I’ve spent my career taking on powerful interests to make California more affordable. As a San Francisco Supervisor, I authored and passed California’s first $15 minimum wage, advanced some of the strongest tenant protections in the country and secured tuition-free community college for all San Franciscans.

We need to re-imagine and redesign insurance to work for all of us. And this means taking on the $3.3 trillion industry, which has been posting blockbuster profits for shareholders and CEOs. In fact, CEO’s at the 10 largest insurance companies raked in $391 million over the last three years.

The private insurance business model is to price risk and avoid losses, not to reduce risk. When wildfire exposure grows, they don’t invest in fire prevention or community resilience — they pack up and leave taxpayers to foot the bill. We have socialized the costs of climate catastrophe but privatized the gains.

A public insurer would invest in prevention and resiliency, and the public would benefit with fewer claims to pay out.

“Like so many Californians, teachers are dealing with the impacts of rising costs and an economy that feels rigged against working people,” said David Goldberg, President, California Teachers Association. “When insurance premiums go up or coverage disappears, it hits our members and their students directly. Jane Kim has a track record of taking on powerful industries to make the system fairer and more affordable for everyone. That’s why we’re proud to endorse her for Insurance Commissioner.”

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California today announced the 750,000 – member organization’s endorsement of Jane Kim for Insurance Commissioner.

"She has fought with and stood alongside workers for the entirety of her career and will continue to champion working people’s causes. In our fight for democracy, we know Jane will have the backs of California workers.”

Californians deserve an Insurance Commissioner independent from industry influence, who refuses insurer money and stands up to corporate abuse. That’s why Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the National Union of Healthcare Workers and Working Families Party are endorsing her campaign.

Former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim is joining the race for California’s Insurance Commissioner with bold proposals to get the government even more involved in making home insurance available and affordable.

Former San Francisco supervisor Jane Kim officially jumped into the race for insurance commissioner on Wednesday, setting up a test of progressive creds on a statewide political stage at a time when climate change is increasingly hitting pocketbooks.

“This office has been very under-leveraged, and it could be a powerful platform to put forward a bold agenda for working families and everyday people,” she said.

Kim said the commissioner’s role has been underutilized despite its broad authority. She described insurance as a gateway to household stability and long-term wealth accumulation, arguing that market failures now justify stronger public intervention.

Her campaign centers on holding insurers accountable while expanding access for households priced out of coverage.

Candidates divided along clearer lines when Kim brought up one of her campaign goals: to create a public homeowner insurance system, like a single-payer health care system, that would cover claims from natural disasters instead of relying on private companies to do so.

In the current “profit-driven insurance model,” she said, companies keep policies on the homes at less risk of wildfires, but raise premiums and don’t renew coverage for everyone else.