California Legislature Passes Bill to Aid Insurance Fraud Detectives

California lawmakers have passed a bill to help close the pay gap between California Department of Insurance fraud detectives and officers from other state agencies.

The California Senate and Assembly passed Bill 2872 this week, which would support the work of CDI’s sworn officers who work to prevent and stop insurance fraud.

AB 2872 would raise compensation for CDI detectives to match the compensation of special agents at the California Department of Justice, who are in the same union bargaining unit. The bill will reduce a pay gap of more than 20 percent between the two departments and help the department recruit and retain more fraud detectives, according to CDI.

The department employs more than 200 sworn officers to detect, investigate and respond to insurance fraud. The department’s vacancy rate for this classification is over 35 percent, with many investigators citing pay inequity as a reason to leave the department for other state and local law enforcement departments, according to CDI.

The department’s Fraud Division reports receiving 22,000 reports of suspected fraud each year, representing more than $600 million in suspected losses.

The bill was sponsored by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Lisa Calderon, chair of the Assembly Insurance Committee.

AB 2872 now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk for consideration. Newsom has until September 30 to act on the bill.

TOPICS
Fraud in California