Dear Friends,

We recently made significant progress in our work to improve the stretched insurance system after the Senate Insurance Committee approved policies that improve ratepayer protections. The reforms will help residents maintain existing coverage, give residents more notice and opportunities to mitigate risk before being dropped, strengthen the Department of Insurance’s enforcement authority, disclose information related to loss estimates, and penalize unjustified payment delays. 

Each of these policies will be voted on in Appropriations Committee before a floor vote in the coming weeks.

In other news, we recently celebrated California Arts, Culture, and Creativity Month along with the 50th anniversary of the creation of the California Arts Council. We welcomed arts leaders like Cheech Marin, Luis Valdez, Paul Lanier, Julie Baker, and many others to the State’s Capitol.

Since its founding in 1976, the California Arts Council has worked to improve access to arts education, careers, and public arts and culture. California is now home to over 11,500 nonprofit art organizations, and creative industries employ over 15 percent of all Californians.

I’ve been proud to chair the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Arts since I first entered the Senate in 2014. Since then, we’ve passed the Theater and Dance Act to improve teaching credentials in the arts, the Creative Workforce Development Act to expand jobs in our creative sectors, and the Film and TV Jobs Act to keep production here in the Golden State.

If you have any questions on these matters or need any assistance, please feel free to contact our Capitol office at (916) 651-4024 or our district office at (310) 414-8190. You can also follow us on social media or visit our website for additional updates from Sacramento and around the district.

All my best,

Ben Allen
Senator, 24^th District