Although Gov. Jeff Landry signed six insurance reform bills into law on Wednesday, four House insurance reform bills were killed in committee later on in the day.
Since the upper chamber went into session, the Senate Judiciary A Committee had to adjourn before those bills could be heard. Committee Chair Gregory Miller (R-Norco) told the lawmakers who sponsored the four bills that the meeting would resume after they adjourned.
When it resumed, Miller called for three of the sponsors to introduce their legislation, but they were absent. Miller said he had scheduled the bills at their request.
“ I've given the opportunity for the members to be here to present their bills. I don't intend on rescheduling them if they didn't show up for this committee,” Miller said.
With only two weeks left in the session, committee members voted to defer the remaining bills and adjourn.
So in theory, the bills are dead for the session since they’ll need to have a public hearing.
The four bills are listed below:
HB 336: Rep. Roger Wilder (R-Denham Springs) CIVIL/VENUE: Provides relative to venue for certain actions involving uninsured and underinsured motorist policies. Would have limited under or uninsured motorists from a change of venue if the auto claim goes to trial.
HB 435: Rep. Peter Egan (R-Covington) CIVIL/DAMAGES: Provides limitations relative to claims for general damages. Would have limited damage awards to $5-million.
HB 440: Rep. Chance Henry (R-Crowley) INSURANCE CLAIMS: Provides relative to a claimant's duty to mitigate damages with respect to the actions for recovery. Would have reduced the time period one could claim an injury from an auto accident from three years to two.
HB 443: Rep. Chance Henry (R-Crowley) CIVIL/PROCEDURE: Provides relative to certain notifications in delictual actions. Would have required a plaintiff to give the insured defendant a 20 day notice if they retained counsel to cover a portion of damages.
