Donelon proposed setting apart $45 million for an incentive fund beforehand established by lawmakers, to entice as much as seven insurers to begin writing insurance policies in Louisiana.
“Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has stressed that funding the Insure Louisiana Incentive Fund cannot wait until the regular session in April,” mentioned Edwards. “I’m grateful for the cooperation of the Senate President and House Speaker and the legislature in calling this particular session targeted on this Fund.
“While Commissioner Donelon says we must do this now, this is just a first step in addressing Louisiana’s ongoing insurance issues after the devastating hurricane seasons of 2020 and 2021, a crisis worsened by hurricanes and wildfires in other states in 2022.”
The particular session will probably be held from January 30 to February 05, native Louisiana information outlet WAFB Channel 9 reported.
Edwards and Donelon’s issues are usually not unfounded. Last yr alone noticed eight insurers exit of enterprise, whereas a number of others had knowledgeable prospects that they might cease writing new enterprise in Louisiana. The surge of insured losses from hurricanes over the previous years has additionally contributed to the state’s deteriorating insurance coverage market.
So troubled is the house insurance coverage market in Louisiana, that the state’s insurer of final resort Citizens Property Insurance can also be being overwhelmed. Donelon final week defined that Citizens covers about 125,000 households – simply over twice the estimated 65,000 it will possibly realistically deal with – and that customers with Citizens are going through premium hikes of as much as 63%.
Louisiana was just lately ranked tenth costliest state for dwelling insurance coverage in a nationwide examine performed by Clearsurance. According to the examine, the common insurance coverage price within the state for a $200,000 dwelling was $1,736. By comparability, householders in Hawaii – the state with probably the most inexpensive dwelling insurance coverage charges – pay solely $327 for a $200,000 property.