By Bonnie Culverhouse

While the Louisiana Legislature made significant strides in important legislation during the 2025 session, Rep. Wayne McMahen, R-District 10, says the state is not yet where he wants it to be, due to an age-old issue.

“You’ve always heard this, but it’s true,” he said. “Louisiana is divided at Alexandria. Everything north of it and everything south is like two different states … two different cultures with the same needs but different ways of going about getting them.”

PROPERTY INSURANCE

One of the bills that may take a long time to see the end result concerns insurance – specifically auto and property.

House Bill 148 describes the new law “deletes prior law and redefines “excessive” as a rate likely to produce a profit that is unreasonably high for the insurance provided or the expense provision included with the rate is unreasonably high in relation to the services rendered.”

“Prior law defined ‘excessive,’ as the term relates to rates, as a rate likely to produce a long-term profit unreasonably high for the insurance provided. Prior law prohibited the commissioner from determining rates as excessive in competitive markets.”

Bringing down excessively high rates in the entire state begins in south Louisiana, the representative said, as two-thirds of Louisiana’s population is from Alexandria south.

“Because of hurricanes, the residents there need what is called ‘fortified roofs,’” McMahen explained. “When you have damage and rain from those storms, the water goes inside the house, and then the homeowner is faced with not only replacing the roof, but remodeling the inside of the house.”

HB  329 says “Proposed law requires the treasurer to deposit the first $5M collected from tax proceeds into the La. Fortify Homes Program. After the initial $5M deposit, proposed law maintains the revenue percentage split between the state general fund and the La. Fire Marshal Fund as provided in present law.”

A fortified roof is a way to save long-term costs because it will prohibit water from coming inside the residence.

“We don’t need those as much in north Louisiana because we don’t see the same effects of hurricanes,” he said. “But by bringing down costs in the south, we lower them state-wide.”

In the long run, he hopes the lower state-wide costs will bring a larger population to the I-20 corridor.

“That will help north Louisiana’s population balance more with south Louisiana, and you will have more people paying property insurance up here,” he said. “That will help the whole state.”

VEHICLE INSURANCE

McMahen said there were several bills aimed at reducing vehicle insurance for consumers statewide.

New law provides “that if a person suffers injury, death, or loss partly as the result of his own negligence and partly as a result of the fault of another person, then the following shall apply:

(1) If the degree or percentage of negligence attributable to the person suffering injury, death, or loss is equal to or greater than 51%, then the person shall not be entitled to recover damages.

(2) If the degree or percentage of negligence attributable to the person suffering injury, death, or loss is less than 51 percent, then the amount of damages the person can recover is reduced in proportion to the degree or percentage of negligence attributable to the person suffering the injury, death, or loss.”

Signed into law by Gov. Jeff Landry, these bills could help private citizens as well as businesses that own a large number of trucks.

“They could put us in competition with the states around us,” McMahen said. “Those states don’t have the high insurance rates that we have. We see people who live along the (Arkansas) state lines, put their businesses across the state lines because they have 20 vehicles or trucks.

“Truck insurance is huge,” he continued. “In north Louisiana, between oil and gas and timber, truckers are paying $30,000 to $35,000 per year per truck. It’s about all they can stand.”

And if truckers have to pay high insurance, the cost is passed to the consumer.

McMahen added that it is a delicate balance to cut legal-driven costs, restrict overcharging and protect consumers from market instability.

“It’s a balance not to overburden the people paying for insurance while, at the same time, protecting those who have been injured and have valid claims,” he said.