One hallmark of the 1988 ballot measure that governs California’s auto and home insurance code allows the public to review insurer requests for rate increases — and get paid by those same insurers for the costs of doing so.

It’s a provision that has irked the industry ever since the measure, Proposition 103 , also established an elected insurance commissioner with the authority over rates.

Now, current Commissioner Ricardo Lara wants to more tightly regulate the process and make it harder for so-called “intervenors” to get reimbursed for their work.

Lara contends that existing regulations, updated in 2006, have enriched a single Los Angeles advocacy group, Consumer Watchdog , which he claims has taken credit for rate savings his regulators already extracted from insurers — all while

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