State Farm drops 72,000 policies in California over inflation, other issues — state official calls move a 'real crisis'



State Farm announced Wednesday that it plans to drop 72,000 insurance policies in California, citing inflation and several other issues.

According to a recent State Farm press release, the insurance company will either withdraw or not renew tens of thousands of policies "on a rolling basis over the next year, beginning on July 3, 2024." The decision will impact homeowners, business owners, commercial apartments, and residential community associations.

The insurance company stated that it is "working to ensure its long-term sustainability in California," noting that the non-renewals and withdrawals "represent just over 2% of State Farm General's policy count" in the state.

"This decision was not made lightly and only after careful analysis of State Farm General's financial health, which continues to be impacted by inflation, catastrophe exposure, reinsurance costs, and the limitations of working within decades-old insurance regulations," State Farm's press release read.

The company said, "It is necessary to take these actions now."

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara responded Friday to State Farm's recent announcement.

"This is a real crisis," Lara told KABC's Eyewitness News. He stated that he would like to review the company's finances.

"Insurance companies are not like utility companies," he explained. "By law, they don't have to be here, and when we try to overregulate, we'll see what happened after the Northridge earthquake, when the legislature came in and tried to overregulate, and they no longer write earthquake insurance in California."

According to Lara, the current model insurance companies use to assess risk is "a black box."

"We're going to change that to be much more transparent," he declared. "We bring the risk down in these communities, we keep insurers writing, then you get more insurers writing, you bring down the cost."

Individuals whose policies are impacted by State Farm's latest announcement are encouraged to notify the California Department of Insurance.

"We will make sure we have an insurance expert with you so that we help you transition and connect you with insurance companies who are writing policies in California," Lara added.

Carmen Balber, with Consumer Watchdog, told KABC that the insurance provider's decision to cancel tens of thousands of policies demonstrates that Lara's "plan is not working."

"We have been urging for years now that California require insurance companies who want to sell home or auto insurance in California, sell to everyone who does the right thing and it protects their homes. We urge the insurance commissioner to support that policy change, which needs to go through the legislature," Balber stated.

In 2022, Allstate stopped providing home insurance policies to new California customers, citing increased wildfire risks and an uptick in construction costs, the Associated Press reported.

"The cost to insure new home customers in California is far higher than the price they would pay for policies due to wildfires, higher costs for repairing homes and higher reinsurance premium," Allstate stated at the time.


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State Farm axes property insurance sales in California; cites inflation, 'catastrophe exposure'



State Farm General Insurance Company will stop accepting new applications for business and personal lines of property and casualty insurance today, the company announced in a press release Friday.

"State Farm General Insurance Company made this decision due to historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market," the company said in its statement.

The change does not affect existing home insurance policy holders nor does it affect new personal auto insurance, the Wall Street Journal reported.

State Farm, one of California's biggest insurers, is the nation's biggest home insurer by premium volume, the outlet also reported.

The company recognized the wildfire loss mitigation efforts of Gov. Newsom's (D-Calif.) administration, legislators, and California's Department of Insurance in its statement, pledging to work with the CDI to "help build market capacity."

The Fortune 500 insurance giant says the move is necessary to "improve the company's financial strength."

Northern California's deputy insurance commissioner Michael Soller cited climate change as a factor driving the company's decision.

"The factors driving State Farm’s decision are beyond our control, including climate change, reinsurance costs affecting the entire insurance industry, and global inflation," Soller said in a statement following an interview with the Journal.

Soller told the outlet wildfire risk is among the Golden State's root causes of its insurance woes.

Soller pointed to wildfire-loss-mitigation efforts by the governor, lawmakers, and insurance regulators, including community fire-prevention grants and building fire breaks. He also told the outlet that the Golden State is starting an insurance discount program that takes consumers' efforts at wildfire-mitigation into account.

California's housing costs are among the highest in the country, and nationwide housing shortages have deepened California's homelessness crisis, Fox Business reported.

The state has spent $20 billion in the last five years to address homelessness, KUSI reported earlier this month.

Despite the sizable taxpayer outlay, the problem continues to worsen.

