The Brief

Survivors of the deadly Los Angeles County fires, some of whom have been unable to rebuild because their insurance claims have been delayed or denied, are calling for California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to resign.

Lara, a former state lawmaker, has one year left in his second term.

A recent New York Times article detailing loopholes the insurance industry could exploit in Lara’s plan to try to improve California insurance availability was the last straw, fire survivors said. They said it proved Lara has helped the insurance industry more than he has helped policyholders.

Lara and others said his plan, which officially rolled out just days before the L.A.-area fires in January, is in its early stages and will take time to work.

Jill Spivack, a State Farm policyholder whose home burned in the Palisades Fire, said during a press conference Thursday that she has been unable to rebuild.

“We feel alone, we feel forgotten,” she said. She implored Gov. Gavin Newsom to replace Lara. “Californians deserve an insurance commissioner that protects families, not the insurers doing harm,” Spivack said.

Lara — who also faces accusations of improper spending of taxpayer dollars on travel — told CalMatters in an interview that he has no plans to resign.

“I understand the anger [of fire victims],” Lara said. “I’m frustrated with the pace of recovery that involves multiple agencies, multiple levels of government.”

He mentioned the actions he has taken in response, which include the Insurance Department’s June launch of a formal investigation into State Farm over its handling of claims from the L.A.-area fires; a legal action against the FAIR Plan, the state’s fire insurer of last resort; and a bulletin requiring insurance companies to fully investigate and pay smoke damage claims.

Lara’s efforts aren’t helping survivors quickly enough, some of them say. On a website the group recently launched calling for Lara’s resignation, the Eaton Fire Survivors Network links to surveys that say 70% of policyholders face delays and denials, and that 61% expect to lose housing coverage within months. They want the investigations sped up. They want Lara to pause approvals of rate increases in the meantime.

Why one survivor wants Lara out

Andrew Wessels is still waiting to move back into his Altadena home, which did not burn down but was damaged. He first spoke with CalMatters in May, as he was battling State Farm over getting his home tested for toxins because he did not want to move his two children back into a potentially unhealthy environment.

He told CalMatters on Friday that he is still waiting for more tests the insurer ordered as it decides what it wants to pay for. He expects to have to wait until next year before he and his family can actually rebuild. But he feels lucky that he, his wife and kids found semi-permanent housing after shuffling among Airbnbs since the fire. They are now three months into an 18-month lease that State Farm is paying for, and he’s breathing a little easier because he’s “not boxing up things every few weeks.”

He is joining the call for Lara’s resignation. He said the state’s insurance department recently closed his complaint about State Farm’s handling of his claims based on the company’s word alone — without asking him first.

“Recent information provided by the insurer states that the matter you originally brought to our attention is currently in stable condition,” the department’s Oct. 8 letter states.

“It was particularly concerning that it was closed without talking to me,” Wessels said. “They’re supposed to represent me. I think it speaks to who the Department of Insurance actually serves.”

He appealed and asked a couple of his state lawmakers’ staff to contact the department on his behalf, and it reopened his complaint.

“It was also concerning that ‘if State Farm says it, it must be true,’ since the department is investigating (the insurer) for illegal practices,” Wessels added. That proves a change is needed, he said.

Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos and the governor’s office did not return repeated requests for comment about the calls for the governor to replace Lara.

Nicole Ganley, a spokesperson for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, said the industry group would have no comment on the effort to oust Lara. She pointed to a letter to the editor the group sent to the New York Times, which took issue with the story about insurers reportedly exploiting loopholes in the commissioner’s new regulations by avoiding writing policies in certain areas, then turning around to request to raise their premiums anyway.

“The reforms are recent, and their impact is still unfolding,” the letter says in part. “Suggesting failure at this stage misrepresents the facts and risks undermining public confidence in a strategy designed to stabilize coverage in high-risk areas.”

‘No magic wand’ for insurance crisis

Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization that is often at odds with Lara, was also at the press conference. Throughout his tenure, her organization has questioned his insurance ties, beginning in 2019 when Lara received and returned campaign contributions from the industry. He ran for office pledging not to take money from companies he’d regulate.

The organization is also the main intervenor in insurance rate reviews, meaning it often submits challenges to insurers’ proposed rate increases and changes. On Nov. 20, a public hearing is scheduled to discuss Lara’s proposed changes to the intervenor process, which Consumer Watchdog has characterized as the commissioner’s revenge.

“What we’ve seen happen over the past couple of years is things getting worse for consumers, not better,” Balber told CalMatters ahead of the press conference. “We need someone new in charge who will hold the industry accountable to its promises.”

But Amy Bach, executive director of San Francisco-based consumer advocacy group United Policyholders, said she is “sorry to see energy being expended in this direction.”

