Interesting LA Times article on Prop. 33 [View all]

[petronius]

Prop. 33 is billionaire's attempt to manipulate public policy

George Joseph must think that the old saw defining insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result doesn't apply to him — or at least that it's amenable to tweaking.

Joseph, the billionaire nonagenarian founder and still kingpin of the insurance company Mercury General Group, is represented on November's statewide ballot as the promoter and virtually sole bankroller of Proposition 33. This initiative would allow auto insurers to offer discounts to drivers who have maintained coverage without a break, which is known as "persistency."

That sounds innocent — what ballot proposition doesn't? But it's a significant change in the law, which currently allows auto insurers to offer such discounts only to customers who have maintained unbroken coverage with their current carrier, not with others. The difference means, in effect, that insurers would be able to charge higher rates for new customers without prior insurance; that's explicitly barred by the 1988 insurance reform measure Proposition 103, which has led to sharp reductions in California auto insurance premiums overall.

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http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20121021,0,507978.column

This is one of those things I hate about our proposition system - a potentially misleading change to a law, with complex implications, is not something that should be decided this way...