State Farm will not renew insurance policies for 72,000 California dwellings as the U.S. slides further into its uninsurable nation era. The state’s largest insurer blamed increasing risks of wildfires and other catastrophes as well as what they consider an outdated regulatory regime; new rules allowing insurers to consider future risk projections, not just historical data, will take effect at the end of this year. While the 30,000 houses and 42,000 apartments set to lose their coverage represent about 2% of State Farm’s policies in the Golden State, they also represent State Farm’s complete withdrawal from the commercial apartment market.
State Farm’s announcement came as the New York Times reported insurance commissioners from Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and seven other states said they would withhold data pertaining to climate risks faced by insurers in their states. The decision by three highly climate-vulnerable states threatens to undermine an agreement reached less than three weeks prior between National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the Treasury Department under which state insurance regulators said they would collect and share climate risk data to alleviate complaints over federal disclosure requirements. (State Farm: AP, LA Times $, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee $, Fox Business; State insurance data: New York Times $)