No-Fault Auto Insurance

Your editorial “Take Another Stab at No-Fault” (Sept. 24) may have given some readers the impression that when Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) dropped no-fault from his auto insurance bill (AB 2315), this stopped work on my no-fault bill (AB 354). While it is true the Speaker grafted some of the basic no-fault provisions from my bill onto his bill before he asked the Assembly to pass it, once in the Senate the no-fault amendments were quickly removed.

Although my bill stalled this year, it is still very much alive. I intend to ask for a hearing on it in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee next January.

AB 354 provides a basic no-frills no-fault policy at affordable rates for all Californians and allows those with more at risk to buy the coverage they need. The sponsors of the bill, Consumers Union, nonprofit publishers of Consumer Reports, and the minority and low-income coalition, including Latino Issues Forum and Public Advocates, have been joined by the more far-thinking insurance companies, who realize that only pro-consumer no-fault has the slightest chance of appealing to Californians.

The Times’ continued support for good no-fault is encouraging.

PATRICK JOHNSTON

D-Stockton

Chairman, Assembly Finance

and Insurance Committee