The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee approves legislation that would make the Insurance Commissioner an appointed position rather than an elected position. Senate President Cameron Henry testified in favor of the bill.
“We’re trying to negotiate what’s the best thing for insurance rates, for the injured, but all these things are going on. If we can take politics out of it, which is very difficult to do in this building, if you can take politics out of it, you have a better shot of getting maybe a better rate,” Henry said.
Henry says 39 other states have appointed insurance commissioners and nine of the ten states with the lowest rates in the country have appointed insurance commissioners.
This is not the first time a state lawmaker has proposed that the insurance commissioner should be appointed by the governor. But with legislators looking for solutions to sky high insurance premiums, they seem more open to the idea. One lawmaker who supports the proposal is New Orlean Senator Gary Carter.
“I was hesitant on this bill. You know, I generally favor strongly, you know, the vote of the people. But I agree that something has to be done,” Carter said.
Tim Temple, who was elected as insurance commissioner in 2023, testified in opposition to the bill.
“The people of Louisiana deserve a say in who their insurance commissioner should be, and that person should answer to the voters, not to one person,” Temple said.
Temple says an appointed insurance commissioner will not solve the state’s insurance crisis.
“It doesn’t address the cost drivers of our insurance rates. It doesn’t reform the insurance market. It doesn’t address insurance and solvency. Instead, it silences the voice of the Louisiana voter,” Temple said.
The bill advances after no one on Senate and Governmental Affairs objected to advancing the measure to the Senate floor.
Comments