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Senate Insurance amends HB 601, siding with big insurance over storm victims.

With hurricane season around the corner, the Senate Insurance Committee voted 5-4 to pass a heavily amended version of HB 601, which will be devastating to Louisiana families and small businesses when their insurance companies won’t pay them. The Senate Insurance Committee's version of the bill rejects the changes made by House Speaker Pro Tempore Tanner Magee, a storm victim from Houma, Louisiana.

The contrast was quite stark—and telling.

The amendments were provided to the committee when they were introduced during the meeting. Three lobbyists for big insurance sat at the table on behalf of the author, promoting the industry-friendly amendments and deflecting questions from opponents for two hours.

In comparison, a Lake Charles storm victim and small business owner was permitted to speak for roughly five minutes at the end of the hearing about the difficulties she faced during the claims process and how the amendments would negatively impact people like her.

Kathi Vidrine, the Lake Charles storm victim and owner of Steamboat Bill's restaurant, provided insightful and compelling testimony about how her insurance company abandoned her after Hurricane Laura.

HB 601 makes substantial changes to Louisiana law and how bad faith claims are handled. It protects big insurance companies that act in bad faith and shifts more of the burden in the claims process over to storm victims. If HB 601 becomes law, insurers can act in bad faith and hide behind the new "willful" standard, which will be virtually impossible to prove. It will also require storm victims with no internet connection, cell phone service, or mail delivery to complete a written proof of loss form as a condition of satisfactory proof of loss claims to prove bad faith.

Senators Royce Duplessis, Katrina Jackson, Gary Smith, and Jeremy Stine voted against the amendments. They thoroughly questioned the three lobbyists, repeatedly asking how this would impact policyholders who have to fight their insurance company. Senator Kirk Talbot was the only vocal proponent of the anti-consumer legislation, though Senators Barrow Peacock, Robert Mills, Louie Bernard, and Michael Fesi joined him in voting for the amendments and the bill.

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