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Committee approves bill requiring insurers to notify regulator when they pause writing policies; debate over confidentiality
Summary
House Insurance Committee members adopted amendments and reported Senate Bill 137, which requires insurers to tell the Department of Insurance within 10 days when they stop, pause or resume writing certain new policies in a geographic area.
The House Insurance Committee adopted amendments and reported Senate Bill 137 favorably after extended debate over whether notifications should be confidential. The amended bill requires insurers to notify the Louisiana Department of Insurance within 10 days after informing agents that they will cease, pause or resume issuing new auto or property policies for a particular geographic area.
The Department of Insurance’s chief deputy Barrow Peacock told the committee the notification is intended to give the commissioner situational awareness of market activity: “If an insurance company informed their agents that they are going to pause or cease writing a certain type of policy in a geographical area, they simply inform the Department of Insurance so that the commissioner would have knowledge of this.” The amendment makes those notices confidential and allows limited disclosure — for example, to other states’ insurance departments or in an adjudicatory context.
Several members objected to the confidentiality provisions. Representative Glorioso urged the department to publish a consumer‑facing list or online map showing which carriers write in a given parish so residents can quickly find available carriers. “If you have that data, why can't you have a map on your website where I can go click it and I'm looking for property insurance and I'll be a list of everyone that's writing?” she asked.
Deputy Peacock and other supporters said public disclosure could give competitors a tactical advantage and potentially reduce competition and downward pressure on rates. “You don't want one company to have a competitive advantage over another company,” Peacock said, explaining the amendment’s confidentiality choice was intended to avoid disclosing sensitive competitive intelligence.
The committee adopted the amendment set and reported SB 137 as amended, with the sponsor and Department of Insurance agreeing to continued work on consumer outreach options outside the bill.
