Lara has passed legislation for cleaner air, to expand healthcare, and to protect the civil rights of Californians. He was author of the Super Pollutant Reduction Act (Senate Bill 1383) in 2016, which created the nation's toughest law on black carbon, methane, and fluorocarbons that contribute to global warming. Senator Lara wrote Senate Bill 4, Health for All Kids, which became the basis for 2015 budget action that led to healthcare for nearly 200,000 undocumented immigrant children under California's Medi-Cal program. In the 2017 legislative session, Senator Lara introduced the Healthy California Act (Senate Bill 562) with Senator Toni Atkins to create a single-payer healthcare plan that replaces private insurance with a publicly run plan that covers all Californians, including an estimated 2.7 million uninsured and as many as one-third of Californians who are underinsured. He is also joint author with Senator Holly Mitchell of a package of bills to reform criminal justice and juvenile justice laws by requiring minors consult with an attorney on a Miranda warning, ensure children under age 12 are not subject to juvenile court and seal arrest records for those never convicted of a crime. Senator Lara has also passed bills to create cleaning product chemical disclosure, prevent California law enforcement from participating in the creation of a registry based on religion, ethnicity or national origin, and protecting the privacy of hotel guests and bus passengers. In the 2017-18 legislative session, Governor Brown signed 34 laws principally authored by Senator Lara into effect, the most of any Senator. These laws included protections for wildfire victims against losing their home insurance to cancellation or nonrenewal, the decriminalization of sidewalk vending, and the nation's first climate insurance law. 2018 Insurance Commissioner campaign On March 21, 2017, Lara announced he was running for California Insurance Commissioner in 2018. "I'm running to be California's next state insurance commissioner because I believe at my core that California needs a strong defender, and a counterpuncher, who will stand up to fight our bullying President, Donald Trump, and his increasingly reckless federal government on issues from healthcare access to economic security and more,” Lara said in a statement. On November 6, 2018 Lara narrowly led former Republican Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who ran as an Independent. Lara would build his lead substantially in the coming days, until AP called the race for Lara on November 16, 2018. After the election, Ricardo Lara