Insurance Commissioner — Ben Allen vs. Jane Kim

November 3, 2026 California ballot. AI-generated analysis. Your sample ballot and official voter guide are the official documents; the links below let you check each claim. This page explains what is on the ballot; it is not legal advice.

Voting Clarity's research is done by Claude, an AI made by Anthropic. Anthropic gave no money to either candidate in this race [1].

Current as of October 16, 2026 · voting-clarity.org

At a glance

Candidates are shown in the order of the Secretary of State's certified list [2]. The names rotate by Assembly District (Elections Code § 13111), so the order on your ballot may be different; check your sample ballot [3][4].

Ben Allen

• On the ballot as: California State Senator [2][5]

• Party preference: Democratic [6]

• Office held, from his own ballot statement: State Senator [6]

• Insurance laws he wrote that the Governor signed (official record): Four, in 2025 and 2026 [7][8][9][10]

• Insurance company money, his statement checked against official records: Partly supported [6][11]

• Campaign money raised, January 1 to September 19, 2026: $1,574,007.18 [12]

• Outside spending for him / against him (Oct. 16 listing): $2.26 million / None found. [13]

• Official findings of wrongdoing: Two, both from the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), the state's campaign-finance regulator: a $4,000 penalty ($2,000 for each of two counts) for not timely disclosing, on two 2014 pre-election campaign statements, reduced-rent campaign office space valued at $4,100 for each period, with amended statements filed as a condition of the settlement (stipulated order, FPPC meeting of August 2015). The order states that the case "was opened proactively after a newspaper article reported that Allen received the use of office space during his campaign that had not been reported as an in kind contribution," and that David Gould, the committee treasurer and a respondent, "contends" the failure to report before the primary election was the result of confusion concerning the value, and the failure to report before the general election was an oversight on his part [14]; and a 2014 warning letter, with no penalty, for not filing a campaign statement for January 1 to March 17, 2014, due March 24, 2014, for his 2012 school board committee [15]. State Bar: license active, admitted December 15, 2008, no discipline listed [16]. Court records: could not be verified from available sources.

Jane Kim

• On the ballot as: Attorney/Consumer Advocate [2]

• Party preference: Democratic [6]

• Office held, from her own ballot statement: San Francisco Supervisor [6]

• Insurance items she sponsored on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, on this page's five issues (official record): None found.

• Insurance company money, her statement checked against official records: Supported [6][17]

• Campaign money raised, January 1 to September 19, 2026: $1,157,577.43 [18]

• Outside spending for her / against her (Oct. 16 listing): $958,152 / $1.52 million [19]

• Official findings of wrongdoing: None found in the FPPC enforcement decisions and case resolutions [20]. State Bar: could not be verified from available sources; no listing matched her [21]. Court records: could not be verified from available sources.

Sources for these lines are in the sections below. More detail

Your Vote:

Vote for one. The candidate with more of the votes cast statewide wins. Each name shows a party preference: both candidates list Democratic [6]. The term is four years, and a person can serve no more than two terms [22].

Summary

The Insurance Commissioner runs the California Department of Insurance. The department licenses and checks insurance companies, enforces the state's insurance laws, writes rules for them, and answers public questions and complaints about insurance [6][22][23]. Auto, home and other insurance rates and policies fall under the department's rules.

The Commissioner is elected by the people, in the same time, place and manner as the Governor [22]. Two Democrats are on the November ballot: Ben Allen and Jane Kim. Both advanced from the June 2, 2026 primary [12][18]. Vote counts could not be verified from available sources.

This page looks at what the job requires, then at what each candidate's record shows about work related to those duties. The records rows cover five main issues: home insurance availability and cost; a state-run disaster insurance program; insurer oversight (rate review, exams and claims handling); wildfire risk reduction and home hardening; and the FAIR Plan (Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, the state's insurer of last resort). The positions table near the end uses CalMatters' own question topics instead. The page does not say whether either candidate is qualified. The reader compares.

What the office does and what the law requires

• Duties. The Commissioner must carry out all duties the Insurance Code and other laws on insurance give the office, and must enforce them [23]. The Department of Insurance is an independent department under the Commissioner's control [23].

• Who may hold the office. Anyone who is a citizen of California and at least 18 years old at the time of the election may hold an elected office, unless a conviction for certain crimes disqualifies them [24]. The Insurance Code adds that the Commissioner "shall be a person competent and fully qualified to perform the duties of the office" and does not define those words [25].

