DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE: Kelso Criticizes Previous Management
Interim Insurance Commissioner Clark Kelso Wednesday criticized the state's oversight of the insurance department, telling lawmakers that the agency has been "without effective management for more than a decade," the Los Angeles Times reports. Kelso took over the reins at the department last month, when then-commissioner Chuck Quackenbush was forced to resign. Delivering his appraisal of the scandal-plagued department to the Senate Insurance Committee, Kelso said, "Too many things happen in the department simply as a matter of customary practice and not as a matter of written policy and guidelines." Although he has begun to reorganize the department, Kelso said that many other issues will need to be resolved by his successor, former appellate Judge Harry Low. One of the "most pressing issues" Low must contend with is the problems in the workers' compensation insurance market, Kelso said. Low is expected to take office in mid-September (Ellis, 8/10).
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