Insurance Commissioner Balks at Raising Pure Premium Rate, Lowers it to $1.45

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Wednesday enacted the 10th consecutive advisory pure premium rate decrease since 2015 that lowered the rate 4.6% to $1.45 per $100 of payroll from the current rate of $1.52. Lara rejected the recommendation from the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau to increase the advisory rate by 2.6% to $1.56. The WCIRB's indicated rate included a 6-cent average surcharge to reflect projected COVID-19 costs that would have been spread across six employer categories based on exposure risk. The WCIRB's indicated rate without the C...