• Ties to insurance companies. During the term, the Commissioner and the department's deputies and employees may not be an officer, agent or employee of an insurer, or be directly or indirectly interested in an insurer or an insurance licensee. Policyholders and relatives by blood or marriage are exceptions. Any license issued under the Insurance Code must be given up within 10 days after taking office [25].

• Term and vacancies. Four-year terms, no more than two. A vacancy during a term must be filled with legislative confirmation, in the way Article V, Section 5 of the California Constitution provides [22].

• Ethics rules for state officers. The Constitution lists the Insurance Commissioner as a "state officer." State officers may not take earned income from a lobbyist or from a person who has had a state contract with their agency in the past 12 months, may not take honoraria (speaking fees), and may not take pay for appearing before a state board for another person. Gift limits are set by law [26].

• No license requirement found. The sections read do not require a law degree, an insurance license or a stated number of years of experience [22][23][24][25][26].

Experience related to the duties, side by side

Each cell comes from an official record or from the candidate's own words, labeled as such.

Their records, side by side

Rule for both candidates: each row is one of the race's five main issues, and each cell lists the bills or resolutions on that issue that the candidate wrote as lead author or joined as co-author or co-sponsor, with the role, the outcome and the source for each; votes on other people's measures are not shown for either. Allen's rows come from the Legislature's bill records. A lead-author entry is a bill he wrote. A co-author entry is a bill by another author whose official status page lists him on its Lead Authors, Principal Coauthors or Coauthors line; the entry shows the page's own label. For Allen, the search covered all six sessions of his Senate service: 2015-16, 2017-18, 2019-20, 2021-22, 2023-24 and 2025-26. In each session, on October 17, 2026, the Legislature's bill search (leginfo) was run four ways: with the author set to Allen; for all bills that amend the Insurance Code; for the keyword "wildfire"; and for the phrase "FAIR Plan". The bill status page of every bill returned by the last three searches was opened and its author lines were read for Allen, and the status pages of the bills on the five issues returned by the author search were opened for their outcomes [28]. Sessions before 2015-16 were not searched. The keyword "insurance" alone was not run, because it also matches health, auto and unemployment insurance; the Insurance Code search stands in for it. A bill on the five issues that neither amends the Insurance Code nor uses the word "wildfire" or the phrase "FAIR Plan" could be missed, and four health special-session bills among the 2015-16 Insurance Code results were not opened. Bills that list Allen but are not on the five issues (for example land-use, fire-fee, fire-technology and property-tax bills) are not shown. Allen's votes on other members' bills were not collected; his Senate site and CalMatters Digital Democracy were not opened. Kim's cells use the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' records, which name each item's sponsors [29]. For Kim, the search was by sponsor (Jane Kim, primary or secondary), year by year for 2011 through 2019, with the results list set to show up to 1,000 items so no year was cut off (16 to 180 items a year); the title of every item was then searched for insurance, earthquake, flood, wildfire, disaster, underwriting, seismic, catastrophe, resilience, retrofit, hazard and climate, and each match was checked against the issues named below [29]. An item counts for her when the record lists her among its sponsors (co-sponsor). The main issues are the five named most often in a voter guide, news reports and two editorial-board endorsements: home insurance availability and cost; a state-run disaster insurance program; insurer oversight (rate review, exams and claims handling); wildfire risk reduction and home hardening; and the FAIR Plan. The sources are CalMatters' 2026 voter guide and its October 9, 2026 comparison (also carried by LAist and KPBS) [30], KQED [31], the San Francisco Chronicle [32] and Mission Local [33], with the editorial-board endorsements of Allen by the Orange County Register [34] and the East Bay Times [35] as secondary; those two are opinion pieces, not voter guides. Climate costs, auto insurance and development in high-fire-risk areas were named by fewer of these sources and are not treated as main issues. The Los Angeles Times coverage of this race was not found. Outcomes are what the official record shows today.

Allen served in the State Senate (2015–2026); Kim served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (2011–2019) [36]. Each candidate's record is from the body they served on.

Announced support or opposition for a specific bill, in the candidate's own statements: Allen, no role found [49]; Kim, no role found [50].

