Senator-elect Jeremy Stine Attends The Legislature’s Joint Insurance Committee Meeting

Lake Charles, LA — Today, Senator-elect Jeremy Stine (R-Lake Charles, LA) attended the Legislature’s Joint Insurance Committee to represent the constituents of District 27.

Over the past year and a half, Louisiana residents have dealt with egregious amounts of delay tactics, constant changes to adjusters, and low payment offers from insurance corporations. The agency responsible for holding these corporations accountable must promptly and accurately complete market conduct examinations so that regulatory action, in the form of fines or other punitive measures, can be taken if the investigations reveal that improper activity has occurred. Louisiana Department of Insurance is supposed to be conducting thorough examinations of these insurers to protect policyholders affected by Hurricane Laura.

Senator-elect Stine was barred from asking questions because he has not been sworn in. However, Senator Robert Mills (R-Minden, LA) and Senator Louie Bernard (R-Natchitoches, LA) stepped up and asked the following questions to Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon on Senator-elect Stine’s behalf:

During the 2021 Legislative session, the insurance department worked with lawmakers, including former Lake Charles Sen. Ronnie Johns, who sponsored an amendment to the annual state budget bill to appropriate funds to perform market conduct examinations on five insurers that received a disproportionate share of complaints after the 2020 storms. What’s the status of these market conduct examinations? What’s the timeline of when these examinations will be complete?

As a follow-up question, the Legislature allocated $500,000.00 last year to examine five insurers with many complaints. Commissioner Donelon, you told Mike Smith of The Advocate in May that the results of the exam would be published in 90 days. It still hasn’t come out. Would you please provide us with a timeline?

“It’s unacceptable that these market conduct examinations are dragging on. I will continue to monitor these market conduct examinations and ensure the results are shared with the Legislature and the public as soon as possible,” said Sen.-elect Stine.

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CONTACT: info@jeremystine.com