Latest news with #Bill148
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Insurance Commissioner on abuse of the legal system and insurance reform battle in the House
Louisiana (KTAL/KMSS) — The legislative fiscal session has been on legal reform, according to Commissioner of Insurance of Louisiana, Tim Temple. The commissioner says the legislature is trying to address why premiums are so high in the state of Louisiana. Louisiana lawmakers push for reform amid auto insurance 'crisis' 'When we do get into an accident, we have more than twice the frequency of bodily injury claims. More than twice the national average, we claim we had an injury. And we're more than- I see four times, I see three times, I know it's a solid more than two and a half times the national average, to litigate on those bodily injury claims,' said Temple. The commissioner says this equates to higher claims costs. For this reason, there are bills working through the system with the hope of disincentivizing people from abusing the legal system. 'If we can be successful doing that, then you'll start to see the claims, the number of claims that we have, abusing the system, go down. And when those go down, rates will follow. Most of the bills are designed to tackle that, to disincentivize, ' said Temple. He believes there are bills coming out of the House under concurrence, which means the House agrees with amendments by the Senate. Louisiana lawmakers spar over attorney penalties in proposed insurance bill Some of the bills include House Bill 431 by Representative Emily Chenevert, which provides relative to modified comparative fault, and House Bill 436 by Representative Gabe Firment, which prohibits the recovery of certain damages for unauthorized aliens. However, Commissioner Temple says there is one bill that gives 'heart burn' and he does not support, House Bill 148 by Representative Jeffrey Wiley. According to text on the State Legislature website, the bill 'requires insurers to provide prior premium amounts with renewals of certain insurance policies and repeals the distinction between competitive and non-competitive markets with respect to the regulation of insurance rates.' 'It's not right. It's not a good bill. It shifts blame. It also removes confidentiality that insurance companies enjoy when they do business here, like every other business gets to have some confidentiality; it removes some of those protections,' said Temple. Landry testifies on insurance bill as Louisiana rates remain highest in US The commissioner continued, 'I think that it's going to send a message to the insurance market that Louisiana is not a state that you want to do business with, despite a lot of the reform that we're passing.' The commissioner says that during the session, a group of legislators has opposed passing reform because they say insurance companies are making billions of dollars. 'Whether you look at five years or 10 years, insurance companies whether it's auto, or it's property, have historically lost money in the state of Louisiana,' said Temple. The commissioner says that in 2023 and 2024, there were not many catastrophes, premiums were high, and companies made about 3%. However, the years 2020 and 2021 had large loss ratios due to storms and hurricanes. Why is Louisiana car insurance so pricey? Gov. Landry, Attorney Morris Bart sound off Commissioner Temple says several other reform bills will be introduced to Senate Judiciary A on May 28th, unfortunately a member of the committee will be absent. Temple says those bills will most likely die outright or die in a tie vote. 'I would say that after today, I think that a lot of the legal reform efforts are going to be done with. Which is not good for you and me as citizens and rate payers of Louisiana.' Temple says that on May 28th, Governor Landry will hold a press conference and perhaps a bill signing on legislation coming out of the House. 'We did not get into this insurance crisis overnight, and we're not getting out of it overnight, but we are going to get out of it if we continue to do what needs to be done which is make some hard decisions, rebalance the playing field, the legal field here in the state of Louisiana, and make it so that people don't abuse the process. That's when you have a claim, it's a just claim, when you have an injury, it's a just injury, and when you have medical bills, they are just medical bills. Insurance is about being made whole, not being made better,' said Commissioner Temple. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Landry might get the insurance laws he wants, but not without ruffling some Republican feathers
Rep. Dixon McMakin, R-Baton Rouge, left, greets Gov. Jeff Landry as Landry leaves the House Chamber with his son, JT Landry, right, after speaking on opening day of legislative session, Monday, April 14, 2025, at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge. (Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate-Pool) A surprise amendment to what was a simple bill caused an appreciable rift among Republicans in the Louisiana Legislature this past week, but it might have helped advance Gov. Jeff Landry's signature legislation to address the state's insurance crisis. House Bill 148, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Wiley, R-Maurepas, began as a measure to require insurance companies to tell customers what their previous billing amount was whenever sending out a coverage renewal notice. Wiley said it would simply let customers quickly see whether their insurance rates have gone up or down. However, the legislation underwent significant changes Wednesday on the House floor. Wiley accepted an amendment from Rep. Brian Glorioso, R-Slidell, that effectively combined his bill with some of the major provisions from a separate proposal from Democrats Robby Carter of Amite and Chad Brown of Plaquemine. Their measure, which has the governor's backing, would give the state insurance commissioner the power to strike down any insurance rate increase considered 'excessive' or unreasonably high. Currently, the commissioner can only exercise that power after holding a public hearing in which someone proves the state insurance market lacks competition. The amalgamated bill was advanced to the Senate on a 68-34, SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The Carter-Brown bill had opposition from several Republican lawmakers and Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple, who some speculate could become the governor's scapegoat if the latest efforts to reduce coverage prices fail. The proposal would have also backed the commissioner into a corner, forcing him to choose between rates based on real market conditions and rates that are lowered as a form of political favors, Temple has said in previous interviews. Some Republican lawmakers made similar arguments Wednesday and challenged whether Glorioso's amendment was germane to Wiley's original legislation. Legislative rules forbid members from hijacking a colleague's bill with changes that differ dramatically from the purpose of the original proposal. One opponent, Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, asked House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, to decide whether the Glorioso amendment departed radically from the Wiley bill. After consulting with the chamber's parliamentarian, DeVillier said both proposals are related to the cost of insurance premiums. Rep. John Wyble, R-Franklinton, criticized the amendment for its lack of specificity in how the commissioner is supposed to determine whether a rate is unreasonable. 'So what's an unreasonable profit — a 6% profit, a 4.5% profit, a 20% profit, a 100% profit?' Wyble asked. Republicans Jay Gallé of Mandeville, Josh Carlson of Lafayette, Paula Davis of Baton Rouge and Chance Henry of Crowley also argued against the proposal, voting against the Glorioso amendment and the updated bill. Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, who chairs the House Insurance Committee, also voted against both measures. He said he believes Glorioso's amendment helped ensure the passage of the key provisions the governor wanted. Landry turned heads last month when he sat shoulder to shoulder with Brown at a committee hearing in support of the Democrat's bill. The governor even drew praise from some of the state's most liberal politicians after he railed against large corporations and called for stricter regulations on the insurance industry. The Carter-Brown bill 'was problematic for some Republican representatives,' Firment said in a phone interview Friday. Moving the major provisions from that bill into a Republican-backed proposal was a way to try to ease the 'heartburn' some conservatives were having, Firment said. The insurance commissioner is still lobbying against the revised bill. 'I can't speak to anyone's motivation, but the only additional power this legislation gives me is the authority to deny rates for political, personal and other subjective reasons,' Temple said. 'I've made that clear to the legislature and will continue working to help them understand what the bill does and why it is harmful to our insurance market.' Wiley said he supported the amendment because of the special circumstances of the state's insurance crisis. 'I can just tell you that tough times call for tough decisions,' Wiley said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