What each said about insurance company money, checked against official records

Ben Allen said: "I'm not taking any insurance company money because my loyalty is to you." [6] On December 31, 2025, his Insurance Commissioner campaign took in money moved from two of his earlier campaign committees. State law says moved money must be credited to the people who first gave it. [51][52] So the campaign's report lists $1,500 from Medical Insurance Exchange of California's political committee (first given March 19, 2021), $1,200 from ACE American Insurance Company (first given April 2, 2024) and $1,200 from Zurich American Insurance Company (first given February 22, 2024). [11] In early 2026 the campaign refunded $9,000 credited to USAA, Centene/Health Net and The Doctors Company political committee. [53] No refund of the first three amounts appears through its report covering the period ending September 19, 2026. [54]

Verdict: Partly supported.

His campaign's response: None found.

Jane Kim said: "I will never take a dime from insurance companies." [6] Her campaign committee's contribution records list 1,360 itemized contributions, dated December 18, 2025 through September 19, 2026, in five Form 460 reports, plus the 24-hour late-contribution reports filed through October 16, 2026. No entry is credited to an insurance company or to an insurer's political committee, and none is shown as money moved from an earlier committee and credited to one. Her itemized spending lists no refund or return of a contribution; the only refunds listed are travel charges. [17]

Verdict: Supported.

Her campaign's response: None found.

Money

All figures are from Cal-Access, the Secretary of State's campaign finance site. Reports run through September 19, 2026, filed by September 24, 2026. Independent spending (groups acting on their own, not coordinated with a campaign) is as listed on October 19, 2026 and includes filings from before the June primary. Listings include only filings that name the candidate.

Limits. State law, through the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), sets the limit at $9,800 per person per election for Insurance Commissioner candidates ($19,600 from a small-contributor committee). Political parties have no limit [56]. No limit specific to insurance companies was found in the Insurance Code sections read [22][25][23]. Both candidates accepted the voluntary spending limit [12][18].

How the donor rows were built. Both candidates use the same rule: contributions are summed by contributor name from the full lists of records of $1,000 or more (the committee's contributions-received list, "Show All"), and a source is shown when its total is $19,000 or more. Allen's list has 1,764 records, 822 of them $1,000 or more; Kim's has 1,360 records, 221 of them $1,000 or more. Records under $1,000 are not counted, and gifts under $100 are not itemized. Allen's totals include money moved from his earlier committees and credited to the original donors. The candidate's own money is shown separately and is not counted as a donor [17][55].

Contributors with a mailing address outside the U.S. Same check for both candidates, run on the full contributions-received lists ("Show All") for the 2025-26 election cycle (Allen 1,764 records, including the 457 entries moved from his earlier committees; Kim 1,360 records) and on each committee's late and $5,000+ contributions list (24-hour reports filed through October 16, 2026; Allen 539 records, Kim 219 records). Every record was checked for a state that is not one of the 50 states or DC, a ZIP that is not a U.S. ZIP code, and a non-U.S. city. U.S. territories and military (APO/FPO) addresses would be counted separately, not as foreign. Contributors are not named.

• Ben Allen: Contributions listing a mailing address outside the U.S.: None found. [55]

• Jane Kim: Contributions listing a mailing address outside the U.S.: None found. [17]

Federal law (52 U.S.C. § 30121) and state law (Gov. Code § 85320) bar contributions from foreign nationals in California candidate elections, but a foreign mailing address does not show that a donor is a foreign national; U.S. citizens and permanent residents living abroad may give [57][58].

Foreign-influence check

The same check for each candidate. Meetings or contacts by themselves are not reported.

Scope of the Form 700 row. Entries are reported as filed. The FPPC portal returned no gift or travel data for Allen's 2018, 2021 and 2022 filings; filings before 2025 are searchable only if filed electronically [59].

Key Questions Answered

Where an answer is in a table above, the number points back to it.

Ben Allen

0. Ballot designation: "California State Senator" [2][5]. The order of names differs by district; check your sample ballot [3][4].

1. Background: State Senator. Cal-Access lists Senate general-election wins in 2014, 2018 and 2022 [12]. Education: could not be verified from available sources.

2. Record in office: See "Their records, side by side." One of eight lead authors of SB 867 (2024), the bond bill for water, wildfire prevention, drought and clean air [27]. The Legislature's records also list him as a co-author of six more bills on the main issues that were signed (2018 to 2026), two that were vetoed (SB 877 and SB 878, 2026) and one that was not enacted (AB 1986, 2026), and as lead author of three that were not enacted: a 2020 wildfire prevention bond (SB 45), regional wildfire partnerships (SB 1297) and insurance in local safety plans (SB 1182) [28].

