This is an interesting move from the California insurance regulator and the end result will be fascinating to see. If insurers are barred from looking for stability in a consumer’s lifestyle, then the general assumption is everyone is unstable as regards their relationships, effectively single. So partners become random named drivers, could be just friends, apartment sharing mates perhaps and therefore high risk. That means higher premiums.
Here’s the official statement;
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has announced proposed regulations to prohibit insurance companies from using a driver’s marital status as an optional factor when setting private passenger automobile insurance rates, taking the next step in his ongoing effort to modernize California’s insurance regulations and strengthen protections for consumers.
“The price of your auto insurance should be based on how you drive, not whether you’re married,” said Commissioner Lara. “For 30 years, insurers have been allowed to use marital status when setting rates. Today, we are taking action to end that outdated practice and reinforce a simple principle: insurance rates should be grounded in actual driving risk, not personal circumstances that have nothing to do with how someone behaves behind the wheel.”
Under Prop. 103, automobile insurance rates are primarily determined by three mandatory factors: a driver’s safety record, annual miles driven, and years of driving experience. Prop. 103 also gives the Insurance Commissioner authority to approve additional optional rating factors that have a substantial relationship to the risk of loss. Since 1996, marital status has been one of those optional rating factors. Insurance companies had been able to elect to use it in their rating plans if they demonstrated compliance with Prop. 103 and received approval from the California Department of Insurance. However, with today’s proposed regulation, this particular rating practice will end.
“Thankfully, Commissioner Lara continues to modernize and update outdated insurance regulations until the end of his term,” said Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (D Whittier), Chair, Assembly Insurance Committee. “There is no circumstance where it is acceptable for an unmarried driver to pay more for auto insurance for the sole reason of being unmarried. This is archaic and I applaud Commissioner Lara for not only highlighting this discrepancy but addressing it head on.”
“Ratemaking should be a fact-based process grounded in real indicators of risk like safety record, miles driven, and years of experience,” added State Senator Steve Padilla (D San Diego), Chair, Senate Insurance Committee. “Marital status is a data shortcut, not a direct, demonstrable fact about how someone drives. By finally eliminating marital status as a rating factor, Commissioner Lara is correcting a 30-year failure and putting fairness back into what Californians pay.”
Commissioner Lara reached the policy conclusion that marital status is an outdated distinction that should no longer be used in determining what Californians pay for automobile insurance.
“California has changed dramatically over the last three decades, and our insurance regulations must evolve with it,” continued Commissioner Lara. “The responsibility of a regulator is not to preserve outdated rules, but to ask whether they are still fair, justified, and supported by the evidence. When a rating factor no longer belongs in a modern insurance system, we have an obligation to act. That is exactly what this proposal does.”
A consistent record of making insurance fairer for all Californians
Today’s action reflects a throughline in Commissioner Lara’s career: ensuring California’s insurance system treats every consumer fairly, regardless of who they are or the shape of their family or life.
“Commissioner Lara has spent his entire career making sure California treats every person fairly, no matter who they are. Ending the use of marital status in auto insurance is part of Commissioner Lara’s long-standing commitment to make sure all have a voice at the table and a recognition that Californians shouldn’t pay more simply because of the honest and true lives they live or their personal circumstances,” said Tony Hoang, Executive Director of Equality California. “We have been behind Commissioner Lara since the beginning of his career and continue to stand by him for the fairness and equal treatment he puts at the center of all his work and actions.”
Commissioner Lara has sponsored and championed a series of measures — carried by legislative authors — to remove outdated barriers and expand protections in California’s insurance laws, including:
- SB 961 (Sen. Lena Gonzalez, 2020), the Equal Insurance HIV Act, later merged into SB 1255, which prohibits life and disability income insurers from declining an application or enrollment solely on the basis of a positive HIV test.
- SB 272 (Sen. John Laird, 2021), which modernized the Insurance Code’s licensing provisions with gender-neutral language to ensure nonbinary Californians are included.
- SB 280 (Sen. Monique Limón, 2021), which requires large group health policies to cover medically necessary basic health care services and codifies the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on discriminatory benefit designs and marketing practices in the Insurance Code.
- AB 451 (Assemblymember Lisa Calderon, 2023), which permanently continued and expanded CDI’s licensing examinations in additional languages — adding property and casualty exams in Spanish and offering exams in Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Tagalog — so more Californians can enter the insurance profession.
- SB 990 (Sen. Steve Padilla, 2024), which requires the State Emergency Plan to incorporate best practices for equitably serving LGBTQ+ communities during emergencies and natural disasters.
Beyond legislation, Commissioner Lara has used the Department’s regulatory authority to guard against discrimination in coverage, issuing anti-discrimination notices in 2020 and 2025 that reaffirmed Californians’ health insurance protections in the face of federal rollbacks. The 2025 notice includes a detailed timeline of the Department’s actions to protect access to care.
Court ruling confirms Commissioner’s authority under Proposition 103
The proposed regulations follow the California First District Court of Appeal’s July 16, 2026 decision in Ison v. Lara, which upheld the Commissioner’s authority under Prop. 103 over optional automobile insurance rating factors.
Commissioner Lara is now exercising his regulatory authority to remove marital status as an optional rating factor going forward.
The Department’s proposal would prohibit insurers from using marital status when developing automobile insurance rates. Insurers currently using marital status would be required to bring their rating plans into compliance with the final regulations through the Department’s Prop. 103 review process.
Any resulting changes to an insurer’s rates or class plan would remain subject to the Department’s review to ensure that rates are justified, not excessive, not inadequate, and comply with California law.
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