GEISMAR - Gov. Jeff Landry and State Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple agree that something must be done to reduce auto insurance rates across Louisiana.

However, finding a way for Louisiana drivers to keep more money in their pockets remains elusive.

On Thursday, Temple held a press conference at the Bengal Transportation Services in Geismar to announce his support for around 20 bills already pre-filed for the next legislative session scheduled for Monday, April 14.

He is backing these bills, which deal with medical transparency, claims settlements, and more, ranging from limits on lawyers' fees to damage caps. The vast majority would put stricter limits on plaintiffs' ability to sue over damages and how much money they can win in court.

Gov. Landry has mentioned his support for a few of the bills in the package.

Landry held a news conference on Wednesday to lay out how he would fix the insurance problem. Noticeably absent from that press conference was Temple.

"I have not had a conversation with the governor about insurance reform since May 7 of 2024," Temple said.

At the Thursday press conference, Temple thanked the governor for being fully engaged in finding a balanced approach to Louisiana's insurance crisis and that he's willing to embrace data. However, he says Landry hasn't recognized that his department has the tools to effectively regulate insurance providers.

"First, the governor said that the Louisiana law doesn't provide the insurance commissioner, me, the authority needed to effectively regulate insurers. That simply isn't the case," Temple said.

"We're trying to rebalance a system that is severely out of balance. Individuals, families, and businesses are being forced to leave the state because of the system, and because they can't afford their insurance anymore," he added.

More than two dozen states give their insurance departments the authority to deny rate increases deemed too high. Louisiana is among them.

"The bottom line is that we need more insurance companies writing policies, creating competition, which lowers premiums," Temple said.

Insurers, however, are alarmed by the high number of uninsured motorists and a climate rife with lawyers seeking big payouts.

Last week, Gov. Landry met with plaintiffs' attorneys during a Texas hunting trip. Plaintiffs' attorneys are often blamed for high insurance rates.

However, Temple says the state needs to change the landscape by changing its laws, as he says the primary driver of insurance rates in Louisiana is the legal landscape here, and what's needed is legal reform. 

"We're at the point now where if we don't take drastic measures and move, use some bold movement, then the folks behind us can't afford to do business and can't afford to live in this state anymore," Temple said.

The term commonly used for this is "tort reform."

After Temple's remarks, Landry called out Temple on social media, saying Temple, "hosted a media spectacle telling citizens he has all the authority he needs to fix our insurance crisis. Well, why hasn't anything been done?"

Temple says eight companies have recently lowered rates, but the Bengal Transportation Services director, invited to the news conference, talked about how expensive things have gotten.

"For the last 10 years, we've taken a substantial increase. Just a small example of that is 10 years ago we were paying around six grand a truck, this year we're right at 23 (thousand)," Director Jake Minner said.

Temple says he is willing to work with the governor and lawmakers during the legislative session that starts on Monday.