3. Stated priorities (own words): Ballot statement: increase competition to bring down costs, protect consumers who are unfairly dropped, make insurers accountable and the process transparent, and speed rebuilding [6]. In a January 2026 commentary: stabilize the insurance market with faster rate review "in months, not years", protect consumers, and reform the FAIR Plan (Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, the state's insurer of last resort) so it is solvent and shrinks over time [63].

4. Positions on CalMatters' questions (as reported by CalMatters; see the table "Positions on CalMatters' questions" below): [30]

5. Money: See "Money." [12][55][13]

6. Endorsements (own ballot statement, self-reported): Consumer Federation of California, California Professional Firefighters, Planned Parenthood, California Federation of Teachers, Sierra Club, Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla [6].

7. Official-record items: Two FPPC findings. (1) FPPC No. 14/1071, stipulated order (FPPC meeting of August 2015): Allen, his 2014 State Senate committee and David Gould did not timely disclose reduced rent for campaign headquarters from Santa Monica Business Park Limited Partnership, valued at $4,100 for each of two leases, on the second pre-election statement (March 18 to May 17, 2014) and the first pre-election statement (July 1 to September 30, 2014); $4,000 penalty ($2,000 per count); as a condition of resolving the case, amended pre-election statements disclosing the contributions were filed. The order states that the case "was opened proactively after a newspaper article reported that Allen received the use of office space during his campaign that had not been reported as an in kind contribution," and that David Gould, the committee treasurer and a respondent, "contends" the failure to report before the primary election was the result of confusion concerning the value, and the failure to report before the general election was an oversight on his part [14]. (2) FPPC No. 14/576, warning letter of November 12, 2014, to Allen and the treasurer of Friends of Ben Allen for School Board 2012: the committee did not file its statement for January 1 to March 17, 2014 (due March 24, 2014) by the deadline; no penalty; closed with a warning because of no enforcement history and because the statement was then filed; the committee must file all outstanding statements until it terminates and is responsible for any late-filing fees [15]. State Bar: license active, admitted December 15, 2008, no discipline listed [16]. Court records: could not be verified from available sources. Criminal charges: None found. [62]

8. Primary result and past races: Advanced from the June 2, 2026 primary [12]; vote percentage could not be verified from available sources. Past races: State Senate District 24, 2022; District 26, 2018 and 2014 [12].

9. Insurance company money, his statement checked against official records: Partly supported [6][11]

Jane Kim

0. Ballot designation: "Attorney/Consumer Advocate" [2]. The order of names differs by district; check your sample ballot [3][4].

1. Background: Civil rights attorney and consumer advocate; elected San Francisco Supervisor (own ballot statement) [6]. Board of Supervisors, District 6, January 2011 to January 2019 [36]. Education could not be verified from available sources.

2. Record in office: See "Their records, side by side." No insurance bill or resolution on the main issues that she wrote or joined as co-sponsor was found in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' records [29].

3. Stated priorities (own words): Ballot statement: make claims fast and fair, cap excessive profits, crack down on illegal price-fixing, a public Disaster Insurance for All program, and guaranteed healthcare for every California child [6]. In a February 2026 commentary: "Natural Disaster Insurance for All," a universal program that also invests in climate resilience, and caps on CEO pay and excessive profits [64].

4. Positions on CalMatters' questions (as reported by CalMatters; see the table "Positions on CalMatters' questions" below): [30]

5. Money: See "Money." [18][17][19]

6. Endorsements (own ballot statement, self-reported): U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis, Controller Malia Cohen, Dolores Huerta, California Teachers Association, California Nurses Association [6].

7. Official-record items: None found in the FPPC enforcement decisions and case resolutions [20]. State Bar: could not be verified from available sources; no listing matched her [21]. Court records: could not be verified from available sources. Criminal charges: None found. [62]

8. Primary result and past races: Advanced from the June 2, 2026 primary [18]; vote percentage could not be verified from available sources. Past races: State Senate District 11, 2016 (won the primary, lost the general election) [18].

