The latest salvo in the ongoing insurance reform battle between Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple and Governor Jeff Landry will be fired on Wednesday in Baton Rouge when a bill that has the two at odds will go before the full House.

House Bill 148 would allow the insurance commissioner to unilaterally lower car insurance rates without providing actuarial evidence to justify such a decision. It’s an idea that frightens Commissioner Tim Temple.

“He says if he had this authority, companies wouldn’t want to invest here because the insurance commissioner could act capriciously,” NOLA.com reporter Tyler Bridges said, repeating a claim Temple made to lawmakers before a committee approved the bill.

Bridges told WWL’s Tommy Tucker that Temples has another fear that hits closer to home. That’s because, Bridges says, the bill could give Landry political ammunition to use against Bridges.

“Temple says that if it passes, the governor is planning to then blame the high car insurance rates and other kinds of insurance rates on the commissioner,” Bridges said. “The governor denies that that’s his motive, but the governor has indeed said multiple times that he would blame Temple for the high insurance rates if this bill passes.”

Bridges notes that the battle between Landry and Temple mirrors the battle between the insurance industry and trial lawyers.

“The governor has sided against the insurance companies on this one, against the insurance commissioner,” Bridges said. “The trial lawyers traditionally have been allied with the Democrats, but they gave a lot of money to Governor Jeff Landry when he was elected in 2023, and now Landry is in favor of a bill that the insurance industry really doesn’t like and Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple really doesn’t like.”