Legislation to lower insurance costs to drivers will be a major issue in the session starting Monday, according to State Rep. Phillip DeVillier.
DeVillier, a Eunice Republican in his second term, said the state’s legal climate will undergo scrutiny as legislators seek a way to lower historically high auto insurance rates.
The issue is a shift in focus from DeVillier’s first term that started in 2016 when legislators grappled with a financial crisis.
DeVillier said at the end of his first four years there was a focus on tax reform, but the budget had been balanced and the appetite lessened for slowing the growth of state government.
When the session begins, there will be more than 60 new legislators, he said. That’s due to term limits and DeVillier thinks it is going to be an opportunity for change.
Auto insurance rates are having an impact on the state’s business climate, he said. DeVillier recently told Eunice Kiwanis Club members that in some cases businesses are directed to locate in Texas if they want to be insured.
DeVillier said the path to lower insurance rates are many and include ending a lawsuit lottery climate.
The television advertisements about thousands of dollars won from vehicle wreck suits are often misleading, he said. There will be an effort to require revealing the true payment to victims, he said.
“I think these things need to be truthful,” he said, likening the advertisements to pitches to buy lottery tickets.
Another issue is to drop the threshold for trials from $50,000 to $5,000, he said. The idea is to encourage settlements rather than trials, he said.
There also is move to force people to sue the other driver directly rather than naming an insurance company, he said.
Legislation is in the works to require reimbursement for actual medical costs, he said.
Medical car costs are often paid a price negotiated between the provide and insurance company, he said. But when lawsuits are at work, the cost can go beyond that actual medical cost, he said.
Other issues are allowing people to be asked if they were wearing their seat belt during a crash, he said. Currently, that cannot be an issue.
Raising the time to file a lawsuit from a wreck from one year to two years is under consideration, he said.
DeVillier has his own array of bills filed and one is very local.
The bill, HB 580, would redesignate a portion of La. 758 as “Faquetaique Highway.”
The desination would help restore the area to what it was called years ago when mail was addressed to Faquetaigue, he said.
The area’s residents have to be brought on board for the designation, he said.
DeVillier says the state’s severance tax on oil is one of the highest in the nation. He wants to reduce that and increase the incentives on production.
Another DeVillier bill is to eliminate local government from suing oil and gas businesses that operated with permits only to find themselves sued. The legislation would direct the local governments to find remedies through state agencies.
DeVillier brings back his quest to reform the state’s capital outlay procedure. He wants state capital outlay money to be used on roads and bridges owned by the state.
Too often capital outlay projects are awarded in legislative district by how a legislators votes rather than a project’s merit, he said.