9. Insurance company money, her statement checked against official records: Supported [6][17]

Positions on CalMatters' questions

The table has five rows, taken from CalMatters' guide: home insurance, auto insurance, claims, the FAIR Plan and development [30]. These are CalMatters' own question topics, not the five main issues used for the records rows above. Each cell is CalMatters' report of the candidate's stated position. Auto insurance and development are topics only CalMatters names; KQED's and Mission Local's news reports center on Kim's proposed state-run disaster insurance program and Allen's plan to stabilize the private market and expand wildfire mitigation [31][33].

Sources

Numbers match the [n] marks above.

1. Cal-Access, Anthropic PBC, filer ID 1491817, expenditures made, as of October 16, 2026.

2. California Secretary of State, Certified List of Candidates, November 3, 2026 General Election, dated August 27, 2026, Insurance Commissioner, p. 3 of 41.

3. California Elections Code Sec. 13111, subdivision (c) (order of names of candidates for statewide offices: randomized alphabet in the First Assembly District, then rotation by Assembly district), read October 16, 2026.

4. California Secretary of State, press release PR26-109, "Announces Results of Randomized Alphabet Drawing for the November 3, 2026, General Election", August 13, 2026.

5. California Secretary of State, Notice to Candidates, June 2, 2026 Primary, Insurance Commissioner, March 21, 2026 (Allen's designation).

6. California Secretary of State, Official Voter Information Guide: Insurance Commissioner Candidate Statements (statements supplied by the candidates; not checked for accuracy by any agency).

7. California Legislature, SB 495 (Allen, 2025), status and chaptered text.

8. California Legislature, SB 1301 (Allen, 2026), status and chaptered text.

9. California Legislature, SB 1209 (Allen, 2026), status and chaptered text.

10. California Legislature, SB 894 (Allen, 2026), status and chaptered text.

11. Cal-Access, filing 3114659, Allen for Insurance Commissioner 2026 (amendment 2), pages 7, 142 and 226.

12. Cal-Access, Ben Allen candidate page, read October 16, 2026.

13. Cal-Access, late independent expenditures affecting Ben Allen, listing as of October 19, 2026.

14. Fair Political Practices Commission, In the Matter of Ben Allen, Ben Allen for State Senate 2014, and David Gould, FPPC No. 14/1071, Stipulation, Decision and Order ($4,000 penalty; two counts), listed on the Commission's August 20, 2015 agenda and in its August 2015 minutes (the copy read has blank signature dates; the quoted wording was checked against the full order, including Exhibit 1, on October 17, 2026).

15. Fair Political Practices Commission, Warning Letter, FPPC No. 2014/00576, Friends of Ben Allen for School Board 2012, November 12, 2014.

16. State Bar of California, Attorney Search, "Ben Allen" (three licensees listed) and "Benjamin Allen" (one). The candidate is matched by the profile's official address, California State Senate, 1021 O St, Sacramento, and senator.allen@senate.ca.gov: Benjamin J B Allen, No. 261555, license active, admitted December 15, 2008, no discipline listed, October 16, 2026.

17. Cal-Access, Kim for Insurance Commissioner 2026 (ID 1485530), contributions received (all records; also read sorted by amount and with the loan filter), its late and $5,000+ contributions report, its expenditures made and its electronic filings list (Form 460 filings 3112857, 3137810, 3156147, 3178629 and 3199475), read October 16, 2026.

18. Cal-Access, Jane Kim candidate page, read October 16, 2026.

19. Cal-Access, late independent expenditures affecting Jane Kim, listing as of October 19, 2026.

20. Fair Political Practices Commission, site search of enforcement decisions (Administrative Fines and Penalties) and case resolutions (warning, advisory and no action closure letters), all result pages, for "Ben Allen", "Friends of Ben Allen" and "Jane Kim," October 16, 2026. For Kim, the results were behested-payment reports from San Francisco departments that list her among officials, a 2017 no action closure letter about independent spending by others, and a 2017 stipulation against a slate-mailer club that names her as a candidate; none is a finding against her.

21. State Bar of California, Attorney Search, "Jane Kim" (24 licensees listed). None could be matched to the candidate: the three listed in San Francisco (Nos. 298192, 310817 and 333342) show law-firm addresses (Keller Benvenutti Kim LLP; Greenberg Traurig LLP; Gordon Rees Scully and Mansukhani) and no record ties them to her; the others list other cities. October 16, 2026.

