BATON ROUGE - Governor Jeff Landry signed a series of insurance reform bills passed in the 2025 legislative session during a news conference Wednesday. 

"Today, we’ve taken steps to shield Louisianans from frivolous lawsuits driven by trial lawyers—using a data-driven strategy. And we made it clear to insurance companies that they must answer to their policyholders. Over the past fifty days, I am proud to say that the only side I’ve stood with is the people of Louisiana," Landry said.

The tort reform bills come after a bill package made it through legislature that Landry said would lower state insurance rates and make it more resemble Texas' state policies. 

"Insurance companies make more money in Louisiana than they do in other states, and that's wrong," Landry said.

Part of the new legislation would make it harder for people to claim pre-existing injuries were caused by motor vehicle accidents, raise award exclusion rates for uninsured drivers, increase punishments for people caught texting and driving and exclude insurance advertisement costs from customers' premium increases.

Landry signed the following bills into law:

HB 148: Insurance Commissioner Authority
Grants the Insurance Commissioner greater authority to hold down rates. 

HB 450: Housley Presumption
Would require someone who sued over injuries in a car accident to show that the injuries actually occurred during the accident.

HB 434: No Pay No Play
Would disallow a driver without car insurance from collecting an award for bodily injury medical expenses for any amount below $100,000, up from $15,000 today.

HB 436: Illegal Aliens
Would prohibit undocumented immigrants who are injured in car accidents from collecting general damages

HB 431: Comparative Fault
Would bar drivers responsible for at least 51% of an accident from receiving a damage award to cover their injuries.
Under current law, a driver responsible for, say, 51% of the accident can collect a payment equal to 49% of the overall damage award.

HB 549: Dash Cam Discount
Provides a premium discount for commercial motor vehicles with dashboard cameras and telematics systems.

State Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple praised the new laws, saying they are "significant steps that Louisiana has taken toward achieving meaningful legal reform."

"Many additional bills that need to pass are still making their way through the legislative process, so we have a long way to go over the next two weeks if we want to fully address the cost drivers behind our unaffordable auto insurance premiums this session," Temple said.

However, Temple said that HB 148's passage "was a mistake that destabilizes our market and threatens to neutralize—if not outright reverse—the progress we’re making on fixing the homeowners and auto insurance crisis in Louisiana.”

Though, Landry says the insurance commissioner should have authority over rates since he's the state's top insurance official. 

"The government mandates that people have insurance," Landry said. "If we mandate a product is purchased, then the government has the ability and the responsibility to ensure that the playing field is level."

The "No Pay No Play" legislation will keep uninsured motorists from collecting awards for medical expenses if they total less than $100,000. Baton Rouge State Rep. C. Denise Marcelle says it's an unfair change. 

"The cost of living is going up but not actual wages," Marcelle said. "People tend to be out of insurance, during a certain period of time trying to recoup and find a way to get paid."

Wednesday's conference was streamed on WBRZ's YouTube page here: