Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has served in this office for more than 15 years. First elected to public office in 1975 as Chair of the Jefferson Parish Council, he then served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1981-2001. His public service career also includes 33 years in the Louisiana Army National Guard where he retired with the rank of Colonel and received the prestigious Legion of Merit medal. 

"Everything depends on insurance. Our homes, life, protection of our family, our businesses, and our economy, all depend on insurance. Insurance commissioners across the country are tasked with keeping insurance affordable and available. That requires a balance between protecting consumers and making insurance available at a reasonable price for consumers."

The past two hurricane seasons have been the worse since Katrina and Rita. Louisiana had fifteen years of relatively quiet hurricanes seasons. But given the location of our state, Louisiana is in the center of the Gulf and we get hit more on a per capita basis than any other state by far. "Hurricane Ida's core of probability for landfall stretched from the Sabine River on our western border to the Pearl River on the eastern border. It never left. It was always headed to Louisiana."

Hurricanes Laura and Ida were the second most powerful hurricanes in history with 150 miles per hour winds, only surpassed by the 1856 "Last Island Hurricane" which brought devastation to Southern Louisiana with 156 miles per hour winds. Laura resulted in $9.6 Billion dollars in insurance losses; Ida has resulted so far in $10.6 Billion in losses.

As a result of the staggering claims, some Louisiana insurers have gone bust. Fortunately, the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association ("LIGA") is in place to protect property and casualty policyholders Recovery from LIGA is capped at $500,000 per person and $500,000 per occurrence, a benefit that only eight other states, besides Louisiana, in the U. S. provide.

Donelon looked back to the days of Governor Kathleen Blanco as an example of how the state worked to keep private insurers afloat in the aftermath of massive claims following Katrina and Rita. Without these private insurers, the State of Louisiana would have to become the insurer for all levels of risk, not just those that are currently covered by the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Company (which covers those unable to get private insurance due to special circumstances). Working to create incentives to attract companies to our market after many carriers left the state due to the high risk of doing business post-Katrina, Blanco also worked to have our first statewide building code enacted to ensure that structures were built more able to "weather the storms."

It's always best to prepare yourself for the damage that may be caused by a hurricane. For the department's tips on hurricane preparedness, visit https://www.ldi.la.gov/consumers/insurance-type/homeowners/hurricane-resource-center.

A package of bills are currently working their way through the Louisiana Legislature as a means to protect consumers of insurance products. Deemed "The Catastrophe Reform Package," they include the following:

Create the “Louisiana Fortify Homes Program," patterned after a similar program in Alabama, to provide grants for homeowners to retrofit their roofs and homes to a higher standard better able to withstand hurricane winds. The "Three Adjuster Rule" which would kick in after a policyholder is assigned a third adjuster. At that point, a new primary contact must be assigned who will remain on the case until the claim is closed and the company must also provide two methods of contacting the permanent adjuster.