Issue: No uninsured motorists in California. How? Liaibility insurance that you pay at the gas pump.

Pay-as-you-go auto liability insurance insures everyone who buys gasoline to run their cars: A pay-at-the-pump auto liability insurance plan will guarantee that every car in California is insured -- there are no uninsured vehicles, period; regardless of whether the car is legally registered or not. To run your car, you buy gas; when you do, the cost of insurance is added in to the price of your gas purchase at the rate of several cents per gallon.

Another tax? You could look at it that way: But consumers will save far more on the cost of auto liability insurance by paying a few cents more at the pump rather than paying your insurance carrier's premium -- in which uninsured drivers are factored in to increase the rates. So if you compare spending a few cents more in gas to the savings of hundreds of dollars in annual auto liability premiums, consumers make out far better.

Insurance companies will still provide other coverages for your car -- theft, repair, etc. -- but the liability insurance, which is the largest cost in auto insurance, will be eliminated.

Issue: Until pay-at-the-pump liabilty insurance is implemented, public financing of auto insurance for low-income drivers; another look at 'no-fault' auto insurance

If you drive, you have to be insured: Before the above plan can be put in place and make the current system moot, auto insurance is still a necessity for drivers. But it is the responsibility of the state to see that such insurance is affordable for working people. When the legislature passed SB1427 in 2002, it brought state-sponsored auto insurance to low-income individuals in a handful of California counties. This year it goes to several additional counties. This should be expanded to all counties.

In addition, it is time to revive the effort to have no-fault auto insurance in California, being careful to see that the savings realized from it go towards making auto insurance more affordable. Additionally, the office of Department of Insurance can perform cross-carrier studies to examine whether alternative fuel vehicles should be covered at lower rates.

A California more dependent on mass transit than on private automobiles is still a far-in-the-future inevitability. A Green administration in the Department of Insurance, led by Larry Cafiero, will seek to expand the scope of SB 1427 to make state sponsored auto insurance available to all low-income California drivers.

Got an issue?

The preceding item outlines one of the main issues: Led by the Green Party's 10 Key Values, the Greens and Larry Cafiero have a variety of other issues dealing with insurance matters. Do you have an issue you'd like addressed? E-mail the candidate here.

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