Senate Hopeful Pushes Insurance Revamp Amid California ‘Gouging’

US Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who’s running for the Senate, is vowing to take another shot at reining in soaring home insurance rates that he says are “gouging” his constituents.

To do so, Schiff is casting a spotlight on an obscure corner of the business: reinsurance, an area in which insurers seek to transfer part of their risk to other companies. He says a proposal he first introduced in January — a measure that’s opposed by industry heavyweights — would provide a cheaper alternative.

As California contends with more frequent and severe natural disasters, including this week’s ...