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American Press
5 days ago
- Automotive
- American Press
Jim Beam column:Landry threats get bill passed
Louisiana's Republican Gov. Jeff Landry gets legislators to pass a bill that critics say weakens other bills designed to lower auto insurance premiums.(Photo courtesy of Meg Kinnard of AP). Anyone who doubts that Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is the most power hungry governor since the late-Huey P. Long (1928-32) hasn't been following legislative deliberations on auto insurance reform. Long was famously known as 'The Kingfish' because of his autocratic style, and Landry is a carbon copy. Legislators have approved some excellent bills designed to lower what are among the nation's highest auto insurance premiums. Unfortunately, Landry has strong-armed lawmakers to pass one bill that might just wipe out the progress from those good measures. The legislation that is now House Bill 148 was born as HB 576 by Rep. Robby Carter, D-Amite. The legislation would allow the state insurance commissioner to reject rate increases, even if facts show they are justified. Commissioner Tim Temple says the bill will make it harder for insurance companies to raise rates and will discourage other companies from coming to Louisiana. Landry testified for over 30 minutes in support of the bill before the House Insurance Committee and said if it didn't pass, he was going to 'bring it back again, again and again.' Carter's bill got out of committee but he apparently didn't have the votes to pass it in the full House and returned it to the calendar twice. So Landry came up with a new plan. Rep. Brian Glorioso, R-Slidell, introduced an amendment to HB 148 on the House floor on April 30 that was pretty much the original Carter HB 576. And The Advocate reported that Landry 'powered over Republican opponents in the state House' who passed the Glorioso amendment 67-33. The newspaper said it was significant that only 36 Republicans supported the amendment, while 33 opposed it. All 31 Democrats voted in favor of the amendment. The House then passed the amended bill with a 68-34 vote. Rep. Paula Davis, R-Baton Rouge, who worked for the insurance department for a decade, said, 'We're sending a message to the industry that we're an unstable place to do business.' The Advocate on May 22 said, 'Gov. Jeff Landry showed who's the boss at the State Capitol when he rammed a car insurance bill through the Senate late Wednesday night over the vehement objections of Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple and business trade groups.' The Senate passed the bill with a 26-9 vote on May 21. When the bill got back to the House because of Senate changes, the House voted 76-18 to agree to the changes and sent the bill to the governor, who said it would make it harder for insurance companies to raise rates. The newspaper said Allstate and State Farm officials met privately with the governor in opposition to a change that would require insurance companies to reveal rate-setting information that has been secret. The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, which represents 38% of the insurance market in Louisiana, wrote to the governor, saying the added change is so bad it will outweigh any of the measures passed this year and last year that Landry and legislators said would hold down property and car insurance rates. The Insurance Council of Louisiana in a letter said, 'While this bill may come out of good intentions, the likelihood is that it will cause bad outcomes.' The Advocate said Landry turned aside those objections and signed insurance bills Wednesday. He didn't invite Rep. Emily Chenevert, R-Gonzales, and a sponsor of one bill, because she voted against HB 148, Landry's 'big, bad bill.' Landry said rates should lower by as much as 10%. The newspaper said there was no doubt about Landry showing his political muscle during the legislative session to get lawmakers to approve the car insurance measures he wanted. But he did get some bad feedback on HB 148. Quin Hillyer, who writes a column for The Advocate, called the new law 'downright abominable,' and added, 'Voters should consider punishing any legislators who approved it — and do likewise to the governor who shoved it down their throats.' Legislators have given Landry much of what he has wanted since he took office and that isn't likely to change. On this questionable auto insurance bill, he had half the Republicans in the Legislature and all of the Democrats on his side. Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or Reply Forward Add reaction
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Because of suspicious minds, New Hampshire communities are caught in a trap
A chalk message written just outside the State House arch earlier this month in downtown Concord. (Photo by Dana Wormald/New Hampshire Bulletin) Even in my most generous moments, I struggle to find benevolence in the American right's various pursuits. I can hear the response on the left as I write: That's because there is none. But I'd rather not move through my days believing tens of millions of Americans are actively wishing harm on their neighbors. Fear and warped nostalgia seem to be at the heart of the right's rising cruelty, but to reject another's pain out of hand, no matter how corrupt its source, feels like an equally unhealthy path. All of that said, we are a few elections and a million miles past Kumbaya. So, for whatever good it does, I spend a lot of moments trying to stake out mental territory between the unproductive wastelands of helplessness and hopelessness, anger and apathy. You don't make it easy, New Hampshire GOP. This month alone, we watched as Gov. Kelly Ayotte held a celebratory signing for a pair of bills meant to prevent any New Hampshire town from providing sanctuary to men, women, and children whom other people have deemed of 'illegal' humanity. And, in a staggering affront to experiential wisdom, lawmakers also decided to actively promote discrimination through passage of the anti-trans House Bill 148. Plus, House and Senate Republicans have proven so committed to selective and compartmentalized freedom that they've passed a book banning bill that essentially makes it easier for one parent to decide what the children of other parents should be allowed to read. After all, nothing frightens the party of guns more than unchaste words broadly aimed. Two of the most celebrated elements of America's carefully manufactured identity are 'sanctuary' and 'diversity,' and New