Contractors might have to stop calling themselves ‘insurance claims specialists' under new proposal
(Photo credit: Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)
Louisiana lawmakers have watered down a proposal that restricts how roofers and contractors can market services that help homeowners with their insurance claims.
House Bill 121, sponsored by Rep. Roy Daryl Adams, D-Jackson, would limit both trades from saying they provide insurance claim services. The legislation also prohibits public adjusters from performing construction work in connection with the claims they handle.
Adams' bill cleared the House in a 96-0 vote Tuesday without debate. His proposal is one of dozens filed, with the backing of insurance companies, that seek to lower homeowner's policy premiums in the state.
The measure, as amended on the House floor, would prohibit residential construction contractors from advertising or soliciting work as 'insurance claims specialists,' a term that sometimes appears in their advertisements.
In an April 23 hearing of the House Committee on Insurance, Adams said he hopes his measure will stop contractors from going door-to-door after storms to talk homeowners into filing insurance claims for roof work.
The original version of the bill would have prohibited roofing contractors from assisting customers with their homeowner insurance claims. It also would have ended the use of contingency contracts, in which roofers agree to perform work only if the homeowner's insurance company approves their claim.
Roofers could be banned from helping customers with insurance claims
However, several roofers who testified against that iteration of the bill raised concerns that it could make it illegal to provide many of their routine services, such as communicating with insurance companies. Some customers want help dealing with their insurance companies and look to contractors to provide second opinions on an insurance company's damage assessments, Josh Lovell with Gator Roofing in Baton Rouge told lawmakers.
Lovell told the committee he would be afraid to even say the word 'insurance' in the presence of a customer if Adams' bill became law.
Some lawmakers have argued the proposal is necessary to prevent contractors from doing the work of public adjusters, who are independent claims assessors policyholders can hire for a fee to represent their interests. They are distinct from adjusters who work on behalf of insurance companies.
After hearing roofers' concerns, Adams amended his bill to remove many of its restrictions and applied the prohibitions specifically to advertising and soliciting. At the same time, the amendment expanded the measure to apply to all residential contractors — not just roofers.
When asked about the proposal Tuesday, Louisiana Home Builders Association lobbyist Michelle Shirley said her organization has taken a neutral position on Adams' bill.
The other goal of the legislation is to prevent conflicts of interest for public adjusters who are also residential contractors. It would prohibit them from doing any kind work related to the insurance claims they handle. In short, they would no longer be able to adjust an insurance claim and then pay themselves to do the repair work for that claim.
Adams' proposal is now pending in the Senate.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Boston Globe
31 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Trump is touting a $3 trillion tariff windfall. Don't bank on it.
(Net tariff revenue, which excludes certain other excise tax revenue and includes tariff rebates or refunds, accounts for 80 to 85 percent of the gross figure.) Over the next decade, the tariffs in place as of May 13 Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up But hold on — tariff math gets complicated. Advertisement Yes, even with the national debt at $36 trillion, $3 trillion isn't a laughing matter. For context, the CBO says the House Republicans' 'big, beautiful' bill Trump quickly seized on the forecasts, asserting that tariffs would more than pay for the tax cuts and new spending — leaving, in his words, a 'tremendous surplus.' But that argument only works if imports stay high and the economy doesn't slow — both unlikely under his own policies. Advertisement Still, expect to hear about that big windfall a lot as the president pushes the bill in the Senate, where even A closer look reveals just how shaky that claim is. Here's a rundown. American businesses and consumers pay Trump's tariffs — not foreign governments. Despite what the president says, US importers shoulder the cost and pass much of it to their customers — other businesses and consumers — in the form of higher prices. Trump's plan trades income-tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the rich for consumption taxes that hit low- and middle-income households harder. Inflation will heat up. The CBO said tariffs would boost inflation — as measured by the personal consumption expenditures index — by an annual average of 0.4 percentage points in 2025 and 2026. The PCE rate was an annualized 2.1 percent in April. The Budget Lab at Yale University Prices for essentials like clothing and shoes are expected to surge. Shoe and apparel prices will spike 31 percent and 28 percent, respectively, in the short term, the Budget Lab said. The economy will slow. Duties will cut gross domestic product by 0.6 percent, or $266 billion, cumulatively through 2035, according to the CBO. The modest reduction is the net of positive effects — such as smaller deficits and more money available for private investments — and negative effects including lower productivity. The Budget Lab forecasts a bigger long-term drag on growth from tariffs: 0.3 percentage point, or $100 billion, each year. Advertisement It sees We can't rely on tariff revenues. Trade flows fluctuate for several reasons, including the pace