He lost his leg on a Los Angeles freeway. In 2013, Damian Kevitt was dragged by a hit-and-run driver onto the 5 freeway, his right leg torn away. A decade later, he’s channeling that trauma into a fight for safer streets — and a controversial new bill that could change how millions of California drivers pay for car insurance.
What’s Happening
Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood) has introduced AB 1833, the Consumer Driving Data Protection Act of 2026. The bill would allow California drivers to voluntarily opt into usage-based insurance programs powered by telematics — smartphone apps and connected devices that monitor driving behavior in real time. Safe drivers could earn lower premiums. The catch: your insurer would be watching every trip you take.
California is currently the only state in the nation that prohibits telematics data from being used in insurance ratings. Supporters say that’s a problem. Detractors say it’s a feature, not a bug. The bill drew enough opposition from privacy rights groups that it was pulled from its April 13th committee hearing and is now expected to be reworked as a gut-and-amend bill in the Senate later this session.
Why It’s Complicated
California’s insurance rates have been governed since 1988 by Proposition 103, which anchors premiums to three factors: driving record, miles driven annually, and years of driving experience. Proponents of AB 1833 argue that telematics could actually make the system fairer — giving younger drivers or those with old violations a path to prove they’ve changed. AAA Foundation research cited in the bill found that usage-based programs reduced speeding by 11–13%, hard braking by 16–21%, and rapid acceleration by 16–25%. But Carmen Balber of Consumer Watchdog warns the data collected could become a proxy for race and income — flagging drivers for the neighborhoods they travel through or the hours they’re on the road. “It does not make sense to replace one type of discrimination with another,” Balber said.
The Bigger Picture
California is in the middle of an insurance crisis. Major carriers have pulled back from the state, premiums have surged, and drivers are squeezed. AB 1833 enters that pressure cooker with a promise — lower rates for safer behavior — but also a warning: the same data meant to reward good driving could expose intimate details of your daily life to insurers, third-party contractors, and potentially federal authorities. As Kevitt himself acknowledged, “The federal government can subpoena anything if they have a court order.”
What It Means for You
For California drivers already struggling with sky-high premiums, the bill’s promise of discounts is real. So is the risk. The bill currently allows telematics data to be shared with third-party providers and does not restrict the sale of de-identified data — meaning your driving patterns, stripped of your name, could still be sold. For residents in lower-income communities, the implications are especially high-stakes: the same technology meant to level the playing field could introduce new, algorithm-driven forms of pricing discrimination that are harder to see and harder to fight.
Stay informed on the laws and policies shaping California’s public safety landscape at OverturnProp47.com.