Reform Is on His Lips, Not in His Heart : Auto insurance: Pete Wilson’s requirements for a bill turn out to be just a screen for his pro-industry agenda.

A bill that fixes everything that Gov. Pete Wilson and the insurance companies have ever claimed is wrong with the legal system is sitting on the governor’s desk, and he’s planning to veto it.

For years, insurance companies have insisted that overzealous lawyers, foolish juries and lenient judges are responsible for high insurance premiums. Wilson added his voice to the chorus as soon as he was elected. He loudly blamed the legal system for high rates, joiningthe industry’s call for reform. And to build pressure for the cause, his subordinates delayed Proposition 103’s rate rollbacks.

Now, reform of the legal system is exactly what they’ve got, in the form of SB 10, authored by Bill Lockyer, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The bill prohibits the schlocky lawyer advertising that encourages lawsuits and demeans the legal system. It sets up a voluntary small-claims court to handle minor auto accidents--no lawyers are necessary. All but the most serious cases would go to arbitration, rather than to crowded courtrooms. It sets tough penalties for claims fraud perpetrated by doctors, lawyers and car-repair facilities. Claims for “pain and suffering” are discouraged. The bill mandates a low-cost auto-insurance policy. And it forces uninsured motorists off the road.

Other, more debatable provisions limit attorneys’ fees and insurance agents’commissions, restrict medical charges for the treatment of auto-accident victims, and reduce the amount of insurance coverage motorists are required to carry.

It’s easy to understand why doctors, chiropractors and attorneys oppose SB 10. But the insurance companies? The governor?

Their objection to the bill is as cynical as it gets. They fear that SB 10 would undermine their campaign for “no-fault” auto insurance. Since 1988, the insurance industry has pursued no-fault as a way to evade Proposition 103’s reforms. Insurance companies worship no-fault because it allows them to charge consumers higher premiums and pay accident victims less compensation. This means higher profits.

Nothing in the bill would prevent insurers from pushing for no-fault in the future. But with Proposition 103 finally taking effect, the insurance industry’s waste, inefficiency and profiteering have been reduced. Premiums are heading downward. SB 10 would complete the reform process by improving the resolution of auto-accident disputes and providing an inexpensive basic policy. In short, the auto-insurance problem would be solved. The last thing the insurance industry wants is a solution that does not include no-fault.

Can Wilson afford to veto SB 10? The governor hasn’t got much credibility left with the voters, certainly not enough to squander by killing the kinds of reforms he has always said he wanted, just to protect insurance companies. Yet he seems to have a “public-be-damned” attitude. Last week, he upheld a decision blocking $2.5 billion in Proposition 103 rollbacks. He blocked efforts to cut pro-insurer bureaucracies from the budget. And observers say he is anxious to keep legal reform and lawyer-bashing alive as a campaign issue for pro-industry Republicans in the fall. If Wilson’s candidates took control of the Legislature next year, no-fault and every other item on the insurers’ wish list would be assured of passage.

Thus, Wilson’s insistence on reform of the legal system turns out to be no more than a politically appealing cover-up for his pro-insurance industry agenda.

If all this sounds familiar, it should. The exact same hypocrisy steers the Bush-Quayle campaign’s decision to make lawyers the Willie Hortons of 1992. Like Gov. Wilson, President Bush and Dan Quayle have received enormous campaign contributions from insurance carriers and members of the “defendants’ lobby”--chemical polluters, manufacturers of defective drugs and other dangerous products--whose reckless behavior usually results in lawsuits.

Like Wilson, the President and vice president have been pounding trial lawyers and demanding reform. Their real target isn’t attorneys, however, but laws that give injured consumers the right to take big corporations to court. Like no-fault, the Bush-Quayle proposals would alter the civil justice system to allow wrongdoers to avoid paying full compensation to their victims. The guilty evade responsibility, insurance companies pay out less, profits rise, all at the expense of consumers.

It’s not going to take the voters long to figure out what reform of the legal system really means in the hands of these politicians. It won’t work for Bush and Quayle, and, if Gov. Wilson’s smart, he won’t even chance it here in California; he’ll sign SB 10.