Is Stacy Korsgaden the answer to California’s insurance crisis?
I’ll bet the most recent increase in home insurance rates that she isn’t. The twice-failed supervisor candidate and Grover Beach Republican is betting on your next home insurance rate increase that she is—as in, she thinks California’s insurance commissioner shouldn’t be able to tell insurance companies not to raise your rates.
And if your insurer wants to raise rates by 30 percent, AI will step into modify the market. AI?
“I want to see 10 new innovative startup companies that are using AI that are going to provide you a policy possibly at a cheaper price point, more coverage, better service,” she said.
Umm. I think companies are trying to get out of providing coverage in risky areas because it costs too much to pay up in a severe natural disaster. No one is trying to start a brand new insurance company in a risky market that will likely have to pay up. But it’s nice to want things, amirite?
Former insurance agent Korsgaden announced her run for insurance commissioner, an unenviable position that’s on the struggle bus right now. Current Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is in the thick of an insurance crisis—rising rates, insurers not renewing homeowners’ policies, insurers leaving the state altogether, and wildfires that have gobbled up homes faster than he can blink.
In fact, you and I will be helping to pay for the cost of rebuilding in the wake of the LA wildfires, thanks to a “deal” he made with insurance companies that splits the cost of paying out claims between ratepayers and the insurance companies. Don’t worry, though, he doesn’t actually know how much will be tacked onto next year’s insurance bill. WTF is that?
In his tenure, many SLO County residents have either lost their insurance coverage and had to default to the very expensive insurer of last resort, the state’s FAIR Plan (which isn’t fair at all), or faced rates that have more than doubled.
And we’ve got a fire burning right now—the Gifford Fire—in SLO County that’s illustrating exactly why insurance companies are beating feet.
Korsgaden’s blaming the state’s “one-party rule” (the Democrats) for California’s insurance woes—apparently not realizing that the insurance crisis is also happening in red states like Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Florida has the highest non-renewal rate in the country, according to a Senate Budget Committee report from December 2024.
Who’s she going to blame for that?
What do these states all have in common? No, it’s not wildfire! But it is climate-driven natural disasters (hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, wildfire, etc.) that seem to be getting worse with insurance companies that are no longer interested in insuring the riskiest homes. And Korsgaden’s party wants to keep its head in the sand when it comes to crafting policies and regulations to help protect against the damage that climate-driven weather can wreak and to prevent development from happening in places it shouldn’t. In fact, Trumpty-dumpty and all the king’s men are trying to rip those rules right out of the regulations. Slow clap!
Nothing to see here! Just blame the Democrats for everything. It’s ridiculous.
Lara’s terming out, thank God! (I wish Trump had termed out.)
Whoever gets elected as Lara’s replacement has a mountain to climb. As the issue seems to be a national one, I doubt that anyone is going to be able to fix it in California alone. This is an issue that’s been decades in the making, and hopefully it doesn’t take that long to dig ourselves out of it.
We’ve got another hopeful, misguided conservative out of South SLO County who just announced a run at a state office. Shannon Kessler. Are you surprised?
I’m not. I knew she would try to turn her 15 minutes of ill-gotten fame into something. The Republican Party of SLO-backed Arroyo Grande resident is itching to take Dawn Addis‘ spot in the Assembly with her platform of keeping transgender students out of girls’ restrooms and sports.
She’s even backed by Chino Valley Unified school board president Sonja Shaw, who’s running for state superintendent and is another “parent’s rights advocate.” Oh joy!
Hoping to continue the national steam she gathered by singling out two students in the Lucia Mar Unified School District and bullying them in front of a national audience, Kessler believes the state is the problem. I’m sensing a right-wing theme, here. She also singled out the Caballero battery energy storage system in Nipomo as a state-approved project that bypassed local involvement.
Well, I’m happy to report that Kessler either doesn’t read local news or she doesn’t understand exactly what a local governing body is. That project was approved in 2023 by the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission—which does give local residents an opportunity to provide input and received none!
Regardless of how you feel about the project, facts are facts. And elected officials should at least get those facts right.
But she’s not elected yet. She’s only just beginning her play for the 30th District seat. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and the SLO County District Attorney’s Office will file another set of voter fraud charges against a South County conservative.
Either way, should be plenty of material for this column in the run-up to the 2026 primary. Δ
The Shredder is sharpening some gears. Send thoughts to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Aug 14-24, 2025.
What kind of adult chooses a platform that picks on children–and not just children, but the most vulnerable children in our society? It is no surprise that the party of Trump (accused child rapist, definitely all over the Epstein files, and braggart about walking in on naked children) would spawn the likes of Shannon Kessler, another adult obsessing over children’s genitals. Pick on someone your own size.