Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration and legislative management mentioned it’s now seemingly {that a} particular session of the Louisiana Legislature devoted to the state’s home-owner insurance coverage disaster will likely be scheduled for February.
Senate President Web page Cortez, R-Lafayette, mentioned he and the governor are anticipated to fulfill subsequent week to finalize whether or not a particular session is critical and decide the dates for it. Lawmakers would seemingly have to fulfill earlier than Mardi Gras on Feb. 21, Cortez mentioned.
Edwards’ price range chief, Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, additionally mentioned Friday a February particular session on the householders’ insurance coverage disaster was seemingly.
Insurance coverage Commissioner Jim Donelon, R-Metairie, is asking Edwards and lawmakers to place no less than $45 million in a particular fund to draw property insurance coverage suppliers to Louisiana. Legislators have to be in session to vote on a diversion of cash that enormous within the state price range.
Whether or not every other points – associated to insurance coverage or not – can be addressed throughout the particular session isn’t clear. Dardenne mentioned he anticipated it to be “narrowly drawn,” that means only a few different points may very well be debated.
The state has seen a number of insurance coverage firms go below or pull out of Louisiana after being walloped by main hurricane seasons in 2020 and 2021. The collapse of the market is dumping extra householders’ insurance policies into the state’s insurer of final resort, Louisiana Residents Property Insurance coverage Corp., and driving up housing prices.
To handle the disaster, Donelon has proposed resurrecting an insurance coverage incentive program initially put in place after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Corporations prepared to put in writing insurance policies for higher-risk properties would obtain public grants to assist cowl their prices. The objective is to divert insurance policies from Louisiana Residents, which gives costlier plans than the non-public insurance coverage market.
The Legislature will convene for its annual common session in April, however Donelon has argued he can’t wait that lengthy to arrange the insurance coverage incentive fund. Corporations he’s making an attempt to lure to the state want to buy reinsurance, which protects them from failing, within the spring.
The Edwards administration and legislative leaders had been initially skeptical {that a} particular session was essential. Final month, Dardenne and Cortez had each mentioned they thought the $45 million switch might wait till April, when lawmakers received their common session underway. However after additional talks with Donelon, they’ve turn into satisfied that the cash could should be moved sooner than they thought.
“The timeframe of the common session can be too late,” Cortez mentioned.
Solely the governor or the vast majority of legislators are allowed to convene a particular session in Louisiana.
Whereas financing a $45 million insurance coverage fund could sometimes be controversial, legislators and the governor are at present sitting on a bunch of unallocated cash. The state is predicted to usher in $1.5 billion in sudden income over the following 18 months, which ought to ease discussions over whether or not the state can afford Donelon’s incentive program.
This story was printed earlier by the Louisiana Illuminator, an affiliate of the nonprofit States Newsroom community, which incorporates the Florida Phoenix.