SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) Existing California law provides that it is unlawful to drive a car without purchasing automobile liability insurance.
(2) Approximately 3.4 million California motorists are currently uninsured.
(3) A high percentage of uninsured motorists would qualify as “low-risk” drivers.
(4) Uninsured motorists are disproportionately poor, with 71 percent of uninsured motorists reporting annual incomes of less than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), according to a recent study conducted by the Department of Insurance.
(5) Automobile liability insurance policies can cost thousands of dollars per year and can consume 10 to 30 percent of the annual income of low-income Californians.
(6) Offering a low-income automobile insurance policy will expand the population of California motorists that are insured.
(7) Reducing the number of uninsured motorists can reduce the cost of supplemental “uninsured motorist insurance” that insured motorists pay for to protect themselves in case they are involved in accidents with uninsured motorists.
(8) The primary reason for motorists being uninsured is the lack of affordability of existing automobile liability insurance policies.
(b) For these reasons, it is the intent of the Legislature to establish an automobile insurance policy affordable to all Californians.