She said there are legal, regulatory and other efforts underway to try to improve the state’s home insurance market, and that bringing in a different commissioner isn’t likely to speed things up. “There is no magic wand that will solve the insurance challenges that are plaguing L.A. wildfire survivors and causing premiums to rise untenably across the state,” Bach said.

Robert Herrell, a former deputy insurance commissioner under Lara’s predecessor, also used the magic-wand analogy. As climate disasters and risks proliferate, there is no easy fix to what ails property insurance in this state, nation and the rest of the world, he said.

Yet he said survivors need a strong commissioner who stands up to the insurance industry. “This is not that commissioner,” said Herrell, who is now executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Consumer Federation of California. “Just because he says that every time he takes action it’s for the consumers doesn’t make it true.”

Bach said Lara has had to find a way to balance competing interests: “No prior commissioner faced the marketplace conditions he’s faced, so it’s hard to say whether a heavier-handed approach would have worked any better than what he’s trying to achieve.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Eric Swalwell, who had emerged as one of the top candidates in California’s crowded governor’s race, suspended his campaign Sunday evening after a series of women accused him of sexual assault and harassment, including allegations that he raped a former staff member twice.

In the short statement posted on social media, he did not address whether he will remain in Congress.

Swalwell, a married father of three who represents the East Bay, faced swift calls to resign from his House seat and leave the governor’s race after the allegations were published by the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN on April 10. In addition to the political fallout, he’s now facing a criminal inquiry from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York and possibly Alameda County — where the 2024 and 2019 alleged assaults each took place.

“To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past,” Swalwell said on X. “I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.

The reports by the Chronicle and CNN included allegations by an unnamed former staffer who said Swalwell sexually assaulted her when she was too intoxicated to consent in both 2019 and 2024. CNN also reported allegations of misconduct from three other women involved in Democratic politics, including one who said Swalwell kissed her without consent and two others who said that he sent them unsolicited nude photos and explicit text messages.

Swalwell flatly denied the allegations of sexual assault in a video he posted on social media Friday, and vowed to fight them. But he seemed to acknowledge at least some infidelity, adding that any mistakes are between him and his wife, and apologizing for “putting her in this position.”

But within hours of the stories publishing, Swalwell was abandoned by nearly all his supporters. Top House Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, called for his exit, and he lost 21 endorsements from fellow Democratic members of Congress.

Over the weekend, senior staffers from both his congressional office and campaign resigned, and major labor groups like the California Teachers Association and SEIU California pulled their support. His campaign website no longer contains links to donate or a page listing his donations.

In a joint statement Sunday, 55 of Swalwell’s former staff members called the allegations “serious” and “credible” and urged law enforcement to investigate. They also called on Swalwell to resign from Congress and withdraw from the governor’s race, and apologized to their former colleague “for not knowing what you were enduring.”

“We believe her,” the letter states. “What has been described is not a political attack. It is the account of a young woman who trusted her employer, who was targeted and exploited by someone in a position of power over her, and who has carried this burden for years.”
Swalwell, 45, had a meteoric rise in politics — and a fall that came just as fast. A former Alameda County prosecutor, he first ran for Congress in 2011, as a 30-year old Dublin city councilmember who unseated a 20-term incumbent nearly 50 years his senior.

He rose to national prominence during President Donald Trump’s first term when he was tapped to help investigate Trump during both impeachment inquiries. The roles — as an impeachment manager during the first impeachment, and again as a House manager during the second — led to frequent appearances on cable news and made him one of the Democratic Party’s most high-profile Trump critics.

He briefly ran for president in 2019, but dropped out within months after failing to gain traction. Swalwell announced a run for governor in November, joining a crowded field to replace the termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. Other leading Democrats include former Rep. Katie Porter and billionaire Tom Steyer, though the race had remained wide-open and a clear Democratic favorite had yet to emerge.

Over the past five months, Swalwell quickly amassed endorsements from most of his congressional colleagues, state lawmakers and some of California’s largest labor unions. They all abandoned him after the allegations were made public.

Republican Leticia Castillo stunned political observers when she won her Riverside County Assembly seat in the state Legislature two years ago.

The Democratic candidate, Clarissa Cervantes, the sister of the outgoing assemblymember, was favored and had spent more than 10 times as much as her.

This year, Castillo thinks she can do it again.

“I’m accessible to my constituents and they like that,” Castillo said at an evening reception outside a San Diego resort. Republican strategists, legislators and advocates are meeting for the party’s annual convention in downtown San Diego, one month before mail ballots for the June primary appear in mailboxes.

California Republicans are optimistic Castillo and a handful of other GOP legislators can hold onto their seats — but only if they keep President Donald Trump at a distance. It’s emblematic of a tension between leaders who are focused on strategic campaigning and party conservatives’ unabashed embrace of Trump. GOP candidates have been careful not to align themselves too closely with the president, whose affiliation can activate California Democrats to vote against anything from a candidate to a ballot measure.

