California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara responded after State Farm announced it would not renew thousands of policies.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The state's insurance commissioner is speaking out after State Farm announced it will not renew more than 70,000 insurance policies in California next year.

“It's a real crisis,” said Commissioner Ricardo Lara, speaking to Eyewitness News on Friday.

High insurance premiums and non-renewals

State Farm, California's largest home insurance company, announced it will not renew 72,000 policies in the state starting this summer.

Laura said she would like to see the company's finances, but says keeping them in California is a delicate balance.

“Insurance companies are not like utility companies,” he said. “By law, they don't have to be here, and when we try to overreach, we look at what happened after the Northridge earthquake, when the legislature came in and tried to overreach, and they no longer write earthquake insurance in California.”

Carmen Balber with Consumer Watchdog, an organization that criticizes Laura as she tries to deal with insurance companies, has been keeping a close eye on the latest developments.

“What that tells us is that the insurance commissioner's plan is not working,” he said.

The committee feels that new laws are needed.

“We've been insisting for years that insurance companies that want to sell home or auto insurance in California should sell it to everyone who's doing the right thing and that's protecting their homes. We're asking the insurance commissioner to support that policy change and get it through the Legislature,” Balber said.

This happens in many companies.

In addition to State Farm, Allstate stopped offering homeowners insurance policies to new customers in California in 2022.

Laura said her plan involves changing the models insurance companies use to better assess risk and offer lower premiums to those who protect their homes.

“Current modeling is a black box,” he said. “We're going to make it more transparent.”

He adds, “We reduce risk in these communities, we write insurers, and then you write more insurers, and you reduce costs.”

If State Farm doesn't renew your policy, notify the California Department of Insurance, Laura said.

“We'll make sure you have an insurance professional with you to transfer and connect you with insurance companies that write policies in California,” he said.