QUACK QUAKES

A state Senate panel voted May 3 to bar California’s insurance commissioner from ever again allowing insurance companies to avoid fines by contributing to nonprofit foundations. The Senate Insurance Committee approved by an 8-0 vote to submit a bill to the full Senate that would prevent future tradeoffs similar to those undertaken by current Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush. The commissioner has admitted to allowing at least four insurance companies to avoid $3.3 billion in fines for allegedly underpaying claims during the 1994 Northridge earthquake in return for making donations to an earthquake foundation. Quackenbush’s CDI legal team recommended the fines. No time line has been slated for presenting the state’s Senate with such a bill. Meanwhile, a California Superior Court judge has seized the earthquake foundation and the LA Times has called on Quackenbush to resign.