Inflation and America’s entry into another war have cratered the president’s popularity among voters nationally. And the California party is listening. Officials over the weekend repeatedly downplayed him and his influence in state politics. But between bedazzled sweaters featuring his name and cardboard cut-outs of him, delegates’ support for the president was on full display.

Trump remains deeply unpopular in California. But his support among hard-line conservatives activists has rarely, if ever, wavered since in the last decade. That remains true among California Republican activists, whose devotion has not waned despite Trump’s controversial decision to enter a war with Iran that has caused record-high gas prices.

“I love what he’s doing. I love all the s— he’s saying,” Los Angeles delegate Mary Boston said about Trump and the war in Iran. “The whole establishment — all the Democrats, all the judges — they just hate him because he’s trying to make a difference for you and me.”

Donald who?

However, GOP officials sought to minimize his role.

“I think people here are tired of California. They know that the federal government is doing nothing to harm or help California,” Riverside County sheriff and Republican candidate for governor Chad Bianco said in an interview. Trump last week endorsed his Republican rival Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, instead of Bianco. “For the last week, people haven’t cared what President Trump is doing,” he said of Trump’s endorsement.

Bianco and Hilton have been reticent to mention Trump. In a state where Democratic voters vastly outnumber Republicans, it’s an imperative.

State party Chair Corrin Rankin said she was surprised to see Trump “weigh in on anything in California,” and refused to comment directly about voters’ discontent with his policies.

Some party leaders are hoping Trump’s toxicity will just blow over come the June 2 primary.

“Just as quickly as the gas prices went up, I think that we’ve all seen in California how quickly gas prices can also come down,” state party Vice Chair John Park said. “Many of the problems that are on the front burner, the ones that people will instinctively tie to President Trump, will subside by then.”

At the convention, the divide between the party establishment and its rank in file was on display. Trump merchandise could be seen all across the convention — at vendor booths, on the walls and on people’s clothes. At some sessions, Trump’s footprint was large. A “Make California Great Again” session was spearheaded by Jo Reitkopp, from Orange County, who founded a group of the same name shortly after Trump was inaugurated in 2016.

Reitkopp and other party activists were advocating for a voter ID ballot initiative that would require voters to show proof of citizenship to vote. The ballot measure is modeled after a voting restriction bill Trump is pushing in Congress.

Running for the Legislature? Stay mum on Trump

Even before voters passed Proposition 50, the ballot measure targeting House Republicans, the California Republican Party was weak and had little relevance. Democrats continue to hold a commanding supermajority in Sacramento, where Republicans are fewer than a third of state lawmakers. No Republican has been elected to a statewide office since 2006.

Things briefly looked different in 2024 after voters shifted to the right in nearly every county as part of the backlash to President Joe Biden. Predominantly Latino and working-class voters in Imperial County backed Trump, the first time they had backed a Republican presidential candidate in decades. Republicans also flipped three seats in the Legislature, a first in 10 years.

Those trends quickly evaporated. Voters in Imperial County and across the state overwhelmingly approved Prop. 50, complicating the narrative that Democrats were losing Latinos in California.

Imperial County GOP Chair Sayrs Morris said candidates’ approach will be to keep mum on Trump because of voters’ frustration with the economy.

“We’re not going out there saying our candidates are MAGA candidates. We’re keeping it focused on them,” said Morris, a Trump supporter. “Right now things are tough. The economy’s not super great. And we’re at war.”

Coachella Republican Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez will be a test case. He flipped his district two years ago, despite a registration advantage that favors Democrats by 12 percentage points. Among Gonzalez’s challengers are Indio city Councilmember Oscar Ortiz and former El Centro Mayor Tomás Oliva. So far, he’s outraised all of them with $630,000 in his campaign account at the end of last year.

Gonzalez’s campaign spokespeople did not return calls and emails seeking comment.

Republicans are also targeting Castillo’s Riverside Assembly seat and Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones’ San Diego district, where the GOP holds only a slight advantage as voters in north and eastern parts of San Diego County trend leftward. He terms out at the end of this year.

“It’s the one we’re all watching,” GOP activist Justin Schlaefil said.

The debate over who should succeed Jones, a moderate Republican, has been a tension point among Republicans in San Diego.

Jones and U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa have backed San Marcos City Councilmember Ed Musgrove. Meanwhile, Reform California, a multimillion-dollar political organization led by Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, is supporting Kristie Bruce-Lane, a two-time unsuccessful Assembly candidate who is further to the right than Musgrove.

Moderate Republicans fear Lane is too conservative for what will be the most competitive district this year.

Neither candidate gained enough support for an endorsement at a February San Diego County GOP meeting after hours of heated debate.

“We’re spending a lot of money against each other just because of that,” said Schlaefil, a friend of Jones. “It is winnable, but it is very tight.”

