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    state farm

    State Farm sign on burned building

    Wildfire Survivors 'Deserve Better,' Advocates Say as California Approves State Farm Rate Hike

    Regulators like California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara "need to hold insurance giants like State Farm accountable to paying out what they owe, not reward them with rate hikes," said one watchdog.

    Eloise Goldsmith
    May 14, 2025

    California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Tuesday adopted a judge's ruling allowing State Farm General, the state's largest home insurer, the ability to temporarily hike insurance rates following devastating fires that ravaged the Los Angeles area in January. The decision drew rebuke from watchdog groups, with one organization calling the hike "unjustified."

    In February, State Farm sought a rate increase of 22% for homeowners and 15% for renters after the Los Angeles-area fires, citing the need to protect the "fragile California insurance market."

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    News
    state farm
    People hug in ruins of home destroyed in LA fires.

    Like a Bad Neighbor, State Farm Is There... in California

    The insurers that played a role in facilitating the very climate disasters now affecting their former customers have effectively cut and run, leaving the residents and the state holding the bag.

    Lindsay Fenlock
    Charles Slidders
    Nikki Reisch
    Mar 09, 2025

    The deadly fires that devastated Los Angeles and displaced hundreds of thousands of people in January have been finally contained, but they left another sort of firestorm in their wake—one raging around the insurance industry and its shrinking coverage of climate risks such as extreme wildfires. Climate change increased the likelihood and severity of the fires—by far some of the most destructive in the city’s history. The blazes killed at least 28 people and destroyed some 16,000 structures over nearly 50,000 acres—an area larger than the city limits of San Francisco. Insured property damage alone is expected to reach as much as $40 billion. The question of who pays looms large.

    For at least 50 years, the insurance sector has been aware of the physical risks of climate change and that greenhouse gas emissions, primarily from fossil fuels, are overwhelmingly responsible for rising temperatures. Despite this, U.S. insurance companies have investments of more than $500 billion in fossil fuel-related assets. The underwriting business of major insurers remains heavily focused on the fossil fuel sector, with the top U.S. insurers of fossil fuel businesses earning $5.2 billion from underwriting in 2023.

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    Opinion
    los angeles fires
    ​A State Farm insurance company sign sits amid the rubble of a building destroyed by the Palisades Fire

    State Farm Accused of Trying to 'Cash in on a Terrible Tragedy' With $740 Million 'Bailout'

    The head of Consumer Watchdog argued the company is "detouring the rules that protect state consumers from insurance price gouging."

    Eloise Goldsmith
    Feb 04, 2025

    The insurance giant State Farm on Monday asked California state insurance regulators to approve an emergency interim rate hike of 22%, drawing pushback from the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog, which accused the company of not providing the financial data necessary to justify the increase.

    "State Farm wants to fill its bank accounts on the backs of California homeowners, some of whose homes are in ashes," said Carmen Balber, Consumer Watchdog's executive director. "Insurance Commissioner [Ricardo] Lara must require State Farm to prove it needs this staggering increase."

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