Hampshire Republicans are laying siege to both. To that end, immigrants are being scapegoated without cause for any number of societal ills — crime, the housing crunch, depressed wages — and so the 'law and order' gang, including Ayotte, feels just fine about drowning the spirit of Emma Lazarus in New York Harbor. And, because conservatives have worked so hard to strip transgender Granite Staters of their humanity, legalized cruelty has been made acceptable even for the so-called centrists who are less naturally inclined toward hatred. And the book banning measure reflects America's McCarthyite instincts to read subversion into every artistic act that rejects or challenges American mythology. What I don't understand, have never understood, is what kind of society the right dreams of. America's strength is in its communities — and I once believed that was a bipartisan position. Each of us is, after all, accountable to our neighbors, the people with whom we share so much even if our interactions are limited to the occasional friendly wave. Yet all of these crusades pursued by Republicans are expediting the dissolution of communities. Whatever defense the right raises for the persecution of certain immigrants, the price paid at the neighborhood level is far too high and will last a generation or longer. When due process is denied by fiat, when the innocent are purposely ensnared in an inescapable net, when cultural profiling is not only tolerated by invited, how can 'melting pot' bonds be formed and nurtured? When discrimination is sanctioned and diversity is criminalized, how are our city blocks and cul-de-sacs strengthened now and tomorrow? How are we to find our empathy when the stories of different lives, lived honestly, are erased by paternalism? At a very basic level, there are two ways to take part in society. You can see people as threats or you can see them as partners. When the popular pendulum swings toward 'threat,' which is the state and nation we are living in now, the risk of community deterioration grows. It is only through the embrace of partnership that villages thrive. What does that sense of partnership look like on the ground? It looks like affordable housing built not just in lower-income communities but affluent ones, too. It looks like support — in all its forms — for the local public schools that don't just educate our kids but weave families of all backgrounds together. It looks like thoughtful immigration reform that places the target on root-level solutions and not the exposed backs of the huddled masses. It looks like environmental policies that elevate sustainability — by definition a lasting public good — over momentary, irreversibly destructive greed. It looks like lifting up those with the least instead of further enriching those with the most. It looks like building a shared and intermingled future instead of more and taller fences. In my heart of hearts, I guess I know that the point of all that's happening right now is that there is no ultimate point. The right is not working toward something glimmering and distant but for something immediate, for political ends, and it's the immediacy that's so destabilizing, demoralizing, and directly harmful. To win in America today, our right-wing politics and policies tell us, somebody else must not only lose but be punished, too. And in such a world, our communities are not half as important as our barriers, our borders, and our suspicions.
American Press
28-05-2025
- Automotive
- American Press
Jim Beam column:Temple likes three auto bills
Louisiana legislators making auto insurance changes but one bill causing concern.(Image courtesy of Auto insurance reform has been the major issue of the current legislative fiscal session and six bills have taken the spotlight. Two of five House bills have been approved by both chambers. The House has to agree to Senate changes in three of its bills and a Senate bill is awaiting a final House vote. The Advocate said the Senate has passed five bills that affect who can sue and how much they can collect. It added that Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple, the insurance industry and their business allies say the legislation would reduce payouts and thus reduce rates. Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, said, 'What just passed out of the Senate, and if passed into law, would be the most comprehensive insurance reform in Louisiana history. These changes are geared toward addressing the unaffordable car insurance crisis in Louisiana.' Only time will tell if that's true and Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, doesn't agree. He has been a spokesman for trial lawyers who are often blamed for high auto insurance costs. Those attorneys are perhaps the biggest losers in the six bills. 'We're just taking away more people's rights, and rates won't go down,' Luneau said. The newspaper said he added that the Senate's rush to approve bills with late changes 'leads to bad legislation.' One of the six bills, House Bill 148, is extremely controversial. It's a favorite of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and a loser as far as Temple is concerned. The legislation would let the insurance commissioner reject insurance premium increases even when they are justified by the facts. Temple said, 'It's a false claim that rates are high because the commissioner doesn't have some magical power. It doesn't address the fundamental problem in Louisiana —bodily injury and legal abuse.' Earlier news reports have said Landry favors HB 148 so he can blame Temple when insurance rates increase. The House has to agree to the Senate changes to the bill. During a recent speech, Landry said a study by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners shows that Louisiana is an outlier on one key metric: 'Our minor injury claims are double the national average,' he said. The Advocate said Temple has said Louisiana has had twice as many minor injury claims as New York even though that state counts five times as many residents. So the two officials do agree on something. OK, here are the other five bills: HB 431would bar drivers responsible for at least 51% of the accident from receiving a damage award to cover their injuries. Under current law, a driver responsible for 51% of the accident can collect a payment equal to 49% of the overall damage award. The House has to agree to Senate changes on that bill. HB 434 would disallow a driver without car insurance from collecting an award for bodily injury medical expenses for any amount below $100,000, up from $15,000 today. It is awaiting the governor's signature. HB 436 would prohibit undocumented immigrants who are injured in car accidents from collecting general damages. The House has to agree to Senate changes. HB 450 would require someone who sued over injuries in a car accident to show that the injuries actually occurred during the accident. The bill goes to the governor. Senate Bill 231 would allow lawyers for insurance companies to tell jurors how much people injured in wrecks actually pay in medical bills. Under current law, jurors hear the total amount billed, regardless of what the plaintiff paid. The bill has passed the Senate and is in a House committee. The Advocate reported that Temple said House Bills 431 and 450 and SB 231 would 'move the needle forward.' Senate Democrats argued against the bills, saying earlier pro-industry legislation hasn't brought rates down. They also pointed to an April report by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that said in 2023 insurance companies in Louisiana had the third highest underwriting profit, the fourth lowest loss ratio and the fifth highest return on net worth. Legislators appear to have made some progress in tackling major reasons for Louisiana's unbelievably high auto insurance rates. However, it may take more time and more legislation than we would like to determine if that's true. Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than six decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or Reply Forward Add reaction
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill allowing trans people to be kept out of bathrooms, locker rooms heads to NH governor's desk
Supporters of transgender rights gather at the Legislative Office Building in Concord on Feb. 19, 2025. (Photo by William Skipworth/New Hampshire Bulletin) A bill that would eliminate certain transgender protections established by a 2018 anti-discrimination law in New Hampshire was approved by the state Senate Thursday and now heads to Gov. Kelly Ayotte's desk. If it becomes law, House Bill 148, which was sponsored by Wilton Republican Rep. Jim Kofalt, will allow businesses and organizations in New Hampshire to classify certain services, such as locker rooms and restrooms, by biological sex. It would also permit schools and organized sports teams in the state to keep transgender athletes off teams that are consistent with their gender identity. It would allow prisons, mental health facilities, and juvenile detention centers to place transgender people with members of their at-birth sex even if they ask to be placed according to the gender they identify with. The bill doesn't require any of these things, but it allows whoever owns the restrooms, administers the sports teams, or runs the prison to do so without facing discrimination charges. This reverses parts of 2018's Law Against Discrimination, which was enacted to protect people from discrimination on the basis of 'age, sex, gender identity, race, creed, color, marital status, familial status, physical or mental disability, or national origin.' The Senate passed the bill, 16-8, along party lines Thursday, with all Republicans voting yes and all Democrats voting no. The House passed the legislation, 201-166, in March. Only two Democratic House members, Reps. Jonah Wheeler and Peter Leishman, both of Peterborough, voted in favor. Ayotte will now have the option to sign the bill into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without her signature. Her predecessor, former Gov. Chris Sununu, was given the same options in 2024 when the House and Senate approved House Bill 396. This year's bill, HB 148, is a word-for-word copy of last year's HB 396. Sununu ultimately vetoed the bill, calling it 'unacceptable,' and saying it 'runs contrary to New Hampshire's Live Free or Die spirit' and 'seeks to solve problems that have not presented themselves,' per his veto message. LGBTQ+ rights supporters sang outside the State House restrooms in protest of the bill during the Senate session Thursday. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill allowing trans people to be kept out of bathrooms, locker rooms heads to Ayotte's desk
Supporters of transgender rights gather at the Legislative Office Building in Concord on Feb. 19, 2025. (Photo by William Skipworth/New Hampshire Bulletin) A bill that would eliminate certain transgender protections established by a 2018 anti-discrimination law in New Hampshire was approved by the state Senate Thursday and now heads to Gov. Kelly Ayotte's desk. If it becomes law, House Bill 148, which was sponsored by Wilton Republican Rep. Jim Kofalt, will allow businesses and organizations in New Hampshire to classify certain services, such as locker rooms and restrooms, by biological sex. It would also permit schools and organized sports teams in the state to keep transgender athletes off teams that are consistent with their gender identity. It would allow prisons, mental health facilities, and juvenile detention centers to place transgender people with members of their at-birth sex even if they ask to be placed according to the gender they identify with. The bill doesn't require any of these things, but it allows whoever owns the restrooms, administers the sports teams, or runs the prison to do so without facing discrimination charges. This reverses parts of 2018's Law Against Discrimination, which was enacted to protect people from discrimination on the basis of 'age, sex, gender identity, race, creed, color, marital status, familial status, physical or mental disability, or national origin.' The Senate passed the bill, 16-8, along party lines Thursday, with all Republicans voting yes and all Democrats voting no. The House passed the legislation, 201-166, in March. Only two Democratic House members, Reps. Jonah Wheeler and Peter Leishman, both of Peterborough, voted in favor. Ayotte will now have the option to sign the bill into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without her signature. Her predecessor, former Gov. Chris Sununu, was given the same options in 2024 when the House and Senate approved House Bill 396. This year's bill, HB 148, is a word-for-word copy of last year's HB 396. Sununu ultimately vetoed the bill, calling it 'unacceptable,' and saying it 'runs contrary to New Hampshire's Live Free or Die spirit' and 'seeks to solve problems that have not presented themselves,' per his veto message. LGBTQ+ rights supporters sang outside the State House restrooms in protest of the bill during the Senate session Thursday.
