20Th Century Ins. Co. V. Garamendi

At the November 8, 1988, General Election, the voters approved an initiative statute that was designated on the ballot as Proposition 103. The measure made numerous fundamental changes in the regulation of automobile and other forms of insurance in California. Formerly, the so-called "open competition" system of regulation had obtained, under which "rates [were] set by insurers without prior or subsequent approval by the Insurance Commissioner . . . ." (King v. Meese (1987) 43 Cal. 3d 1217, 1221, 240 Cal. Rptr. 829, 743 P.2d 889.) Under that system, "California had less regulation of insurance than any other state, and in California automobile liability insurance [was] less regulated than most other forms of insurance." (Id. at p. 1240 (conc. opn. of Broussard, J.).) The initiative contained, among others, provisions relating to the rollback of rates for insurance within its coverage for the period extending from November 8, 1988, through November 7, 1989. (For purposes here, a rate is the price or premium that an insurer charges its insureds for insurance.)