In a customer advisory, State Farm revealed that so far it has received over 10,100 total home and auto claims and has paid out almost half a billion dollars to claimants. In the notice, posted on its web site, State Farm said it had made successful voice-to-voice contact with over 95% of customers who have filed homeowner claims.

At least 29 people are believed to be dead and more than a dozen others remain unaccounted for as multiple wildfires rage across Southern California.

Susan Rubio, a Democrat from Baldwin Park, will refill the vacancy that Senate leaders briefly left open for a few weeks following reports that she was part of an FBI investigation stemming from her time as a member of the Baldwin Park City Council.

The Los Angeles County fires have cast uncertainty over when the insurance crisis buffeting the entire state will ease, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara told the Chronicle during an interview Saturday in Santa Monica,

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said new regulations will keep homeowners insured. Some of the new efforts give insurance companies more leeway in raising rates, while allowing them to use computer modeling to forecast risk and to incorporate their own “reinsurance” costs from backup providers in setting future premiums.

California's Fair Plan, the state's insurer of last resort, may be unable to pay billions in claims arising from the Los Angeles fires and may require a bailout that could ultimately be paid by homeowners statewide.

"Californians deserve a reliable insurance market that doesn't retreat from communities most vulnerable to wildfires and climate change." California issues new mandate that will have a major impact on homeowners' insurance: 'This is a historic moment' first appeared on The Cool Down.

The California insurance commissioner expanded the emergency protections covered by his recent moratorium for Southern California residents affected by wildfires.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara declared the fires in Los Angeles and Ventura counties an emergency situation on Monday to help speed recovery efforts, according to a press release from his

The wildfires scorching Southern California are turning entire neighborhoods into ash, decimating expensive properties and exacerbating an insurance crisis that predates the infernal blazes.

California sought to protect more Los Angeles-area homeowners from potentially losing their home-insurance policies as wildfires continued to ravage the region.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara discusses the complex insurance system as homeowners look to rebuild after LA's fires.