Steve Poizner for Insurance Commissioner

The California Department of Insurance was created in 1868 to regulate the state’s insurance market, and today it is the largest consumer protection agency in the state, with nearly 1,400 employees overseeing more than 1,300 insurance companies and licensing more than 410,000 agents, brokers, adjusters and businesses.
Until 1988, the insurance commissioner was appointed by the governor, but Proposition 103 changed the position to an independent statewide officer elected by the voters. Prop