"There is a solution," said state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R) in an interview with KUSI. Jones pointed to Texas's approach, citing a recent visit Houston. During his visit, he said he tried to find large compartments like those in California. Instead, he says he found only four tents and a handful of panhandlers.

He noted that Texas does not allow tent encampments and that they enforce the laws in the books when it comes to drug crimes, petty theft, and sexual assault.

"The government here in California ... have allowed these encampments ... we can't allow these conditions on our streets to continue," he added, calling for a compassionate approach to addressing the challenge.

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State Farm has partnered with transgender advocacy group to indoctrinate 5-year-olds, group says



State Farm, the insurance company that advertises itself as a "good neighbor," has asked hundreds of its employees to donate books promoting LGBTQ+ themes to children as young as 5 to local schools and public libraries, according to an email leaked by a whistleblower.

The company partnered with The GenderCool Project, an advocacy group for transgender youth, for a campaign "to help diversity classroom, community center, and library bookshelves with a collection of books to help bring clarity and understanding to the national conversation about Being Transgender, Inclusive, and Non-Binary," an employee email from Jan. 18, 2022, obtained by Consumers' Research states.

"The project's goal is to to increase representation of LGBTQ+ books and support our communities in having challenging, important and empowering conversations with children Age 5+," State Farm corporate responsibility analyst Jose Soto wrote to employees.

Emails leaked to @ConsumersFirst from concerned @StateFarm employees show the company engaged in the woke indoctrination of kids age 5+.\n \nState Farm partnered with The GenderCool Project \u2014 which aims to have conversations with children about being Transgender and Non-Binary.pic.twitter.com/MYcZSW8Yp1
— Will Hild (@Will Hild) 1653314973

State Farm had asked employees to deliver a package of three books, "A Kids Book About Being Transgender," "A Kids Book About Being Non-Binary," and "A Kids Book About Being Inclusive," to schools and libraries in their area, said Will Hild, executive director of Consumers' Research.

Screenshots from the books Hild posted to Twitter show a message from the GenderCool team encouraging readers to "shake off whatever confusion, skepticism, concern, or biases you may have" about transgender kids. The books introduce children to what it means to be transgender or non-binary.

“Gender is how you feel in your heart and mind, but it may not match what the doctor says when you are born,” the "Non-Binary" book states.

Soto's Jan. 18 email asked for six State Farm insurance agents in Florida to volunteer to donate the books to their community by the end of April. "Along with donating the books, we would encourage the agent to highlight our commitment to diversity on their social media pages," he wrote. "This is a fantastic way to give back and an easy project that will help support the LGBTQ+ community and to make the world around us better."

The email mentioned that this project is part of a nationwide campaign with nearly 550 State Farm agents and employees participating.

In a statement to the Washington Examiner, State Farm defended the voluntary program, reiterating the company's commitment to "diversity and inclusion."

"We recognize and value the diversity of all people, and support a culture of respect and inclusion in the communities in which we live and work, as well as our workplace. The LGBTQ+ community is a valued part of the communities we serve and are valued members of our workplace," State Farm said.

"Kindness and respect is expected in all our interactions and extended to everyone we do business with across all segments of society. We embrace diversity and inclusion because it’s the right thing to do. We work with a variety of organizations and causes that express their own unique views, and support civil and open dialogue on challenging topics," the statement continued.

Consumers' Research, a nonprofit conservative consumer protection group, has launched a multimillion-dollar public awareness campaign about State Farm's partnership with the GenderCool Project.

"This gross and blatant attempt to indoctrinate our children by @StateFarm is shameless and consumers should be aware a company founded on family values is now encouraging five-year-old children to question their gender," Hild tweeted.

The campaign, titled, "Like a Creepy Neighbor," warns that "State Farm is targeting your 5-year-old," in a video accusing the books of "textbook indoctrination."

Like a Creepy Neighbor youtu.be

Last year, Consumers' Research launched a "name and shame" campaign against companies the group accused of distracting from their corporate failures "by playing woke politics." The group purchased ads targeting American Airlines, Coca-Cola, and Nike "for putting woke politics over consumer interests."

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