Back in Riverside, Castillo has a much larger war chest than two years ago when she narrowly clinched her seat by a few hundred votes against Democratic City Councilmember Clarrissa Cervantes.

Cervantes was initially considered a shoo-in. But she was bogged down by two DUI convictions. Cervantes attributed her loss to poor Democratic turnout. This time, she hopes things will be different.

Castillo is keeping her focus on public safety and parental rights.

“I get people just want to continue to say, ‘Trump, Trump, Trump,” she said. “At the end of the day, we’re in California, and Trump doesn’t rule here.”

Los Angeles Unified reached a labor deal with its teachers union on Sunday, but educators are expected to honor possible picket lines on Tuesday.

That's because the district is still in negotiations with SEIU Local 99 — which represents bus drivers, classroom aides and other staffers.

“Despite [United Teachers Los Angeles] having reached a tentative agreement with the school district, teachers have pledged to stand in solidarity with SEIU Local 99 and join in a sympathy strike," SEIU Local 99 said in a news statement on Sunday.

The district is also negotiating with the union that represents principals and other administrators.

The three unions gave the district an April 14 deadline to reach agreements or else face a walkout. A strike including teachers would shut down district schools and disrupt the education of about 400,000 students and the lives of families scrambling for child care.

What are the terms of the UTLA deal?

LAUSD and UTLA announced a tentative two-year agreement.

Terms of the new contract include an increase in salary scales by 11.65%, a new-teacher salary of $77,000 per year, four weeks of district-paid parental leave, expanded student mental health supports and a first-ever 20:1 ratio for special education specialist teachers.

“These wins reflect the progress we’ve fought for, enabling educators to stay fully focused on supporting students’ learning and well-being,” said Cecily Myart-Cruz, the union’s president, in a statement.

A district spokesperson told LAist the ongoing cost of the agreement with UTLA is $650 million and also includes “a comprehensive agreement on inclusive practices and staffing,” reduced secondary counseling ratios and smaller ratios for 11th- and 12th-grade academic class sizes.

The union’s members and the LAUSD Board of Education must vote to approve the deal. UTLA said in an Instagram post that its bargaining team "enthusiastically recommends" that union members ratify the new contract.

What was UTLA bargaining for?

UTLA’s bargaining team had met with the district more than a dozen times since negotiations began in February 2025.

The union’s proposals included: 

• A 17% raise over two years.
• A minimum starting teacher salary of nearly $78,000 — a 13% increase.
• Changes to the salary schedule so that newer teachers who complete professional development can earn increases more quickly.
• Reducing class sizes and adding more mental health support for students. 
• Learn more. 

What are the other unions negotiating for?

SEIU Local 99

30,000 members include: bus drivers, cafeteria workers, classroom and campus aides
Contract expired: June 30, 2024
Most recent meeting with LAUSD: Thurs., April 9, 2026

The union’s proposals include: 

• A 30% wage increase over three years. 
• More hours for workers who don’t have enough to qualify for benefits.

LAUSD’s most recent offer includes: 

• A 13% wage increase over three years.
• A task force that includes SEIU Local 99 members to advise the district on artificial intelligence use.
• Learn more.

SEIU Local 99 declared an impasse in December. The state has appointed a mediator to try to help the two sides reach an agreement.

The basis for SEIU’s strike vote is what the union says are more than a dozen unfair labor practice charges, where members have been disciplined or lost hours as a result of participating in union activities.

SEIU Local 99 reports its members make an average of $35,000 a year.

Maria Avalos is a supervision aide at Fernangeles Elementary School in Sun Valley. Avalos said she’s only assigned four hours of work a day and also cleans houses and sells tamales to support her daughter.

“We need more hours,” Avalos said. “I live in an apartment that has one bedroom for 10 of us.”

Associated Administrators of Los Angeles

3,000 members include: principals, directors and other administrators
Contract expired: June 30, 2025
Most recent meeting with LAUSD: Monday, April 6, 2026

The union’s proposals include: 

• A 12% raise over two years.
• The ability to use flex time more easily.

LAUSD’s most recent offer includes: 

• A 10% wage increase over three years.
• Additional stipends for administrators in specific positions.
• Learn more.

If AALA members still walk out April 14, it would be a first for the union, which affiliated with the Teamsters in 2024.

The union declared an impasse in February, an assessment the district disagreed with, but it agreed to continue negotiating.

“We don't have the necessary resources to really say we have safe schools, to really say that we're servicing students,” said Maria Nichols, president of AALA, during a pre-strike rally.

What happens if schools close?

The district plans to distribute food, tech support and refer families to community organizations for child care. Updates about resources and labor negotiations will be posted to a dedicated website in English and Spanish.

However, during a three-day 2023 strike, families struggled to find care and access their child’s education.

Senior editor for education Ross Brenneman contributed to this story.