Jane Kim (49, Korean name Kim Jung-yeon), the first Korean American elected official in San Francisco, is challenging for a ‘first’ record once again.
If elected in the upcoming November California Insurance Commissioner race, she will become the first Korean American high-ranking state government official elected directly by voters statewide.
The reason this newspaper supports candidate Kim for California Insurance Commissioner is not simply because of the ‘first Korean American’ title. She is a proven candidate qualified to reform the current struggling California insurance system into a consumer-centered one.
Candidate Kim defines the Insurance Commissioner’s office not as a simple administrative agency, but as a “civil rights agency that protects the rights and interests of consumers.” She plans to actively exercise the strong oversight authority granted to the Commissioner to correct the unfair practices of insurance companies that have been rampant.
The core campaign promise that stands out most is the introduction of ‘public non-profit insurance.’ Candidate Kim has promised to promote natural disaster insurance where the state government shares the risks of major disasters such as wildfires, floods, and earthquakes, and to ensure that collected insurance premiums are directly linked to actual damage compensation and prevention projects.
In particular, she presented measures against the customary denial and delayed payment of insurance claims by insurance companies.
Candidate Kim pointed out, “I will force insurance companies to pay delay interest to subscribers for every day they refuse or delay insurance payments without justifiable reasons,” adding, “Currently, insurance companies are focusing only on raising investment profits by delaying payments rather than returning insurance money that should go to subscribers in a timely manner.”
The background behind why candidate Kim is considered a suitable person to decisively put such an innovation plan into action is her rich experience in local administration.
She entered politics in 2006 at the age of 29 by being elected as a San Francisco Board of Education member, becoming the first Korean American elected official in San Francisco. Despite her short political career, she led education reform, and in particular, in 2010 when she served as the Board of Education President, she showed driving force in keeping core class programs under the adverse conditions where the California government’s budget support was drastically cut.
Subsequently, while serving as a San Francisco Supervisor (District 6) from 2011 to 2019, she successfully implemented a series of unconventional and preemptive public welfare policies, such as the introduction of a $15 minimum wage and the free tuition policy for City College of San Francisco.
Candidate Kim asserts that she is “the candidate who will represent Korean small business owners” in this election.
She emphasized, “Because my mother was also a small business owner, I know the difficulties experienced by Korean self-employed people better than anyone else,” and added, “I will be a protective shield so that Koreans can practically reduce the burden of auto, home, and business insurance premiums and not be unfairly discriminated against in the subscription and compensation process.”
Candidate Kim already confirmed her advancement to the general election in 1st place, overturning expectations in the primary election held last June.
At that time, she recorded a 27.4% vote rate, comfortably beating the 2nd place candidate, California State Senator Ben Allen, by an 8 percentage point margin. She proved her popular support base that transcends political factions by taking 1st place in voting rates not only in Democratic-leaning areas but also in Republican-leaning areas.
This California Insurance Commissioner election is held at a critical crossroads that will set another milestone in Korean American political history and determine the direction of the confused California insurance market. Candidate Jane Kim’s policy, which puts consumer protection as the top priority and promises the introduction of public non-profit insurance and the improvement of insurance claim payment delay practices, is absolutely necessary for the reform of the California insurance market.
