Insurance Commissioner-elect calls for special session to fix insurance problem

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Come January, Republicans will make up the overwhelming majority of state leadership. Insurance Commissioner-elect Tim Temple says it’s a perfect recipe to get everyone together to form a permanent solution to the state’s home insurance crisis.

We’re not the only southern state that has this problem. Florida has also been faced with road bumps in their insurance debacle as well. However, as Temple stated, the two states appear to have different priorities.

“We’re gonna look at those issues and then we’re gonna come up with solutions. Louisiana does have a similar property crisis like Florida does. I mean we’re both going through that stress right now,” said Temple while speaking in front of the Baton Rouge Rotary on Wednesday.

Over the years insurance companies here have left the state at almost every turn. That’s why earlier this year lawmakers held a special session but were only able to come up with a temporary incentive fund to help entice companies to stay and write policies. But Temple argues it will take much more than money thrown at the problem to make effective change.

“Louisiana had four hurricanes in 12 months and two days and we had one special session to deal with the crisis. Florida had one hurricane and they’ve had three special sessions to deal with their crisis. And so, I think that we need to kind of bump the priority of that,” Temple added.

Temple says he’s been in contact with Governor-elect Jeff Landry about holding an immediate special session in January after everyone is sworn in, given that insurance companies write most of their new policies at the beginning of each year and stop writing them the closer we get to hurricane season. Landry has already said he plans to hold a January special session on crime. Temple says there’s no reason both can’t be done simultaneously.

Landry’s team told WAFB he’s open to a special session around insurance but does not want it to conflict with the special session around crime.

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