La.’s minimum auto coverage stays the same; Citizens won’t be sold all at once

In mid-July, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco vetoed two major pieces of insurance legislation passed by state lawmakers in 2007. One would have raised the minimum auto liability coverage requirement for the state’s drivers and the other would have put the whole of Louisiana’s property insurer of last resort up for sale.

Senate Bill 233 by Sen. Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, would have raised the minimum auto coverage requirement to a “25-50-25” level, or $25,000 in coverage for damage to other people’s property, $50,000 for injury or death to more than one person in an accident, and $20,000 for injury or death to one person. With the veto, the required coverage remains at the “10-20-10” level.

Blanco said she vetoed the bill out of concern that it would impose a sudden 20 percent rate increase on the 1.5 million of the state’s 4 million drivers carrying the minimum coverage, without addressing the problem of uninsured drivers. She said a rate hike may only serve to increase the population of uninsured drivers.

The governor also vetoed Senate Bill 195 by Sen. James David Cain, R-Dry Creek, which called for the state to put up for auction all of the policies written by the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Blanco said the plan would have conflicted with a bill she supported, Senate Bill 153 by Sen. Reggie Dupre, D-Houma, which aims to reduce the size of Citizens incrementally by periodically selling off bundles of policies. Dupre’s plan was favored by both Blanco and Insurance Commis-sioner Jim Donelon.

Blanco had already signed Dupre’s bill, which allows Done-lon to auction off Citizens policies in bundles of 500 to private insurers. The policies will include some from hurricane-vulnerable coastal areas and some from areas farther north, policies that carry smaller risk of storm damage and hurricane insurance claims.

Associated Press reports contributed to this story.

Topics Auto Louisiana