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SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Tawny Tesconi has been hired as the interim executive director for Sonoma County Farm Bureau.
Tesconi is a Sonoma County native with strong ties to the local agriculture industry. As a student, she was active in both 4-H and FFA, living on a small family farm in west county. Today, she lives on the same family farm with her husband.
"The board and I are excited to bring Tawny onto the Farm Bureau team," said Steve Dutton, president of Sonoma County Farm Bureau. "With Tawny being born and raised in Sonoma County and having extensive experience working in the county, we felt like she would be a great fit. We're looking forward to her positive leadership directing Farm Bureau for the near future."
Tesconi had a successful 30 year-career in fair management and public service, and in December of 2015 she retired as director of general services of Sonoma County to start her fair services company Tesconi Event And Management Solutions.
Prior to working as the general services director, she was the Sonoma County Fair manager for eight years.
Under her leadership, the Sonoma County Fair underwent an extensive branding process for the event facility, expanded racing and started a foundation to build the $3 million Ag Education Center, Richard & Saralee's Barn.
During her career in the fair industry, Tesconi also served as the CEO of the Sonoma-Marin Fair, CEO of the Calaveras County Fair and assistant manager at the Solano County Fair.
In 2007, Tesconi received the Spirit of Sonoma Award, nominated by Sonoma County Farm Bureau for her commitment and passion for local agriculture.
She is a past president of the Western Fairs Association and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2012. She is also a past president and current treasurer of the Petaluma Rotary Club.
Tesconi holds a bachelor's degree in managerial economics from University of California, Davis. She was a graduate of the 1987 class of the WFA Management Training Program and has her Certified Fair Executive Standing from the International Association of Fairs and Expositions.
"As a longtime Sonoma County agriculturalist, I have always appreciated the work that Sonoma County Farm Bureau does for its members. Farm Bureau is the voice of agriculture in our county and our local farmers are cutting edge on issues such as labor, sustainability and marketing,” she said. “I am excited to be part of such a highly regarded, dynamic organization and look forward to working with the dedicated board and staff at Sonoma County Farm Bureau."
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He’s requested insurers provide relief from detailed home inventories and follow the lead of other insurers providing up to 100 percent of contents (personal property) coverage limits without a detailed inventory.
"These families have endured unimaginable loss and pain," said Jones. "I'm asking insurers to ease their burden by providing up to 100 percent payment for contents coverage without the onerous requirement of a detailed home inventory, so they may get on with rebuilding their lives."
The notice, issued on Thursday to insurers, comes after the department held a claims workshop in Santa Rosa on Dec. 9 and heard from several hundred policyholders that they were burdened with insurer requirements for detailed home inventories in order to receive payment for personal property coverage.
The notice, does point out that the department is aware and applauds the efforts of some insurers that have gone above and beyond the Voluntary Expedited Claims Handling Procedures and have made significant efforts to accommodate insured by offering, in some cases, up to 100 percent contents limits payment without an inventory.
While Jones applauds these efforts to put insured first, he is requesting all other insurers follow suit by providing similar accommodations and is asking insurers to notify the department by Jan. 8 whether they will comply.
Those insurers offering an amount less than 100 percent should allow policyholders the ability to recover additional benefits, if the policyholder subsequently completes a full inventory.
The department advises policyholders already working with a claims adjuster to develop a settlement plan that best serves their needs, which may include taking the time to complete a home inventory.
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State Farm agreed to a settlement of $250,000 and Aflac agreed to a settlement of $350,000.
"State Farm and Aflac have stepped up and done the right thing for policyholders," said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. "I urge other life insurers to follow the lead of the 30 other companies that have agreed to change their practices to benefit their policyholders and to use the Death Master File database to search for life insurance policyholders."
Insurance Commissioners for California, North Dakota, Florida, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania have led the national investigation into life insurers' use of the Social Security Administration's Death Master File database, which came about after it was discovered life insurers used the database to their benefit to identify deceased annuity holders so they could stop making payments to them, but failed to use the database to identify deceased policyholders so that benefit could be paid to their beneficiaries.
The practice violated California's Unfair Insurance Practices Act and similar laws in other states.
To date, state insurance regulators have either reached settlements or concluded the investigation of 30 of the top 40 companies, constituting 80 percent of the total life insurance market, based on market share.
As a result life insurers have paid more than $8.7 billion to life insurance beneficiaries nationwide and more than $890 million to California beneficiaries, alone.
To amplify efforts to match beneficiaries with life insurance policies, the California Department of Insurance and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, or NAIC, launched the Life Insurance Policy Locator which has matched 583 beneficiaries in California with lost or misplaced life insurance policies or annuities-totaling over $11 million returned to consumers.
The NAIC reported 8,210 beneficiaries nationwide have been matched with $92.5 million since the tool's launch last November.
The Life Insurance Policy Locator can be found at https://eapps.naic.org/life-policy-locator/#/welcome.
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The Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service Fees Rule proposed in January 2017 would have made it easier for consumers to understand the full cost of their plane travel.
However, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced earlier this month that it would no longer be moving forward with the rule.
U.S. airlines are expected to earn $57 billion from baggage and other service fees this year – $7 billion from baggage fees alone.
“As Californians travel this holiday season, they expect to know up front what their flight will really cost,” said Attorney General Becerra. “Instead, the Trump Administration is enabling airlines to nickel and dime consumers after their flights are already purchased. We urge the Administration to enact this rule and provide the American people with this much-needed transparency.”
Airlines are increasingly charging additional fees for carry-on baggage, checked baggage, seat selection, and even to provide assistance to children traveling by themselves.
When a customer books a ticket, the baseline ticket price is typically all that is shown, and fees are not disclosed until booking is nearly complete or even after tickets have been purchased.
Transparency in airline pricing allows consumers to make informed choices when booking their travel.
Joining California are the Attorneys General of Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia.
A copy of the letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation condemning the decision can be found at http://oag.ca.gov/news.