22. California Insurance Code Sec. 12900.

23. California Insurance Code Secs. 12906 and 12921.

24. California Government Code Secs. 1020 and 1021.

25. California Insurance Code Sec. 12901.

26. California Constitution, Article V, Secs. 5, 11 and 14.

27. California Legislature, SB 867 (Allen, 2024), bill status.

28. California Legislature, Bill Search, run October 17, 2026 in each of the six sessions 2015-16, 2017-18, 2019-20, 2021-22, 2023-24 and 2025-26, four ways: (1) author set to Allen (bills returned, by session: 44, 49, 45, 46, 48, 43); (2) all bills amending the Insurance Code (128, 114, 123, 128, 134, 147; in 2015-16 the four health special-session bills ABX2-17, ABX2-20, SBX2-2 and SBX2-15 were not opened); (3) keyword "wildfire" (45, 65, 197, 250, 180, 333); (4) the phrase "FAIR Plan" in quotation marks (3, 3, 9, 6, 7, 19). The bill status page of every bill returned by searches (2) to (4) was opened and its Lead Authors, Principal Coauthors and Coauthors lines were read for Allen (a different Allen, Assembly Member Travis Allen, appears in 2017-18 and was not counted). Not searched: sessions before 2015-16; the keyword "insurance" alone; Allen's Senate site; CalMatters Digital Democracy. The status page of each bill in the records table is its own endnote (endnotes 27 and 37 to 48); outcomes, chapters and votes there are from the History lines, and the bill text was read for the descriptions and stated goals.

29. City and County of San Francisco, Board of Supervisors, Legistar legislation search, advanced search by sponsor "Jane Kim" (primary or secondary), one search for each year 2011 through 2019, results list set to 1,000 (counts: 99, 91, 109, 137, 141, 180, 122, 165 and 16), titles searched for insurance, earthquake, flood, wildfire, disaster, underwriting, seismic, catastrophe, resilience, retrofit, hazard and climate; no item on the main issues was found. File 140264, a 2014 resolution on long-term care insurance premiums, is on no main issue and was not used. Items found and not used because they are not about insurance, wildfire or claims: a 2013 seismic safety loan exception (File 130181), a 2015 City College seismic retrofit plan (File 150251), a 2014 transit retrofitting bond (File 140508), a 2017 Paris climate resolution (File 170707), and 2018 bond and street-naming items; run October 16, 2026.

30. CalMatters, 2026 Voter Guide: Insurance Commissioner (also carried by LAist), and CalMatters, How California insurance commissioner candidates Jane Kim and Ben Allen measure up, October 9, 2026 (republished by KPBS) (secondary; used for how candidates' positions are reported and as one of the guides for choosing issues).

31. KQED, Danielle Venton, Kim Leads Early as Insurance Commissioner Race Heads Toward General Election, June 2, 2026, updated June 3, 2026 (news report; read October 17, 2026; used for issues named).

32. San Francisco Chronicle, article on Jane Kim's insurance commissioner campaign (no date or byline in the copy read; used for issues named).

33. Mission Local, Christina Baris, Ben Allen and Jane Kim: California insurance commissioner, October 14, 2026, updated October 15, 2026 (news report; used for issues named).

34. Orange County Register Editorial Board, Endorsement: Ben Allen for insurance commissioner, August 17, 2026 (editorial endorsement, an opinion piece; as republished by InsuranceNewsNet; used for issues named).

35. East Bay Times Editorial Board, Endorsement: Elect Ben Allen California's next insurance commissioner, September 26, 2026 (editorial endorsement, an opinion piece; as republished by InsuranceNewsNet; used for issues named).

36. City and County of San Francisco, Board of Supervisors, Former Supervisor Jane Kim - District 6: "Elected November 2010 for term January 2011 to January 2015" and "Elected November 2014 for term January 2015 to January 2019", read October 17, 2026.

37. California Legislature, SB 1182 (Allen, 2026), bill status (lead author Allen), read October 17, 2026.

38. California Legislature, SB 824 (Lara, 2018), bill status (lead author Lara; coauthor Allen), read October 17, 2026.

39. California Legislature, AB 1 (Connolly, 2025), bill status (lead author Connolly; coauthor Allen), read October 17, 2026.

40. California Legislature, AB 1986 (Bennett, 2026), bill status (lead author Bennett; coauthor Allen), read October 17, 2026.

41. California Legislature, SB 876 (Padilla, 2026), bill status (lead author Padilla; principal coauthor Allen), read October 17, 2026.

