Latest news with #SenateBill214
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Louisiana won't switch from an elected insurance commissioner to an appointed one
From left, Reps. Jerome Zeringue, R-Houma, and Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, in the Louisiana House of Representative, Feb. 2, 2022. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator) Legislation to convert Louisiana's insurance commissioner from an elected office into an appointed one stalled on the state Senate floor Tuesday when the author of the proposal realized it was likely to fail. Senate Bill 214 would have let the next governor, subject to Senate approval, appoint the state's next insurance commissioner to a six-year term, with a limit of two terms. Under current law, the commissioner is chosen every four years through the same statewide election when voters select a governor. It is one of only two statewide elected offices that can be changed into an appointed position without a constitutional amendment though still requires two-thirds support from lawmakers. The other is the commissioner of agriculture. The proposal would have allowed current Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple to run for re-election before the move to an appointed office holder. Just a week ago, the bill cleared the Senate Committee on Insurance with unanimous support. On Tuesday, however, its author, Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, pulled the bill as opposition mounted from certain Republicans. In an interview, he said he started counting votes and decided it might be better to replace his bill with a resolution that would create a task force to study the issue. 'It was never a bill that I thought would have unanimous support,' Duplessis said. 'Some people want the status quo … I just don't think I had the numbers. It would have been close.' While presenting the bill on the floor, Duplessis told colleagues there's good reason for certain state officials to be appointed rather than elected. He mentioned the secretaries of the health and environmental quality departments as important offices that should be insulated from the politics of elected office. 'I think that some roles are so specialized and technical that they shouldn't be politicized,' he said. Very few voters pay attention to the office of insurance commissioner, Duplessis said, pointing out that Temple ran for office unopposed. Republicans have generally been supportive of Temple, a former insurance executive who is opposed to Duplessis' bill and has lobbied for legislation with the backing of insurance companies. Democrats, on the other hand, have been critical of the commissioner's cozy relationship with the industry he's charged with regulating and believe Temple could do more to rein in high premiums. The one big exception to that partisan alignment is Gov. Jeff Landry, who has been publicly feuding with Temple over the causes of the insurance crisis in Louisiana. Even with his reelection bid still two years away, the governor has incentive to deflect any blame voters might lay at his feet for insurance costs even though the crisis began before he took office in 2024. Temple and the companies he regulates have long claimed personal injury lawsuits are driving the state's high insurance premiums. He has advocated for so-called 'tort reform' laws that give insurance companies certain protections or advantages in litigation. Tort reform efforts in previous years have failed to reduce insurance rates, though Temple and his supporters have said those measures were not strong enough. Gov. Landry's approach to lower insurance rates could cast his political fate Duplessis' bill had the backing of some conservative Republicans, such as Sen. Stewart Cathey of Monroe. Cathey added the amendment to require Senate confirmation of the governor's pick for commissioner. But as other Republicans lined up to speak against the bill, debate started to sour when Sen. Adam Bass of Bossier City accused Duplessis of trying to strip away voters' rights. 'What other voting rights are you interested in taking away from the citizens?' Bass asked Duplessis. Duplessis rejected the characterization and said he only wants to address the state's insurance crisis with novel proposals. He noted 39 other states have appointed, rather than elected, insurance commissioners. Among the 10 states with the lowest auto insurance rates in the country, nine of them have appointed commissioners, he added. 'I am someone who generally believes in the power of elections and the will of the people,' Duplessis said. 'But when something isn't working and the outcomes are consistently failing consumers and driving up costs, we have to be honest enough to say it's time to do something different.' Sen. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, spoke against the bill, though he said he authored similar legislation years ago. He said he studied the issue and eventually concluded the elected system 'was the better way to go.' Talbot repeated a statistic that Temple often cites from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which indicates there were more bodily injury claims from auto accidents in Louisiana with a population of roughly 4.5 million, than there were in the state of New York with a population of over 19 million in 2021, which is the most recent data available. 'That's what needs to be addressed, not this,' Talbot said. 'And that's what we are addressing with this vast package of tort reform bills that the commissioner has supported.' Still, that same source indicates the dollar value of the incurred losses of Louisiana's claims was less than half that of New York's and roughly equal to the losses in Arkansas where liability premiums were the lowest out of all the southern states. Other states with more injury claims than New York included North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and California. Louisiana's insurance commissioner was originally an appointed position when the post was created in 1957. Gov. Earl K. Long supported the launch of a state insurance department, separating its functions from the office of one of his political adversaries, Secretary of State Wade O. Martin. The very first appointed commissioner, Rufus Hayes, became the first elected one for his second term. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How priorities of Noem's final budget address have fared
SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — By the time former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem gave her budget address in December, she would have less than two months left in Pierre before becoming secretary of the federal Department of Homeland Security. But before she left, Noem shared priorities for the state. 'Last year during this speech, I asked you to make a permanent tax cut for the people of South Dakota,' Noem said during December's budget address. 'And I am reiterating that request to all of you today. Our people deserve better than a temporary sales tax holiday, and I look forward to that conversation during this legislative session.' Spring Creek fire spreads In 2023, Noem signed legislation to drop the state's sales tax rate from 4.5% to 4.2%. However, it is set to return to 4.5% in 2027. Senate Bill 214 during the ongoing legislative session would have kept the sales tax rate at 4.2%; in other words, it would have made the cut permanent. But lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Appropriations decided to table the bill on Jan. 20. Noem also sought to set up vouchers to put public money toward private education and homeschooling. 'I am proposing that we establish education savings accounts for South Dakota students in this upcoming legislative session,' Noem said in December. The legislation to make that a reality also failed, with the House Education Committee killing HB 1020 on Jan 29. HB 1025 also failed; in its original form, it would have appropriated money to build a new men's prison in Lincoln County. 'The current building is falling down,' Noem said in December. 'It's long past time for us to replace it for the safety of our people.' But lawmakers gutted HB 1025 and eventually decided to not send it over to the Senate. Rhoden's office announced Wednesday afternoon that he is going to 'announce next steps for a new prison' Thursday morning. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
