State Sen. Susan Rubio, a Democrat from Baldwin Park, was reappointed last week as chair of the committee that oversees insurance-related legislation, a powerful position that went unoccupied for weeks while swaths of Los Angeles burned.
While the fires created an unprecedented insurance crisis that has left thousands scrambling to cover their losses, Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-North Coast) kept the chairperson position vacant despite announcing all other leadership positions earlier in the month.
Rubio’s reappointment as chair, a position she has held since 2019, comes amid lingering questions about her role in an ongoing federal investigation into an alleged cannabis industry bribery scheme that dates back to her time on the Baldwin Park City Council and her 2018 campaign for state office.
McGuire previously said he was awaiting more information from the U.S. attorney’s office regarding the federal probe before deciding whether Rubio should retain the chair position.
Rubio has not been named by authorities in connection with the case, but The Times previously reported on court documents made public by the U.S. attorney’s office in December that described an unnamed public official with details that matched the state senator’s profile.
Read more https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-30/insurance-committee-chair-corruption-probe