42. California Legislature, SB 877 (Pérez, 2026), bill status (lead author Pérez; principal coauthor Assembly Member Harabedian; coauthors Senators Allen and Ochoa Bogh; vetoed September 27, 2026, in one veto message with SB 878), read October 17, 2026.

43. California Legislature, SB 878 (Pérez, 2026), bill status (lead author Pérez; principal coauthor Assembly Member Harabedian; coauthors Senators Allen and Ochoa Bogh; vetoed September 27, 2026, in one veto message with SB 877), read October 17, 2026.

44. California Legislature, SB 1297 (Allen, 2026), bill status (lead author Allen; principal coauthor Stern), read October 17, 2026.

45. California Legislature, SB 45 (Allen, Portantino and Stern, 2020), bill status (lead authors Allen, Portantino and Stern), read October 17, 2026.

46. California Legislature, AB 1934 (Bennett, 2026), bill status (lead author Bennett; principal coauthor Harabedian; coauthor Allen), read October 17, 2026.

47. California Legislature, SB 973 (Becker and Stern, 2026), bill status (lead authors Becker and Stern; principal coauthor Allen), read October 17, 2026.

48. California Legislature, AB 3074 (Friedman, 2020), bill status (lead author Friedman; coauthor Allen), read October 17, 2026.

49. Ben Allen, campaign website, news and press pages, read October 16, 2026 (own statements, self-reported).

50. Jane Kim, campaign website, news and press pages, read October 16, 2026 (own statements, self-reported).

51. California Government Code Sec. 85306.

52. California Code of Regulations, Title 2, Sec. 18536, Cornell Legal Information Institute.

53. Cal-Access, filing 3138341, Allen for Insurance Commissioner 2026.

54. Cal-Access, filing 3199692, Allen for Insurance Commissioner 2026, period ending September 19, 2026.

55. Cal-Access, Allen for Insurance Commissioner 2026, contributions received (all records; also read sorted by amount and with the loan filter), and its late and $5,000+ contributions report.

56. Fair Political Practices Commission, State Contribution Limits and Voluntary Expenditure Ceilings.

57. 52 U.S.C. § 30121, Contributions and donations by foreign nationals, Cornell Legal Information Institute, read October 17, 2026.

58. California Government Code Sec. 85320, read October 17, 2026.

59. Fair Political Practices Commission, Form 700 search, Gifts and Travel, searched for each candidate's name on October 16, 2026 (Allen: 2023 annual Form 700, filed February 29, 2024).

60. San Francisco Ethics Commission, Form 700 filings and transactions (NetFile public portal), Jane Kim, San Francisco Board of Supervisors statements filed March 28, 2014 through September 23, 2019, read October 16, 2026.

61. U.S. Department of Justice, Foreign Agents Registration Act eFile database, name search of registrants, short-form registrants and foreign principals for each candidate, October 16, 2026.

62. U.S. Department of Justice, website search, each candidate's name in quotation marks, October 16, 2026.

63. Ben Allen, candidate commentary, CalMatters, January 8, 2026 (own words, self-reported).

64. Jane Kim, candidate commentary, CalMatters, February 12, 2026 (own words, self-reported).

Could not be reviewed

• Bills Ben Allen wrote or co-authored on the main issues, 2015 through 2026: all six sessions (2015-16, 2017-18, 2019-20, 2021-22, 2023-24, 2025-26) were searched on the Legislature's Bill Search by author, by Insurance Code, by the keyword "wildfire" and by the phrase "FAIR Plan", and the status page of each bill returned was read (endnote 28). Not searched: sessions before 2015-16 and the keyword "insurance" alone. A bill on the main issues that neither amends the Insurance Code nor uses "wildfire" or "FAIR Plan" could be missed, and four 2015-16 health special-session bills were not opened. His floor votes on others' bills: CalMatters Digital Democracy did not load.

• California Senate member pages (sd24.senate.ca.gov): did not load on October 17.

• Secretary of State primary vote counts (election results site): site not yet approved.

• Form 700 filings of Jane Kim for 2011 through 2013: contents not in the San Francisco Ethics Commission's searchable data.

• Form 700 filings of Ben Allen before 2025 that were not filed electronically: not searchable on the FPPC portal.

• State Bar record of Jane Kim (the attorney search for "Jane Kim" listed 24 licensees and none could be matched to the candidate), court indexes and federal court files: could not be verified from available sources.

• Justice Department news before January 20, 2025: archive not searched.