California Commissioner Lara’s Travel Troubles — Explanations Aren’t Forthcoming

San Francisco, California TV investigators from KGO/ABC 7 News have done a deep investigation of California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s travels. The program, 7 On Your Side said it appears Lara has taken at least 46 trips around the country and the world since 2019.

So far, at least, neither Lara nor the California Department of Insurance have been able to explain the “insurance” reasons for the trips.

“However, two months after missing the March 2024 [insurance] hearing, the Commissioner was able to make a ‘Legislative Study Tour’ in the United Kingdom for eight days,” the 7 On Your Side reporters said. “And he wasn’t late for a ‘Climate Presentation’ to the Central Bank of Uruguay later that month. And he didn’t miss his flight to Honolulu the following week for a ‘policy training.’ Public records show taxpayers picked up his four-star hotel bill.”

Trips following those trips?

Paris, Bogata, Bermuda, Uruguay, Hawaii, Washington, D.C., Florida, Toronto, Singapore, Cape Town, Dublin, Costa Rica, Chile, Egypt, Tokyo, Glasgow, and Dubai,” the reporters said. “Plus a handful of trips to Arizona, Illinois, New York, Rhode Island, Washington DC, and Connecticut,” the reporters said.

KGO/ABC 7 said Lara’s pattern of taking international trips, staying in luxury hotels and his trip to Paris costing $6,000 for an economic development conference don’t appear to be connected to insurance. The news report found the explanations for the excursion — if they got one — sketchy at best.

The 7 On Your Side investigation has gotten the attention of the California Legislature and Republican Assem. Greg Wallis, the Vice Chair of the Assembly Insurance Committee wants some adequate explanations from Lara about the trips.

"If the insurance commissioner's office isn't able to provide answers as to the government purpose of this travel, I think it's absolutely appropriate for us to move forward requesting an audit so we can get answers for the taxpayers,” Wallis said. “Again this is about transparency — it's about good government. It's something that Californians absolutely deserve.”

While on trips, and since 2019, Lara has missed eight of 14 of the state’s insurance hearings. Most of the hearings missed are from the Senate Insurance Committee where Lara missed seven of nine general information sessions.

Lara was traveling for at last four of those hearings.

After over a month of being pushed for answers to the reasons for the trips, the California Department of Insurance and Lara have not explained many of them. The department did defend Lara’s trip to Bermuda. Deputy Commissioner Michael soller said Lara delivered a keynote address at a conference.

"Nearly 40% of the world's reinsurance companies are based in Bermuda, paying out trillions of dollars in claims — including those for wildfires," Soller said. "Lara delivered a keynote address ... aimed at guaranteeing insurance companies continue to write policies in California.”

Lara told the Senate Insurance Committee that the trip to Bermuda was critical.

“We have to engage face-to-face, which allows for more direct answers, and I must confront the insurance industry to drive these results. If insurance companies are telling me that the cost of reinsurance is almost tripling, well then I need to trust but also verify by directly meeting with the reinsurance companies who are their customers,” he said.

That is an answer to one trip. Other Lara trips still generate questions that have not been answered by him or the California Department of Insurance.

The 7 On Your Side report looked into Lara’s trips costing $20,000 or more and found none of them had an insurance-related meeting on his schedule. This includes a stay for a week in Bogota, Columbia and a five-star hotel stay for a Pride Fest in New York City. The trip to Chile for a United Nations climate change conference is not insurance related.

“7 On Your Side obtained and analyzed hundreds of public records that detail at least 46 cross-country and international trips all over the world — including at least 11 taxpayer-funded excursions to places like Bogota, Paris, and Toronto,” the KGO/ABC 7 reporters said. “But after more than a month of questioning his office, Lara’s staff has been unable to identify the business purpose for nearly all of them.”

That — of all the concerns — is the biggest.

"I think there's definitely value to being able to take trips like this — meet with people, leaders across the globe," Wallis agreed. "The bigger question here is why we're not able to identify the government purpose of this travel. This should be an easy answer, no brainer."

And Wallis pointed out that he, like Lara, takes some taxpayer funded trips.

"If you were to ask my office the purpose of government travel, we would be able to identify every single benefit that came from these trips,” he said. “I think [not identifying the purpose of Lara’s trips] that's the biggest concern.”

Former California Insurance Commissioner and now Congressman John Garamendi was unhappy hearing about Lara’s travels. "As insurance commissioner, my job was to always put consumers first,” Garamendi said. “Clearly, this value hasn't continued.”

Republican and Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones sits on the Senate Insurance Committee. He, too, is displeased with the report on Lara’s travels. "Californians deserve transparency and accountability from all levels of government,” he said. “With crises like our state's ongoing insurance issues, it's more important than ever that agencies and officials show up, do the work, and deliver results. Taxpayers expect and deserve nothing less.”

In January of last year, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a letter to state agencies regarding a very tight budget and he urged a reduction in expenditures. He said trips should be limited to only “essential, mission-critical travel.”

The 7 On Your Side investigation found Lara taking at least 15 trips after the the governor sent the letter to California agency heads.

California Consumer Watchdog executive director, Carmen Balber basically said Lara’s trips are without excuse.

"I think most Californians, especially those who are currently trying to recover from the tragedies in Los Angeles, would hope the insurance commissioner would be here at home helping them recover from those tragedies, not off on a junket in Bermuda,” she said. "Unfortunately, this is not the first time and certainly won't be the last that we see the commissioner off on a foreign trip in an exotic locale at a quote-unquote insurance meeting that still raises eyebrows for consumers,"

Source link: ABC 7 News — https://bit.ly/42pJyPU

Source link: CalMatters — https://bit.ly/3RzjpYE

Source link: California Globe — https://bit.ly/4j6J1bc

Source link: KCAL News — https://bit.ly/4j6VewG