Garamendi

The Insurance Commissioner of the State of California (Commissioner) appeals from a judgment granting the petition of California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan (CAARP) for peremptory writ of mandate. The judgment ordered the Commissioner to cancel hearings noticed for CAARP’s March 2, 1990, commercial automobile rate increase application and CAARP’s April 10, 1990, private passenger automobile rate increase application, and ordered the Commissioner to issue within 10 days revised notices scheduling hearings on the applications in compliance with Insurance Code section 1861.08. The sole appellate issue is whether the superior court correctly ruled that Insurance Code section 1861.08, established by Proposition 103, applies to hearings to set rates for automobile policies issued under the assigned risk plan.

Factual and Procedural Background

According to verified petition for peremptory writ of mandate, CAARP is a nonprofit association created by statute to provide automobile liability insurance coverage for California drivers who are unable to obtain such coverage by ordinary methods (Ins. Code, §§ 11620, 11623); on March 2, 1990, the CAARP governing committee submitted…