The Louisiana Senate passes contentious car insurance bills. See who won and who lost.

Gov. Jeff Landry showed who's the boss at the State Capitol when he rammed a car insurance bill through the Senate late Wednesday night over the vehement objections of Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple and business trade groups.

House Bill 148 would grant the insurance commissioner greater authority to reject "excessive" rate increases, which Landry has said several times would prompt him to blame Temple if rates remain high. With a last-minute amendment sought by the governor, HB148 also would require insurance companies to make their rate filing requests public. They say this could force them to expose trade secrets.

But balancing out the scales, the Senate also passed five bills that affect who can sue and how much they can collect – measures that Temple, the insurance industry and their business allies say would reduce payouts and thus reduce rates. The Senate passed the bills over the opposition of trial lawyers and their Democratic allies.

"What just passed out of the Senate, and if passed into law, would be the most comprehensive insurance reform in Louisiana's history," said Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington. "These changes are geared toward addressing the unaffordable car insurance crisis in Louisiana."

Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, offered a different take.

"We're just taking away more people's rights, and rates won't go down," he said, adding that the Senate's rush to approve bills with late changes "leads to bad legislation."

Temple supported the pro-insurance industry bills that passed but slammed the rate increase bill.

"It's a false claim that rates are high because the commissioner doesn't have some magical power," he said. "It doesn't address the fundamental problem in Louisiana – bodily injury and legal abuse."

In sum, senators said, Landry emerged as the big winner politically, while Temple and the insurance industry appear to have had mixed results, with trial lawyers seemingly on the losing end.

Wednesday's late night action sets up Landry to sign a raft of car insurance bills as early as Wednesday next week, legislative sources said.

He will sign all five bills passed by the Senate Monday night, the governor's office said Thursday, although whether all five bills will have won final House approval by then is not clear.

The fight over how to address high car insurance rates has been the highest profile political battle since the legislative session began in mid-April.

Landry and legislators have been pulled by both sides throughout, with Temple and his business allies on the offensive and trial lawyers and their allies playing defense.

The governor has repeatedly positioned himself in the middle, saying he doesn't like billboard lawyers (although he went turkey hunting in Texas with several prominent trial attorneys just before the session began) but also believes that insurance companies are earning big profits in Louisiana.

In a speech Thursday in New Iberia, Landry said a study by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners shows that Louisiana is an outlier on one key metric: "Our minor injury claims are double the national average," he said.

Temple has said Louisiana has had twice as many minor injury claims as New York even though that state counts five times as many residents.

Senate President Cameron Henry has been talking with Landry and Senate colleagues for days about how to handle the nearly 20 pro-insurance industry bills that passed the House.

Henry, R-Metairie, outlined his plans to Republican colleagues Wednesday afternoon in a private meeting in the Senate dining room: the Senate would approve five bills.

House Bill 450 by Rep. Michael Melerine, R-Shreveport, would require someone who sued over injuries in a car accident to show that the injuries actually occurred during the accident. HB450 goes to Landry for his signature.

House Bill 434 by Rep. Jason DeWitt, R-Alexandria, would disallow a driver without car insurance from collecting an award for bodily injury medical expenses for any amount below $100,000, up from $15,000 today. HB434 also goes to Landry for his signature.

House Bill 431 by Rep. Emily Chenevert, R-Baton Rouge, would bar drivers responsible for at least 51% of an accident from receiving a damage award to cover their injuries. Under current law, a driver responsible for, say, 51% of the accident can collect a payment equal to 49% of the overall damage award. Because of an amendment added to the bill, HB431 needs House approval before it can become law.

House Bill 436 by Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, would prohibit undocumented immigrants who are injured in car accidents from collecting general damages. HB436 requires the House to accept the Senate changes to the bill.

Senate Bill 231 by Sen. Mike Reese, R-Leesville, would allow lawyers for insurance companies to tell jurors how much people injured in wrecks actually pay in medical bills. Under current law, jurors hear the total amount billed, regardless of what the plaintiff paid. A House committee is slated to take up SB231 next week.

Temple said HB431, HB450 and SB231 would "move the needle forward."

Senate Democrats argued against the five bills, saying the Legislature has passed a host of pro-industry bills over the years, yet rates never come down.

Luneau, Sen. Sam Jenkins of Shreveport and Sen. Royce Duplessis of New Orleans all offered amendments to the Republican-sponsored bills that, if passed, would mandate a 2% reduction in rates. Republicans rejected those amendments on each bill.

Democrats also pointed to an April report by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners which said that in 2023, insurance companies in Louisiana had the third highest underwriting profit, the fourth lowest loss ratio and the fifth highest return on net worth.

As part of Henry's plan, the Senate also would adopt HB148 – the measure that Landry most wanted and that Temple didn't want – after it had been amended.

HB148 is the only bill Landry testified in favor of during the legislative session, saying last month that Temple should want to have greater authority to hold down rates.

Senators expressed reluctance privately in recent days to advance the bill because it didn't require the commissioner to cite actuarial data in rejecting proposed rate increases.

But Landry lobbied hard to get them to approve it Monday night, senators said Thursday. The amended version now includes actuarial language.

Sen. Kirk Talbot, a River Ridge Republican and a close friend of Henry's, pushed the bill through the Senate.

That task fell to Talbot even though he has been one of the insurance industry's strongest allies.

Talbot didn't return a phone call Thursday.

HB148 returns to the House for approval of the Senate changes.