Recap: Consumer Watchdog: Inside Our Insurance Fight

Sep 17 2025

Dear friends,

Thank you for showing up strong at our Insurance Rights Webinar with Consumer Watchdog Founder Harvey Rosenfield, Executive Director Carmen Balber, and Litigation Director Will Pletcher. 

What a night! And what power we are building together.

🎥 Watch or share the recording: https://www.efsurvivors.net/expert-resources

The Law That Levels the Playing Field: Prop 103

We opened with a masterclass from Harvey Rosenfield, the author of Proposition 103. This law — created and defended for nearly four decades by Consumer Watchdog — is why Californians have saved over $150 billion on insurance rates since 1988.

There’s a lot of misinformation out there. Here’s the truth:

Prop 103:
• Protects insurers’ right to fair profits but requires transparency. Companies must open   their books and prove rate hikes are justified.

• Creates accountability. We, the public, can see and challenge rate hikes.

• Ends special treatment. Before Prop 103, insurers were exempt from consumer protection, civil rights, and antitrust laws.

It doesn’t ban rate hikes. If companies can prove a hike is necessary, they get it. What it stops is secret hikes. That’s why insurers hate it — and why it remains our strongest tool.

The Fight Against State Farm’s $1.2 Billion Hike

Right now, State Farm is trying to raise rates by $1.2 billion while still dragging out and denying survivor claims. And Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has sided with State Farm and against California policyholders.

Make no mistake: if Consumer Watchdog weren’t in court using Prop 103, that rate hike would already have been rubber-stamped.

Instead, Judge Karl Seligman has rejected attempts by Commissioner Lara and State Farm to silence survivors and fast-track the rate hike. Our survivor voices plus CWD’s legal firepower are forcing transparency.

Fresh Legislative Wins for Survivors

Carmen Balber walked us through the latest victories from Sacramento. These are hard-fought wins where Consumer Watchdog stood nearly alone against billion-dollar insurance lobbyists — and still delivered progress:

• Public Wildfire Catastrophe Model (SB 429): Ends black-box pricing with a transparent wildfire model families can use to challenge unfair wildfire risk ratings.
 

👉 Read Carmen’s blog for the full story: https://consumerwatchdog.org/insurance/passage-of-public-wildfire-catastrophe-model-legislation-highlight-of-session-lacking-bold-action-on-home-insurance-abuses/

• Mortgage forbearance (AB 238): Survivors can pause payments for up to a year.

• Personal property payouts (SB 495): Insurers must pay 60% upfront after a total loss without forcing families to itemize every spoon and sock.

• Interest on held funds (AB 493): Mortgage companies must pay us 2% interest when they sit on our insurance money.

👉 See the full breakdown in Carmen’s slides: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67f5687fc4ea480d5d201fe5/t/68cafb06afdb052dfbf46c18/1758132998512/CWD+2025+insurance+and+wildfire+bills.pdf

SB 495 does not apply retroactively to our fires, but the others do apply to us.

The EFSN 5-Step Plan to End Illegal Delays and Denials

California already has strong consumer protection laws — but they’re meaningless if Commissioner Lara doesn’t enforce them. That’s why EFSN created the 5-Step Plan, and why our civic coalition is demanding Commissioner Lara act on it now. Every legislator representing the Eaton and Palisades fire areas has endorsed it.

Here’s what Lara must do under his existing authority:

1. Finish the State Farm market conduct exam within 60 days and freeze rate hikes until misconduct ends.
 

2. End illegal Fair Plan smoke claim denials. Courts have already ruled these denials unlawful.
 

3. Enforce our rights to temporary housing. Families are being displaced while insurers break the law.
 

4. Require transparency on loss estimates. Survivors deserve the original numbers, not watered-down versions.
 

5. Fix the black-box complaint system. Publish monthly complaint reports by insurer.

👉 Full plan here: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67f5687fc4ea480d5d201fe5/t/68a9fd81b9558b11989b75b8/1755970945688/EFSN+5+Actions+Stop+Insurer+Misconduct.pdf

Why Your Story Matters Most

Together with Consumer Watchdog, survivors win because we share what’s really happening with our insurance. Insurance companies spend millions to tell lawmakers “all is well.” Unless we counter with truth, they win.

That’s why your story matters:
• Stories change laws.
• Stories win court cases.
• Stories shift public opinion.

We’ve already trained 90 survivors in media skills and generated 350+ news stories. But we need more voices.

👉 Share your insurance story here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfTK5_daAp-GFUuAA_WBNxvFSuhzXj6C_jIoVggceYehN1E0w/viewform?link_id=28&can_id=e13ec9b4a28e959dbb2a8408d296aa2f

Building Our Civic Coalition

We were proud to announce that our coalition now includes:
• Assemblymembers John Harabedian and Jacqui Irwin
• State Senators Sasha Perez and Ben Allen
• Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger
• Altadena Town Council Chair Victoria Knapp

In the weeks ahead, we’ll broaden this coalition statewide. The bigger our coalition, the more pressure on Commissioner Lara to enforce the law and end illegal delays and denials so we can all get back home — and so California families can trust insurance again.

To do this, we need help. If you have social media expertise, connections to public figures, or resources to support this work, please email hello@efsurvivors.net.

Extra Resources from the Webinar

• Consumer Watchdog complaint portal (upload your story + documents): https://consumerwatchdog.org/fire-complaint/
 

• Full survivor chat log from the webinar - you all are amazing! https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67f5687fc4ea480d5d201fe5/t/68cafccade8e722ede2a0410/1758133450071/EFSN+Consumer+Watchdog+091725Webinar+Chat.pdf

Next Step: Come Together

Please join us for our First Friday Community Dinner on October 3. We’ll record survivor insurance stories together that night.

Sign up here: https://efsurvivorsnetwork.myflodesk.com/first-friday-oct-2025

For four decades, Consumer Watchdog has been the only full-time consumer protection group in California taking on the insurance industry — whether commissioners side with families or with insurers.

We survivors bring lived truth. CWD brings unmatched legal firepower. Together, we are pressuring the insurance industry to honor their contracts and the law. 

🎥 Watch or share the recording: https://youtu.be/Uxb9_RQToJ0

With gratitude and resolve,
Joy Chen

Executive Director

Eaton Fire Survivors Network