Will Enforce Voter Choice on Insurance, Official Says

State Insurance Commissioner Roxani Gillespie said Thursday she “will enforce whatever is mandated” by voters when they decide the fate of five insurance initiatives Nov. 8.

Last Friday, Gillespie stirred a political storm when she suggested strongly in testimony to a legislative committee that at least half of California’s top auto insurance sellers were making such low profits that they would qualify for exemptions from rate rollback provisions in Propositions 100 and 103.

Leaders of both campaigns immediately accused the commissioner of bias on behalf of the insurance industry, and Thursday the chairman of the Proposition 103 campaign demanded that Gov. George Deukmejian fire Gillespie.

The Proposition 100 campaign circulated copies of a report that Gillespie had filed withthe state showing she had taken $1,059 in free lodging and meals from the industry’s lobbyists last year. State officials are allowed to accept such gifts as long as they are reported.

Shortly after Deukmejian’s press secretary, Kevin Brett, responded that “Commissioner Gillespie enjoys the full confidence of the governor” and will not be fired, Gillespie issued a statement saying that her department “takes no stand on any of the ballot initiatives.”

“The commissioner regrets that such complicated insurance issues are facing the electorate in ballot propositions this November,” she said. “It is unfair that the voter bear the burden of insurance reform. It seems that each of the propositions is backed by a special-interest group willing to spend huge sums of money and tie up government resources and time in their efforts to further their own agendas.”

As for her testimony Friday, Gillespie said it had been meant simply to discuss the impact of each initiative on the solvency of insurance companies.

“It is important to remember that the Department of Insurance does not make policy,” Gillespie said. “We only administer the laws given us by the Legislature. We abide by those laws. And we will enforce whatever is mandated by the voters in November.”