Why does Assemblyman Jose Solorio (D-Anaheim) think he can tell the insurance industry who to hire? That is exactly what he is trying to do with his latest bill, AB 53 which passed the Assembly floor today. This crazed legislation would require major California insurers to file a report with the Insurance Commissioner regarding their outreach and procurement practices involving businesses owned by women, minorities, and disabled veterans.
The bill defines these businesses as ones that are at least 51% owned by women, minorities, or disabled veterans. But who cares who owns these companies – the real issue is who are they employing – and the insurance industry is actually one of the most diverse fields in California – in fact minorities are in big demand right now, particularly those who speak a foreign language, such as Spanish, Korean or Chinese.
Solorio didn’t hire a minority – he hired Tom Daly’s wife!
Solorio chairs the Assembly Committee on Insurance, and it is painfully obvious that he has not a clue about the insurance industry. This bill is unnecessary and ridiculous and to add to the irony, Solorio is currently running around promoting Orange County Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly as his replacement in the 69th Assembly District – which is one of the most heavily Latino legislative districts in the State of California. How do you like that? Solorio wants to force the insurance industry to hire minorities but he is trying to get a white guy elected to his Assembly seat. Wow.
According to a Solorio press release, “AB 53 is based on the provisions of another Solorio bill, AB 41, signed into law in 2010. Under AB 41, each insurer that collects more than $100 million in premiums from Californians are required to file a policy statement detailing that company’s goals for community development and infrastructure investments in underserved communities. Just one year after the legislation became law, nearly all impacted insurance companies complied by submitting a community development plan.”
Seriously? Solorio and his pro-union pals in Sacramento have laid waste to our state budget with endless spending and tax increases and then they exacerbate the mess by forcing entire industries to develop communities and infrastructure? How is this fair? The goal of business is to make a profit. What Solorio is doing runs counter to our free market – it is wealth redistribution and quite frankly it is socialist in its philosophical underpinnings. This guy can’t term out of office soon enough!