Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Friday rejected State Farm General's request for an emergency 22% home insurance rate hike due to the Los Angeles fires unless the insurer can provide more evidence it is warranted.

California insurance regulators are demanding that State Farm answer “critical questions about its financial condition” in response to the company’s request for emergency approval of a steep rate hike for homeowners in the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires.

In a letter to the insurer, Lara said under Proposition 103, State Farm has the burden of explaining why the rate hike is needed now — which he says the company has “not met.”