of economic growth and the level of import duties. Many economists say Trump's erratic trade policies have caused enough uncertainty to trigger a US recession, which would curb spending on imports and drive tariff revenues lower. Moreover, there is a disconnect in Trump's strategy: He argues that tariffs will both raise trillions of dollars and force other countries to negotiate trade deals that are more favorable for the United States. But if he succeeds at the negotiating table, tariff revenue will decline — and the 'tremendous surplus' will shrink. Final thought President Trump doesn't just love tariffs — he touts them as the cure to all of America's economic ills. In his mind, they're a magic wand he can wave to reduce the trade deficit, revive domestic manufacturing, and pay for tax cuts. But magical thinking doesn't work in the real world of global economics. Larry Edelman can be reached at
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
House takes up DOGE cuts amid Trump-Musk feud fallout
House Republicans this week will vote on codifying billions of dollars of cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), days after the profound — and very public — breakup between President Trump and Elon Musk, the force behind the cost-cutting agency. The $9.4 billion package claws back funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports NPR and PBS, among other areas targeted by DOGE. Some Republicans have expressed reservations with various parts of the bill, raising questions about its fate in the House. Also this week, the House will vote on a bill to classify fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I. Across the Capitol, Senate Republicans are working to finalize changes to the 'big, beautiful bill,' as party leaders aim to send the package to President Trump by July 4. Some committees may begin to roll out text this week. Additionally, a flurry of cabinet secretaries will visit Capitol Hill this week to answer questions about the president's fiscal year 2026 budget request. House Republicans are plowing ahead with their first attempt at codifying DOGE cuts this week, planning a vote on the Rescissions Act of 2025, which would rescind $9.4 billion in federal funding. The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet on the measure on Tuesday at 2 p.m., tee-ing up the legislation for the week. 'We're gonna codify the DOGE cuts, you'll see that in a series of actions here in the House,' Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on Friday. 'We got the first rescissions package this week, we'll be passing it early next week, that DOGE cuts, there'll be more of that to come.' Not all Republicans, however, are on board with the legislation: A handful of lawmakers have voiced concerns with different provisions in the measure, leaving leadership with some work to do before the bill hits the floor. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), for example, has expressed opposition to clawing back funding for U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, which was established during the George W. Bush administration. The congressman said leadership has assured him they are not gutting the entire program, but instead cutting 'weird appendages off.' 'I talked to the whip team, I'm on the whip team, I said if it's gonna be cutting all of PEPFAR, I'm a no,' Bacon told reporters on Friday. The effort comes days after the blistering feud between Trump and Musk, which began as a back-and-forth over the party's tax cuts and spending package before quickly turning into a personal fight — severing ties between the world's most powerful man and the richest person on the planet. 'I would assume so, yeah,' Trump told NBC News in an interview on Saturday when asked if he thought his relationship with the brainchild of DOGE was over. Senate Republicans this week are continuing work on the 'big, beautiful bill,' as party leaders push to meet their self-imposed deadline of enacting the package by July 4. Committees are expected to start rolling out text throughout the week as the chamber nears a vote on the sprawling legislation. There are still a number of key debates that must be adjudicated before the package can squeak through. Some conservatives are still pushing for steeper spending cuts, while a cadre of moderates are calling for a less aggressive rollback of green-energy tax credits Democrats approved in 2022. 'The spending cuts are not nearly enough,' Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told 'Fox News Sunday' of the bill. The Kentucky Republican has also expressed opposition to the $4 trillion debt limit increase included in the measure. Perhaps one of the most contentious questions is what to do about the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap. Moderate House Republicans from high-tax blue states negotiated with their leadership to include a $40,000 SALT deduction cap in the bill — up from the $10,000 deduction cap in current law — a provision they say must remain in-tact to earn their vote when the package returns to the House. Senate Republicans, however, are pushing to lower that number. With zero Republicans representing states that are impacted most by the SALT deduction cap — New York, New Jersey and California — the language is at risk of changing. 'No, and it shouldn't survive,' Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said on 'Fox News Sunday' when asked if he thinks the $40,000 SALT deduction cap survives in the Senate. 'We should not be subsidizing blue state governors' wasteful spending. That's exactly what, if that's in there, then Florida will be paying for…the state government of New York, and that's wrong.' House Republicans in the SALT Caucus are warning that if their deal is tampered with in the Senate, they will not support the package when it returns to the House. 