BATON ROUGE, La. — With the next hurricane season on the horizon for Louisiana, state lawmakers are trying to get a handle on what they call an insurance crisis.
“I think what you’re going to see this session are bills designed to make Louisiana more like neighboring states, bring us back in line with the rest of the country,” said newly elected Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple.
Temple says Louisiana needs to be competitive. He hopes removing some state regulations will attract more insurance companies.
“We want them to actively come to Louisiana. We want to give them a chance to do business here and the sooner we do that I think the sooner people can expect to see change,” said Temple.
Temple, a former insurance executive, wants lawmakers to simplify the claims process and get rid of what’s called the three-year rule. That prevents insurance companies from dropping homeowners who’ve held their policies for three years.
“Louisiana is the only state that has that law in place,” said Temple. “If it was such a good consumer protection bill, I think you would see other states emulate it. The simple fact is, they don’t.”
Gov. Jeff Landry, who supports deregulation, says recent hurricanes and increased claims have squeezed the insurance industry out of Louisiana.
“Many insurance companies have left us. Those companies still writing insurance have raised rates to cover those losses,” said Gov. Landry.
That’s left many homeowners relying on the state’s insurer of last resort, Louisiana Citizens, which can come with much higher premiums. Other homeowners simply can’t afford to be insured.
“The devil is always in the details,” said Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans.
Willard says he’s willing to work on insurance reform but has some concerns about what that looks like.
“We definitely need to do things to improve competition in the state of Louisiana, but I don’t want to do anything to improve competition that will come at a cost to homeowners and to taxpayers in Louisiana,” said Willard.
Whatever happens, lawmakers have three months to get it done.
“Insurance is typically a slow-moving change which is why is more important than ever that we enact these changes, to start that clock of change to ticking,’ said Temple.
Temple also wants to find a long-term funding source for the state’s Fortified Roof Program. The program grants up to $10,000 for homeowners to repair or replace roofs to a higher standard.
Lawmakers hope fast-tracking some of these bills will mean impactful changes during hurricane season this fall.
The session officially wraps up June 3.