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Committee approves bill letting insurance department keep unspent anti-fraud assessment funds to fund investigations
Summary
House Bill 401 would allow the Department of Insurance to retain anti-fraud assessment money rather than refund unspent funds to industry; sponsors and the department said the change will let Louisiana invest in insurance-fraud investigators and joint state efforts with the attorney general and state police.
House Bill 401, carried by Representative Dickerson, would allow the Department of Insurance to retain unexpended anti-fraud assessment funds rather than automatically refunding them to insurers at year-end, directing the money to insurance fraud investigation and enforcement.
Department witnesses described rising reported fraud and said keeping existing anti-fraud assessment receipts would provide stable funding for investigative capacity shared with the state police and the attorney general's office. Nathan Strubach of the Department testified that the department's anti-fraud account has seen increasing claims and that the change would let investigators pursue cases without year-end refund deadlines.
The committee voted to report the bill favorably after members from the department and state police expressed support. Representative Dickerson and department staff said the industry had been consulted and that carriers preferred to see funds used for enforcement rather than returned.
The bill was moved favorably by committee action and will proceed to the next stage of the legislative process.