'If the Senate changes the SALT deduction in any way, I will be a no, and I'm not going to buckle on that,' Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said on CNN's 'Inside Politics' on Sunday. 'And I know in speaking to my other colleagues, they will be a no as well.' The House this week is slated to vote on a bill that would permanently categorize fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I in the Controlled Substances Act, classifying the opioid as having high abuse potential that is not allowed to be used medically. The legislation — dubbed the HALT Fentanyl Act — passed the Senate on a bipartisan 84-16 vote in March, sending the measure to the House for consideration. The lower chamber is expected to approve the measure: In February, the House passed its own version of the bill in a bipartisan 312-108 vote. Consideration of the Senate-passed bill in the House this week marks the latest example of Republicans cracking down on the spread and use of fentanyl, which has been a key focus of the GOP-controlled Congress in addition to the Trump White House. 'House Republicans are doing everything in our power to stop fentanyl from claiming more American lives – everyone should support our efforts to halt this deadly crisis,' the office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) wrote in its floor lookout. A number of cabinet secretaries are scheduled to appear before committees on both sides of the Capitol this week, as they field questions about their agencies and the White House's budget request for fiscal year 2026. Other hot topics — including Trump deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles, the state of the economy, and the Trump-Musk feud — will likely come up during the hearings. Tuesday, June 10 9:30 a.m.: House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense oversight hearing Witnesses: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine 10 a.m.: House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy hearing on the fiscal year 2026 Department of Energy budget 10 a.m.: House Appropriations Subcommittee on Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies budget hearing on Department of Housing and Urban Development Witness: HUD Secretary Scott Turner Wednesday, June 11 10 a.m.: House Ways and Means Committee hearing with Secretary Scott Bessent Witness: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent 10 a.m.: Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Department of Defense hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of Defense — Led by Subcommittee Chairman Mitch McConnell (R-Ky._ Witnesses: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine 10 a.m.: House Agriculture Hearing for the purpose of receiving testimony from the Honorable Brooke L. Rollins Witness: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins 10 a.m.: Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing to examine the president's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of the Interior 3:30 p.m.: Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of Housing and Urban Development Witness: HUD Secretary Scott Turner 4 p.m.: Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of the Treasury Witness: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Thursday, June 12 10 a.m.: House Natural Resources Committee: 'Examining the President's FY 2026 Budget Request for the Department of the Interior' Witness: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum 10 a.m.: House Armed Services Committee hearing on Department of Defense fiscal year 2026 budget request Witnesses: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine 10 a.m.: Senate Finance Committee hearing to examine the president's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of Treasury and tax reform Witness: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Republicans look for reset on Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill'
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is looking for a reset and to build momentum on President Trump's big, beautiful bill after it struggled through a tough week on Capitol Hill. Trump's July 4 deadline for signing the bill is slipping away as GOP senators battle each other over spending cuts and other issues in the House-passed bill. But Thune wants to get the legislation back on track by convening small working groups to hash out key components of the bill, according to Republicans familiar with his plan. Thune is hoping to build enough momentum in the Senate's various committees that the components of the bill come together in a grand compromise by the end of the month. But rank-and-file senators who have some of the strongest objections to the legislation have yet to see key pieces of text. And Elon Musk's scathing criticism of the bill as a 'mountain of disgusting pork' is creating political headwinds for the legislation. A GOP senator familiar with Thune's strategy says he will break out portions of the bill to Senate Republican working groups in an effort to make progress on the sections that face the strongest objections — such as nearly $800 billion in spending reductions for Medicaid and $267 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 'Thune's going to do the same thing he did for other things where folks have deeper issues. He'll put small groups together. No one is going to be able to say they weren't listened to,' the GOP senator said. Thune's plan to involve a broader swath of his caucus in negotiations on a must-pass bill is a departure from former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who tended to keep the details of major deals close to the vest until shortly before he unveiled them, the senator said. Senate Republicans control 53 seats and can afford only three defections and still pass the bill. No Democrat is expected to support it, and it is not subject to a filibuster. Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) told GOP colleagues at a meeting last week the bill already faces two likely Republican 'no' votes. Thune told The Hill that he wants to inject fresh momentum into the bill next week and move at 'full speed' toward Trump's July 4 deadline, even though he told GOP colleagues privately earlier this year that getting the legislation to Trump's desk by the August recess is a more realistic target. 'We're continuing to have meetings with groups and committees,' he said. 'Full speed ahead, a lot of conversations, getting everybody comfortable.' The biggest obstacle the bill faces is that many Republican senators are demanding more deficit reduction but a group of lawmakers, including Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), are objecting to the biggest deficit-reduction in the bill currently: Hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid spending cuts. This has Republican senators looking for new strategies to further reduce the deficit without cutting more deeply into Medicaid or SNAP. The latest proposal that has interest from several members of the Senate Finance Committee, including Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), is a proposal to root out 'waste, fraud and abuse' in the Medicare Advantage program. Cassidy has a bipartisan proposal cosponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) to crack down on 'upcoding,' a practice whereby insurance companies bill Medicare for additional diagnoses that may not be medically necessary or urgent. The proposal could raise as much as $275 billion over 10 years. Marshall said he's getting 'a huge number of complaints about Medicare Advantage from our seniors,' a big increase in dissatisfaction compared to just four years ago. 'Now many, many seniors call and say they feel like they've been taken [advantage of.] They can't see the doctor they want to, no one told them that. They can't go to the hospital [around] town. There's been a lot of fly-by-night Medicare Advantage programs coming in to take care of people. I think it's a huge problem,' Marshall said. Medicare Advantage plans have a financial incentive to make beneficiaries appear sicker than they might be because they are paid based on the health of an individual patient. Some Republicans, however, are pushing back hard on the idea of turning to Medicare for spending cuts, even if they are intended to address what proponents call 'waste, fraud and abuse.' 'I hear talk about Medicare, which I think is insane,' Hawley said. 'I don't like the idea of that at all.' Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), meanwhile, is floating a proposal for the Federal Reserve to stop paying interest on bank reserves, a practice that Congress implemented during the 2008 financial crisis to stabilize the banking sector. 'For most of the history of the Federal Reserve, they did not pay interest on reserves held by banks. And then in 2008 Congress changed the law and they spend roughly spend roughly $100 billion a year. And so eliminating that would save a trillion dollars over 10 years,' he said. Cruz said the idea is 'certainly under discussion' as part of the search for new proposals to improve the big, beautiful bill's budget score. Senate Republican leaders say the House-passed bill would reduce spending by $1.6 trillion over the next decade but a group of Republican senators want to get that number closer to $2 trillion. Thune has met in small groups with GOP colleagues to discuss their concerns with Medicaid reforms and lawmakers say they're happy with the level of engagement so far. Moran, who warned on the floor earlier this year, that he could not support Medicaid changes that imperil the fiscal health of rural hospitals, said he doesn't think the bill will need to be marked up as long as he continues to have solid input with the negotiators. 'I don't expect the bill to be the House bill. And we'll work to put our priorities in front of the Finance and Budget Committees to see what kind of success' we can have in making changes, Moran said. 'There's lots of places I have issues.' He said he has concerns about reforms to health care provider taxes, which states have used to draw more federal Medicaid funding. Republicans are uncomfortable with the latest Congressional Budget Office estimate that changes to Medicaid and subsidies under the Affordable Care Act could cause an estimated 10.9 million Americans to lose health care coverage. Collins, Murkowski and Moran have also raised concerns about cuts to SNAP and the effort to shift more of the administrative costs of the programs onto states. Murkowski, Moran, Sen. Thom Tillis, Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito ( meanwhile, are raising objections to the quick phaseout of renewable energy tax breaks in the House bill. Capito is concerned about House language that would phase out federal tax support for the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub in West Virginia if construction doesn't get underway by the end of this year. 'You have to be under construction by 2025, the end of this year. Our hydrogen hub cannot be under construction by that time. So it's problematic for us. It'll be a lot of jobs and a lot of energy-for-the-future types of opportunities for our state. I'm trying to work with other folks who have difficulties with this,' Capito said. Republican senators say the House-passed bill can't get a majority vote in the Senate without significant changes and predict it will take a lot of negotiating before it comes to the floor. 'It's a work in progress,' said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an adviser to the Senate GOP leadership team. 'We don't have as thin a margin as the House, but we got to get to 51.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.