Latest California Headlines
All the headlines from our California Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Workers’ Comp Bureau Submits Higher 2025 Pure Premium Rate Filing
May 1 2025 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California submitted a September 1, 2025 pure premium rate filing, proposing advisory pure premium rates on average 11.2% above the average approved September 1,...
Bill to Address California Wildfire And Insurance Crises Moving Through Legislature
Apr 30 2025 // A California Assembly committee advanced a bill designed to deal with the state’s wildfire and insurance crises. The California Safe Homes Act, Assembly Bill 888, passed out of the Assembly Insurance Committee on a...
California Proposes Allowing Testing of Self-Driving Heavy-Duty Trucks
Apr 29 2025 // California regulators have released a new proposal to allow the testing of self-driving heavy duty trucks on public roads. The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles announced proposed regulations last week to allow...
California Wildfire Losses Cause 16% Fall in The Hartford’s Q1 Net Income
Apr 25 2025 // Net income at The Hartford decreased 16% to $630 million in the first quarter 2025, driven by losses from the California wildfires. Property/casualty catastrophe losses for Q1 2025 were $467 million pretax—$325 million,...
Medical Evaluator Demand Grows in California Workers’ Comp System
Apr 25 2025 // The number of qualified medical evaluators in California’s workers’ compensation system has increased since 2019, but the demand for their services has overtaken this growth, a new analysis shows. Between 2019...
People Moves: SCM Names Valenzuela VP and Bond Manager; Breiter Joins Alliant in California
Apr 24 2025 // Valenzuela Joins SCM as Vice President and Bond Manager Adriana Valenzuela SullivanCurtisMonroe Insurance Services named Adriana Valenzuela vice president and bond manager. Before joining SCM, Valenzuela managed the surety...
Viewpoint: What Tariffs, Steel Prices Mean for E&S Construction Insurance in California
Apr 24 2025 // Steel prices have been anything but steady in recent years. With renewed discussions around tariffs and trade restrictions, another wave of volatility may be on the horizon. While much attention is paid to how rising...
A California New Car Group Sues Volkswagen and Affiliate for Violating Franchise Laws
Apr 24 2025 // The California New Car Dealers Association filed a lawsuit against Volkswagen and its affiliate, Scout Motors, for allegedly violating California’s franchise laws. The CNCDA lawsuit, filed in in San Diego County...
Lawsuits Accuse Insurers of Colluding to Drop Coverage in Fire-Prone Parts of California
Apr 23 2025 // Two lawsuits filed in Los Angeles allege major home insurance companies have colluded to limit coverage in California communities at high risk for wildfires and force homeowners onto the state’s last-resort insurance...
Report: California’s New Vehicle Market Outlook Clouded by Tariffs
Apr 23 2025 // New vehicle registrations in California rose 8.3% in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the same period a year earlier, putting the state above a nationwide 4.6% increase in a buying surge that may have been driven by...
Viewpoint: California’s Latest Insurance Privacy Bill Would Add Layer of Regulation
Apr 23 2025 // California lawmakers are once again turning their attention to consumer privacy—this time with a laser focus on the insurance sector. At a moment when insurance companies are already navigating a minefield of data...
Relation Insurance Acquires True-Course Insurance Services in California
Apr 22 2025 // Relation Insurance Services acquired the assets of True-Course Aviation Services Inc. in Camarillo, California. Aejandro Galioto, owner of True-Course, will continue to lead the firm and spearhead the expansion of...
California Workers’ Comp Board OKs Higher Pure Premium Rate Filing
Apr 21 2025 // The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California’s governing committee on Wednesday voted to authorize the WCIRB to submit a September 1, 2025 Pure premium rate filing on average 11.2% percent...
Tesla Settles Employee’s California Suit Alleging Pervasive Harassment
Apr 21 2025 // Tesla settled a racial discrimination lawsuit by a Black female employee who claimed a manager at its Fremont, California, plant sometimes greeted workers by saying “welcome to the plantation” or “welcome...
Navion Acquires P/C Business of Instasure in California
Apr 21 2025 // Navion insurance Associates Inc. acquired the property/casualty book of business from Instasure in California. Instasure is an insurance agency that specializes in serving the commercial insurance needs of clients. Navion...
Revisiting California’s Wildfires: A Personal Journey
Apr 21 2025 // PART TWO OF A TWO-PART SERIES In this second article in a two-part series, Journalist Russ Banham endeavors to better understand the factors behind the devastating fires in Los Angeles County and the roles that public...
California Plumbing Contractor Ordered to Pay $1M for Workers’ Comp Fraud
Apr 21 2025 // A plumbing contractor has been ordered to pay $1 million in restitution to the State Compensation Insurance Fund as part of a workers’ comp fraud prosecution. Daniela G. Birdwell, 41, owner of GPS Plumbing, pleaded...
California Sets Aside $170M to Thin Vegetation, Forests to Help Prevent Wildfires
Apr 17 2025 // Gov. Gavin Newsom signed new legislation on Monday that will provide more than $170 million in state funding to help prevent wildfires while signing an order aimed at speeding up the work by easing environmental...
Tesla Slumps Below 50% Share of California’s Electric Car Market
Apr 17 2025 // Tesla Inc. is no longer selling the majority of new electric cars registered in California, the state that accounts for almost a third of all zero-emission vehicle purchases in the US. The company’s share of EV sales...
Group Sues California Department of Insurance Over FAIR Plan Surcharges
Apr 16 2025 // A consumer advocacy group has sued the California Department of Insurance and Commissioner Ricardo Lara to block hundreds of millions of dollars in surcharges that could soon appear on California homeowners’...
