As California faces the largest insurance crisis in the state’s history, there is still no leader of the state Senate Insurance Committee.
Democratic Sen. Susan Rubio was the Senate Insurance Committee chair for the past six years. As of Wednesday, that committee is the only committee in the entire legislature without a chair.
Rubio, arguably the most qualified person for the role in the Senate, is embroiled in a federal corruption investigation. Meanwhile, the long-time senior committee staffer who could guide the committee in the absence of an experienced chair left the Senate last year to work for an insurance company, and half of the committee members are new.
CBS News California Investigates exclusively spoke with Rubio on Friday. The senator directly addressed questions about the investigation and the open committee chair.
Rubio, a Democrat from Baldwin Park, said she’s “currently not involved” in the federal corruption investigation that has already ensnared a handful of other officials in San Bernardino County, Compton, Commerce and Baldwin Park.
Federal officials have not identified Rubio by name in the case. However, no one else matches the full description of “Person 20,” who is accused in recently released federal court documents of asking for $240,000 in bribes from a cannabis company and accepting $30,000 in illegal campaign contributions. The allegations stem from when Rubio was a member of the Baldwin Park City Council.
“As long as there’s no real name to it and people are just speculating and talking about this as a guessing game,” Rubio said. “we can go many different directions, but I would just encourage people to wait for the facts.”
Rubio says she didn’t want insurance chair. Does the Pro Temp?
Rubio told CBS News California that she wasn’t interested in being the insurance committee chair anymore.
“I’ve been chair for six years and before the [Southern California] wildfires started, I had asked for an opportunity to be on another committee,” Rubio said.
Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire‘s office did not respond to repeated interview requests from CBS News California or to emailed questions about the vacant Insurance Chair position.
McGuire is currently fundraising to run for California Insurance Commissioner when he terms out in 2026. There is speculation around the vapitl that he could appoint himself as the insurance chair. His office did not respond when we asked about that.
Rubio’s spokesperson, Matthew Z’berg, previously told CalMatters that Rubio “encouraged (McGuire) to appoint a new chair to be announced with all other assignments. She also conveyed to him that by leaving the position open, he would be feeding into false narratives and speculation.”
Rubio also took a thinly veiled shot at McGuire, suggesting that he’s playing politics by leaving the seat vacant due to speculation McGuire is eying a run for California Insurance Commissioner.
“Insurance issues affecting consumers across the state are of particular interest to him,” a statement from Rubio’s office said. “It is a critical issue that he has been very vocal about in the past, and will likely continue to do so.”
In a recent statement, McGuire said “we’ve been leading on consumer-focused insurance reform for years — it’s personal for me because of the wildfires that have devastated the communities I represent. And this year will be no different.”
“The Southern California fires make it all the more clear how critical this issue is. Any premise that any legislation would be delayed is unequivocally BS,” he said. “A committee has been formed and we will name an insurance chair in the very near future.”
The Insurance Committee is not scheduled to meet until March. Bills need to be in print for at least 30 days before legislators can act on them, so any new insurance-related legislation introduced this week wouldn’t be heard until at least late February.
Capitol insider and legislative rules expert Chris Michali explained that while committees won’t start meeting to vote on bills for a couple of months, there is a lot to do in the meantime, even with the committee chair vacant.
“There’s a tremendous amount of staff time that goes into researching and analyzing different proposals,” Michali said. “And (staff) can only go so far without a chair because (they) don’t know what the new chairs’ priorities are.”
The senior committee staff, known as the principal consultant, is also new to the committee.
Senate rules require the president Pro Temp to appoint committee members based on seniority and experience, which is relative this year.
Roughly a third of the legislature is newly elected, roughly a quarter have never served in state office before, and half of the insurance committee is new to that committee.
When asked why she asked for a different committee assignment this year, Rubio pointed to the incoming Senate freshman class.
“The reality is that this is the largest class that came in,” Rubio told CBS News California.
Nearly 50% of California’s legislature has two years of experience or less. Term limit rules have created a giant freshman and sophomore class.
When it comes to experience, Sen. Rubio has been the Senate insurance chair for longer than most of the legislature has been in office.
“I continue to grow and expand, and I’m still using my expertise to sit on a committee that’s going to advise and support,” Rubio said.
Is Sen. Rubio “Person 20”?
The recently released federal documents are a plea agreement signed by former Baldwin Park City Attorney Robert Tafoya. Federal officials released the agreement late last year. In the agreement, Tafoya says he helped facilitate bribes to local officials from companies seeking marijuana permits.
