Ricardo Lara serves as California’s Insurance Commissioner. Following his eight years of elected service in California’s Assembly and Senate, he made history in 2018 as the first openly gay person to ever be elected to statewide office in California history. Raised by a factory worker and a seamstress — Venustiano and Dolores — Ricardo’s humble beginnings guide his work as he leads the state’s largest consumer protection agency. 

As your Insurance Commissioner, Ricardo has taken on tough fights and won for working families — holding the insurance industry accountable while fighting for health care for all, helping California consumers during the unprecedented devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and assisting California wildfire victims in rebuilding their lives. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ricardo has directed insurance companies to return health care and auto insurance premiums. His actions resulted in cost savings of over $2.4 billion for California drivers so far. 

In response to the climate crisis, Ricardo continues to lead efforts to protect Californians from the impacts of climate change — including wildfires, floods and heatwaves — by pushing the insurance industry to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Ricardo wrote the nation’s first climate insurance law, SB 30, and following unprecedented wildfire disasters, he used his authority to protect more than 2 million policyholders from non-renewal when insurers tried to flee the marketplace. He created the nation’s first Climate and Sustainability Branch within the Department of Insurance, and also sponsored legislation to allow wildfire survivors to better access their benefits. Ricardo recently unveiled the “Safer from Wildfires” insurance framework, which will help provide discounts to homeowners, businesses, and communities who do the work of hardening their home to the threats of wildfire and climate change.

As a State Senator, Ricardo authored legislation that would create a single-payer health care system for California and he wrote the Health4All Kids Act — which now covers all California children with full-scope Medi-Cal regardless of immigration status. As your Insurance Commissioner, he continues to lead efforts to help reduce the number of uninsured Californians, strengthen our clinics and public health system, and lower costs for all. Ricardo also serves as Co-chair of the Special Committee on Race and Insurance within the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, where he works with his peers to find solutions to address widespread health disparities. 

Ricardo is ready to continue the fight for stronger consumer rights and wants all Californians to know: He’ll always be on your side. 

Insurance Commissioner Lara was born in Los Angeles County, California and earned a BA in Journalism and Spanish with a minor in Chicano Studies from San Diego State University. He also currently serves as the President of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO). 

Democrat Marc Levine has represented Marin and southern Sonoma County in the Assembly since 2012. He is known for his fearless commitment to standing up to corporate special interests on behalf of everyday Californians and consumers. From insurance companies, to Big Oil, tech giants, big utilities, and the gun lobby, there is no special interest or corporate power Marc is afraid to take on. That’s how he’s been able to make real progress for our state. Now he’s ready to put his strong track record of public service and dedication to protecting consumers to work as our next State Insurance Commissioner. 

In his five terms in the Assembly, Levine has authored over 90 laws. He has fought to expand healthcare coverage for working families, stood up against corruption and dark money in our politics, helped protect our environment from fracking, held insurance companies accountable on behalf of wildfire survivors, took on the NRA to increase gun safety, and stood up to Big Tech to protect our privacy.

Marc first ran for Assembly in 2012 to ensure a strong voice for local communities in Sacramento. Despite being outspent 5-to-1 by Sacramento interest groups, he was elected in one of the year’s biggest upsets, defeating an insider Sacramento politician who had moved to the district to claim it for himself.

Previously, Marc served on the San Rafael City Council, where he gained a reputation for innovative environmental policies. Before serving in public office, Marc developed award-winning technology for human rights organizations. He earned his Master’s in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. While earning a Bachelor’s Degree at Cal State Northridge, Marc was elected Chair of the California State Student Association, representing over 450,000 students on campuses across California to the State Legislature and Board of Trustees.

Marc was born in Los Angeles. Raised in the Bay Area’s Contra Costa County, Marc and his wife, Wendy, have lived in Marin County for the past 17 years where they are raising their two children.

The California State Insurance Commissioner runs the largest state consumer protection agency in America, serving as a watchdog over 1,500 health, home, and auto insurance companies. The Commissioner has a constitutional duty to protect consumers and vulnerable communities, and ensure fair play, integrity, and stability in the insurance market.

The issues facing the next Insurance Commissioner have never been more critical: ensuring access to high quality, affordable healthcare for all Californians as we come out of the pandemic, protecting California during a time of worsening climate change and increasingly frequent natural disasters like wildfires and floods, and defending consumers, renters and homeowners, underserved communities, working families, and Veterans from corporate fraud and abuse.

Marc Levine is ready to get to work for all Californians as our next State Insurance Commissioner.

Greg Conlon has a excellent background to run for State Insurance Commissioner.  His business experience has been over 30 years with an international public accounting firm with both business consulting and auditing of Fortune 500 companies.  He also has his own business consulting experience for many years.  His government experience includes serving on the California Public Utilities Commisson as both a Commisssoner and President.  He also served on the California Transportation Commisssion as a Commissioner.  With both his business and regulatory government experience he is well qualified to serve as State Insurance Commissioner.  Most of the regulatory rate setting at the Insurance Department was adopted in a Statewide Propostion which copied most of the procefures from the California Public Utilties Commission.  Greg Conlon has the California Public Utitility experience and can use this experiencen in serving as Insurance Commissioner.

Greg Conlon has been a conservative business man who understands how and why business procedures and practices can be adopted in the Public Sector base on his combined business and public sector experience.  The State Insurance Department takes twice as long to complete a rate proceeding and cost twice as much compared to the State of New York.  Greg Conlon will use his Political and business philosophy to reduce the time and cost at the Insurance Department to reduce insurance rates to consumers.  

I am a Black Trans Woman, Nurse, and Navy Veteran.  I served on the re-elect Willie Brown Lavendar Committee, and was Precinct Captain. I later was Precinct Captain for Matt Gonzalez, who was a Green Candidate. I proudly became a Green, because of Matt, and the progressive views they shared, and that we had in common.  I am the first Transgender Officer in the history of the City and County of San Francisco. Appointed by the Board of Supervisors, and served at the pleasure of three Mayor's: Willie Lewis Brown Jr., Gavin Newsom, and the late, Ed Lee, for over fourteen years and eight months. I am the oldest of four children, with only my sister and I surviving. I am a Mother, Grandmother, Aunt, Sister, and Friend. Many in the LGBT!IA+ Community call me Mother, or Auntie. I have also served on the Ryan White Care Council. Working with a thirty-six million dollar budget, we served the EMA of Marin, Alameda, and San Jose Counties. I was able to get eighty thousand dollars in rollover funds to teach doctors how to work successfully and appropriately with Transgender patients.