Louisiana Legislature has the chance to finally reform insurance commission

Amid the din of right-wing demagogues taking cheap political shots at librarians, LGBTQ people and other invented bogeymen, serious ideas will struggle to gain attention during the annual legislative session that begins Monday, April 10.

One measure worthy of rising above the clatter is Sen. Kirk Talbot's proposal to make the office of Insurance Commissioner appointed rather than elected.

Talbot, R-River Ridge, chairs the Senate Insurance Committee. His bill, SB 208, would take effect at the end of Commissioner Jim Donelon's current term next January. Donelon, who has served in that role since 2006, has opted to retire. Donelon opposes Talbot's bill, but the senator is pushing forward.

Appointing a state insurance commissioner is actually the national norm. Only 11 states elect theirs; 39 appoint their commissioners.

Back in 1973, delegates at the Louisiana Constitutional Convention debated at length the preferred number of elected statewide officials. They settled on eight — but authorized lawmakers to eliminate, by two-thirds vote, the superintendent of education and the commissioners of elections and insurance.

Previous Legislatures dispensed with the first two years ago. Now the time may be right for Talbot's proposal.

Skyrocketing property insurance premiums have angered Louisiana voters to the point that anyone running for commissioner right now could just as easily be a candidate for a lunacy hearing.

If there's an upside to the crisis, it may be the opportunity it presents to re-think the notion that an election rife with demagogic promises will produce lower premiums. History suggests it's more likely to give us a crooked commish. Three of Donelon's predecessors went to the federal pokey.

Talbot says he will fine-tune his bill in the weeks ahead. Even now, it envisions a commissioner with years of regulatory and/or industry experience who would serve no more than two consecutive six-year terms.

"We need to hire someone with experience and expertise to do a very technical, regulatory job," Talbot said. "We also need to free the commissioner to make hard decisions and not worry about the political winds — by severing the regulator from the regulated industry."

Talbot's bill sets professional qualifications for the commissioner, whom the governor would select from nominees submitted by a committee Talbot says should represent diverse interests and viewpoints.

Talbot says his bill is not a critique of Donelon. He says Donelon would have met the qualifications outlined in SB 208 had it been the law in 2006, when Donelon first took office. "And I'm not looking for the job myself," Talbot added. "I don't meet the qualifications."

Talbot acknowledges that getting a two-thirds vote on anything is "always a challenge," but he says his idea has received "cautiously positive" reviews from many of his colleagues.

Louisiana lawmakers generally do their utmost to avoid controversial topics during election-year sessions. Talbot says Donelon's retirement and the current crisis have created a once-in-a-generation opportunity for lawmakers to seriously consider changing the way our state regulates the insurance industry.

It'll be interesting to see if lawmakers give it the consideration it deserves.