EDITORS Contact: Naomi Seligman, +1-310-617-4577, or Doug Heller, +1-310-480-4170, both of Stop Prop 17

Banner Plane Will Fly By Santa Monica, Redondo, Huntington, Newport and San Diego Beaches With Warning About Insurance Company Funded Attack on Military Personnel

NEWS CONFERENCE MONDAY 2:45 p.m. at Santa Monica Pier

SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the David v. Goliath battle over Prop 17, consumer advocates will hold a news conference on the Santa Monica Pier on Memorial Day, Monday, May 31 to discuss the impact of the Prop 17 on military personnel. Prop 17, which is entirely funded by insurance companies, would allow car insurers to increase the cost of car insurance for soldiers and others who have a break in insurance coverage because they were living on base or were not driving for a period of time for any other reason.

During the press conference a banner-towing plane will fly by the Pier with the message:

PROTECT OUR TROOPS FROM INSURERS - NO ON PROP 17

WHAT: News Conference to Explain How Prop 17 Hurts American Service Men and Women

WHEN: Monday, May 31, 2010 at 2:45 p.m. PROMPT (for Banner Plane viewing)

WHO: Harvey Rosenfield, Founder of Consumer Watchdog, author of insurance reform Prop 103

WHERE: Santa Monica Pier - Western End of Pier overlooking the ocean

VISUAL: Banner-Towing Plane will fly overhead at approximately 2:50 p.m.

Yesterday, Iraq war veteran and chair of VoteVets.org Jon Soltz and Asemblymember Mary Salas, Vice-Chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee, discussed their opposition to Prop 17 due to the surcharges that would be levied against our troops.

MORE INFO:

Prop 17, on the June 8th ballot, penalizes soldiers and veterans, who opt to stop driving for a time, for virtually any reason, including serving on a base stateside. Soldiers and veterans would be required to pay up to a $1,000 more dollars a year for auto insurance when they sought to restart coverage.

For example:

-- If a member of the military is serving stateside and decides not to bring his/her car while on base in another state, then he/she will be surcharged up to $1000 a year when they return home.

-- If a veteran is having a hard time getting back on his/her feet - and misses a single payment - he/she will be surcharged up to $1000 a year when they try to buy insurance again.

Earlier this month, the San-Diego Union-Tribune urged it's readers to vote no on Prop 17 because "a member of the U.S. military would not be protected from losing his or her 'continuous coverage' discount if transferred within the United States."

USAA, the national auto insurance company that was formed in 1922 by 12 army officers who insured each other to provide access to insurance for military personnel, says it cannot support Prop 17 on the California ballot because of the impact it will have on active duty service members.

SOURCE Stop Prop 17

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