Southland

Insurance Initiative Planned: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., California’s largest auto and homeowners insurer, plans to announce today what the state Insurance Department calls “a multibillion-dollar urban marketing plan” for economically distressed neighborhoods of Los Angeles and Compton. State Farm developed the plan cooperatively with the Greenlining Institute, a San Francisco-based think tank that specializes in urban economic issues. Consumer groups in the past have criticized State Farm and other major insurers for neglecting inner-city customers. Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush will join representatives of State Farm and the Greenlining Institute in describing the plan at a news conference at 10 a.m. at the Ronald Reagan State Office Building in Downtown Los Angeles.