State lawmakers still trying to bring auto insurance rates down

Louisiana lawmakers are looking for ways to reduce auto rates after Marketwatch.com crowned Louisiana the state with the highest full-coverage car insurance rates last week.

House Speaker Phillip DeVillier says legislators are trying to figure out why Louisiana is an outlier in auto insurance rates.

“So we’re hopeful that we can find as much information as possible, certainly looking at other states and seeing what they’re doing and why their rates are lower, and then trying to duplicate those policies to reduce our rates as well,” he said.

DeVillier says most of his pre-session research has been focused on insurance fraud and why insurance claims don’t often go to court, which he says pose a big threat to the state. He adds lawmakers understand how much auto insurance is squeezing the people of Louisiana, and says they’re considering going into a special session to address it.

“We’re having a conversation about possibly going into a special [session], outside the regular [session], to try to address the insurance crisis that we have,” he says.

Last session saw a few bills approved addressing the auto insurance crisis, but he says a key tort reform bill was vetoed by Governor Jeff Landry. DeVillier says that veto brought awareness to the insurance crisis and allowed legislators to refocus.

And look, let’s look at it this way: if that bill wasn’t vetoed, I don’t think you would have the push that you have today to do a whole lot when it comes to insurance reform,” he explains.

Five legislative committees are meeting monthly about the insurance crisis and to prepare for a possible special session.