NEWS RELEASE:
Contact: Naomi Seligman, 310.392.0522, ext. 318; or Doug Heller, 310.392.0522, ext. 309
Contra Costa Times Urges Readers to Vote No on Prop 17
Santa Monica, CA – The campaign to stop the insurance company-sponsored Prop 17 today received the endorsement of the Contra Costa Times <http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_14680005>, telling its readers to “Vote No On Deceptive Proposition 17.”
Proposition 17 would surcharge drivers, including soldiers and seniors, who have had a lapse in car insurance coverage for virtually any reason during the past five years. Under the measure, people who stopped driving and didn’t need insurance for a time would be required to pay up to a thousand dollars more for insurance when they sought to restart coverage. Currently, insurance companies are prohibited from imposing the surcharge in California.
In today’s editorial against Prop 17, the Contra Costa Times writes:
“Californians should have no trouble figuring out how to vote on Proposition 17, the auto insurance measure. All they have to do is ask themselves if Mercury Insurance Co., which spent $3.5 million to qualify and support the initiative, has consumers’ welfare or its own financial interests in mind. Prop. 17, which is almost entirely funded by Mercury Insurance, is designed to fool voters into believing it is simply a change in the law that would allow insurers to offer a “continuous coverage” discount on policies to new customers who switch auto insurance companies.”
And on Prop 17’s impact on California motorists:
“Huge surcharges of several hundred dollars or more would be allowed even for motorists with good driving records. The fact is many Californians have had lapses in their auto insurance when they served in the military, went to college, suffered illnesses, lost their jobs or lived in a large city with good public transportation.
The threat of paying surcharges appears, in part, to be designed to force some people to pay for auto insurance during periods when they do not need it.”
Contra Costa Times hits the nail on the head with the (multi) million-dollar question:
“Why else would Mercury spend millions of its own dollars on the measure?”
For more information, please visit: http://StopProp17.org – or find us on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stopmercury and facebook <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Prop-17/338876074483?ref=ts> .
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Isn’t it the law to have insurance anyway-most people that are uninsured are by choice and not necessity-they still have their cable, big screens and i phones but if they mangle someone with their uninsured car they somehow think it is someone elses problem-its about time-maybe the threat of huge increases will MAKE PEOPLE FOLLOW THE LAW