Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias Wants Fairness And Affordability For Auto Insurance

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. Photo provided by the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. Photo provided by the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.

Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias Wants Fairness And Affordability For Auto Insurance

By Tia Carol Jones

The Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias loves what he does as a public servant. He got into government because he wanted to serve others. Giannoulias said that he was taught by his parents to always give back and to be a part of the larger community. He said that President Barack Obama inspired him to believe that government is a great avenue for public service and that if there were more competent, caring, passionate, intelligent people in government, the world would be a better place.

“I’m a huge believer in fighting for people, everything we do is about people and fighting for them and loving them and giving everyone a shot at the American Dream,” he said.

Giannoulias said that serving as the Illinois Secretary of State is the honor of a lifetime. He is a big believer in government competency, finding ways to eliminate the time tax, cutting red tape, finding ways to do more with less and he is proud of the work he and his team have done in the Secretary of State’s office.

 Since Giannoulias was sworn in as Secretary of State in 2023, he has been focused on creating efficiencies and modernizing the office, which meant moving more services online. The Secretary of State launched the Skip the Line program, which essentially eliminated wait times at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices across the state of Illinois.

The One Stop Shop DMV locations enable visitors to get license and ID renewals, Real IDs, driving tests, as well as registration renewals, vehicle stickers and also purchase license plates and do title work. There are five Senior Only facilities, five DMV-plus facilities, a Real ID supercenter, a DMV on wheels, two flagship centers and DMV kiosks are located at grocery stores throughout the state for people’s convenience.

“We’ve been relentlessly driven to modernizing, but also fighting every single day for people,” Giannoulias said.

The Secretary of State’s office has had an aggressive legislative agenda where they fought book bans, which resulted in legislation designed to prevent banning books in 2023. The office is also working to level the playing field in regard to auto insurance rates. Giannoulias said that car insurance companies are charging people more for car insurance based on their zip code, credit score and age. He added that car insurance premiums have increased by in one year by 18% from 2023 to 2024.

The Secretary of State’s office launched Driving Change, a series of virtual town hall meetings aimed at hearing the stories of people throughout the State of Illinois and how rising auto insurance rates affected them. Giannoulias said he wanted to go straight to the people and that using socioeconomic factors to charge people higher premiums is an affordability issue, a social justice issue and an economic justice issue.

He said he is proud of the work that the Secretary of State’s office is doing on the issue. Giannoulias said that the Secretary of State’s office will take the stories they have heard from people to Springfield to present them to the legislature. The hope is that the legislature will go after the car insurance companies and create legislation.

Giannoulias said that his commitment to fighting for the people will never change. He is encouraging people to be more engaged in the political process and acknowledges there is a need to rebuild trust in government.

“We need to come out and vote, we need people to run for office, we need people to put their arms around each other, to be kind human beings, to be empathetic, to be caring,” he said.

For more information about the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office, visit ilsos.gov. The Secretary of State’s Office is also encouraging people to submit their stories about the impact auto insurance rate increases has  had on them. To share your story, visit www.ilsos.gov/special/driving-change.html.

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