The Los Angeles Times was the first news outlet to report that Rubio matched the description of “Person 20.” The plea agreement describes Person 20 as a public official, in a position to be able to fire the city attorney, who won a primary for state office in 2018. No other local officials match the description.
The plea agreement says Person 20 sought $240,000 from a marijuana company seeking a city permit, but the company refused to pay that much so the deal fell through. Person 20 also sought and received $30,000 from Tafoya in a scheme to drum up support for Person 20’s 2018 state campaign, the documents say. Tafoya said he agreed to pay Person 20, in exchange for assurance he’d keep his city job and get state work from Person 20 after the election, according to his plea agreement.
Tafoya admitted to federal tax evasion and bribery charges in 2023, but prosecutors kept the plea agreement secret until last month since Tafoya had agreed to participate in the ongoing investigation.
“I have no idea who Person 20 is, but I am completely confident that the U.S. Attorney’s Office would not include these declaratory statements about Person 20’s actions unless they were very confident they could prove the truth of those statements in a court of law,” said McGregor Scott, a twice-appointed former U.S. Attorney based in Sacramento.
CBS News California asked Rubio directly if she was “Person 20.”
“I can’t tell you what that person is, but all I know is that I’m not talking to anyone, and right now, that’s just been speculation and innuendo,” Rubio responded.
CBS News California then asked Rubio if she denies being “Person 20.”
“I’m not saying that,” she responded. “I’m just saying that you read the report, and whatever is happening there is happening there, but I think that people would have to reach out to me in order for me to be part of any of this.”
Campaign contribution records compiled by CalMatters reveal that Robert Tafoya, the City Attorney who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and bribing “Person 20”, donated at least $18,000 to Senator Rubio. Her campaign later returned $7,000.
Rubio denied to CBS News California that she has ever taken any bribes.
“There are 120 legislators here and in the state House, and every single one of them accepts donations, contributions. That’s the way the legal system is set up … This is a system that actually the State of California set up. It’s a fair political process that reviews all the contributions and you have to report it legally and everything is done through a process,” Rubio said.
Her spokesperson later added via email, “There is no case against Senator Rubio, and there is no violation being investigated by the Senate or Assembly. All fundraising guidelines set for legislators by the FPPC were clearly followed.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles is overseeing the case. A spokesperson declined to comment about who Person 20 is or say when – or if – charges would be filed against them.
Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire‘s office told our CalMatters reporting partners that leadership is waiting for more information from federal prosecutors before making a decision about reappointing Rubio to her previous position as committee chair.
“We have requested and are awaiting additional information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office before finalizing any decisions,” McGuire’s office told CalMatters in an email.
Senate reviewing ethics complaint
Bill Essayli, a Republican Assembly member from Corona, requested the Assembly and Senate ethics committees to take up investigations after the LA Times report last month.
Essayli spent about four years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office that unsealed Tafoya’s plea agreement.
Essayli said he has no first-hand knowledge about this case since he left that job in 2018, but he said the allegations outlined in the plea agreement are troubling enough for the Legislature to act on its own without waiting for prosecutors. His ethics complaint also doesn’t identify Rubio by name.
“When the Biden DOJ actually makes specific allegations like that against a sitting legislator, I don’t think we can wait as a public body for that investigation to play out – criminal investigations can take years to develop,” Essayli told CalMatters. “Meanwhile, this individual is still sitting in office. They still wield power in the name of the public, and they could be engaged in the same activity.”
Erin V. Peth, the chief counsel for the Senate Ethics Committee, told CalMatters Essayli’s complaint is under review but provided no other details.
No woman California legislator has ever been indicted on public corruption charges while in office. Several male Assemblymembers and senators have been charged with such crimes over the years.
In 2010, state charges were filed against Los Angeles County Democratic Sen. Roderick Wright for voter fraud, perjury, and other crimes stemming from him lying about actually living in his district. Then-Gov. Jerry Brown later pardoned Wright.
In 2016, a federal judge sentenced San Francisco’s Democratic Sen. Leland Yee to five years in prison for doing political favors in exchange for campaign cash.
Also in 2016, a federal judge sentenced Sen. Ron Calderon of Montebello to 42 months in federal prison for receiving over $150,000 in bribes. His brother, Assemblymember Tom Calderon, was sentenced to a year in prison for laundering his brother’s bribe money.
Following the Yee and Calderon indictments, voters in 2016 approved Proposition 50, which gives legislators the authority to suspend a disgraced colleague without pay. Doing so requires a two-thirds vote of the lawmaker’s chamber.
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