No, it's got nothing to do with airports or California. I've rented at LAX 100 times and while it's always pricey and crap selection this time they've tripled the price.
Surprisingly (considering), today I got a very polite (considering) email back from them explaining that my "insurance preferences" were set in such a way that most of the cars and rates didn't match and that if I went into my profile and reset them I would likely see the full range.
I haven't tried it yet but it's nice to get a comprehensible reply that addresses my problem (years of Flying Blue have taught me not to expect that).