BATON ROUGE, LA.— Tort reform that seeks to lower the cost of home and auto insurance rates for Louisianans may be a topic that stalls in the Senate as lawmakers debate the issue in the final days of the session.
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Governor Jeff Landry (R) is experiencing a sort of honeymoon time among the Republican controlled Louisiana legislature as most of his goals were accomplished as the first regular session draws to a close.
One topic on the forefront of Louisianans and the legislature is how to abate Louisiana’s high home insurance rates due to the recent storms of 2019 through 2021. There hasn’t been a major storm since then but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting a hurricane season with 17 to 25 named storms.
One measure that passed in the House and is being debated in the Senate was a proposal to do away with the so called “three-year rule,” a decades old law that says that insurers cannot cancel home insurance policies after writing a policy for a period of three years.
The legislature removed that provision in an effort to attract more insurance companies to do business with the state as several insurers went bankrupt following Hurricanes Laura, Ida and Delta and no longer do business in Louisiana. The hope is that there will be more competition with the relaxed rules which would drive down prices.
According to New Orleans City Business, “The bill is a gradual relaxation of the current law, repealing it with respect to policies written after August 1, 2024, and for legacy policies, allowing carriers to non-renew/cancel up to 5% of their policies subject to the 3-year rule.”
Rep. Michael T. Johnson says Citizen’s Insurance, which is the insurer of last resort, is a high cost alternative for people. Oftentimes the rates are as much or higher than a monthly mortgage.
Many in South Louisiana are still rebuilding from the recent hurricanes and are keeping an eye on insurance rates and the new rules seeking to lower costs. The website Insurify predicts that home insurance will increase by 6 percent this year nationwide due in part to the high number of Atlantic storms predicted.
Also discussed was how to lower auto insurance as Louisiana also has some of the highest rates in the country.
Johnson says litigation after wrecks is a major factor in the high rates as well as the high number of accidents.
In a recent statement, Commissioner Tim Temple urged Gov. Jeff Landry and lawmakers to act on the package.
Both home and auto reforms remain in a holding pattern as the state legislative session enters its final days.
According to The Center Square Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple is urging lawmakers to pass the proposals.
“Our state remains mired in a crisis of availability and affordability in the auto insurance market,” Temple says. “With only a few days left in this legislative session, there has not been significant legislation enacted to address this issue.”
“My package of auto insurance reform legislation was designed as a substantial first step to promote competition in the private passenger and commercial auto markets by creating more transparency and balance in our legal system. This will allow Louisiana’s legal system to operate more like the states we are competing with to attract insurance companies on a daily basis.”
Will Green, president and CEO of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, cites the state’s litigation climate as one of the top obstacles to not only encouraging new businesses to relocate to Louisiana, but also for existing ones wanting to expand.
“We’re not necessarily a stable market and so we can’t keep trying to tackle our insurance crisis with watered-down, siloed versions of bills and if we keep doing that, it’s like I say it’s like treating a bullet wound with a Band-Aid,” Green told The Center Square.
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