Louisiana Senate Approves Bill to Extend Insurance Incentive Program

The Louisiana Senate has voted to allow the state to continue offering millions in taxpayer dollars to private insurance firms that agree to begin writing homeowners policies along the hurricane-vulnerable coast.

Senators approved a bill by Sen. Don Cravins Jr. that would extend the “Louisiana Incentive Program,” started last year with $100 million, for a third round of grant offers to insurers.

In the first two rounds, private firms have accepted roughly $40 million in exchange for taking over homeowners policies now written by Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed insurance company. The remaining money is slated to revert back to the state general fund without an extension of the program.

Cravins, chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee, said he expected more companies to apply for grants after this year’s hurricane season.

Senators approved an amendment, by Sen. Troy Hebert, D-Jeanerette, that would take whatever money is left over from the incentive fund after the third round of offers and give it to homeowners to offset their insurance bills. Hebert’s amendment is identical to a separate bill (Senate Bill 44) by Cravins that the Senate also approved.

Cravins said it’s impossible to know how much each homeowner would receive if the bill becomes law, because it depends solely on how much money is left in the fund.

Cravins’ bill (Senate Bill 588), with the Hebert amendment, passed on a vote of 32-0. It moves to the House.

Topics Louisiana Homeowners Politics