordinary legislative committee consideration of the issue.

“Seven initiatives are already being circulated and that is what is generating the heat to get something done,” Robbins said. “It is better too for the people of California to do it legislatively than through the wars of initiatives.”

‘Blank Check’

But Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) recalled that last year, in the final hours of the session, important tort legislation was enacted after first being sketched out on a napkin by various special interests at a capital restaurant. The proposal was introduced hastily as a non-negotiable issue.

“You are circumventing the policy committee process,” Garamendi told Robbins. “You want an open, blank check.”

But on a 24-3 vote, the Senate approved and returned to the Assembly a bill that ultimately would become a final insurance bill fashioned by the conference committees.