Louisiana
Letters: Bills on insurance will shore up market in Louisiana
Homeowners insurance is a growing crisis in Louisiana.
We know that bad weather is a part of the problem. What may be less obvious, but equally pernicious, is bad laws. In far too many cases, Louisiana has unusual or unique insurance laws that fail to protect our citizens, and have the opposite effect of driving up costs.
The good news is a range of proposed legislation is advancing this session that can bring Louisiana closer to the national norm, creating a more competitive, lower-cost insurance market, while still guarding our residents from bad actors.
One set of bills is Senate Bill 370 and House Bill 611, which would eliminate the “three-year” rule for new policies. The current law prohibits insurance companies from dropping clients after three years. While this seems like good consumer protection on its face, the fact that Louisiana is the only state in America with the rule strongly suggests that it is a bad idea, as existing insurance companies game it (e.g., increasing premiums) and new insurance companies are hesitant to enter the market.
Furthermore, Louisiana’s “bad faith” statute currently lacks clarity for policyholders and insurers, resulting in unnecessary litigation, which ultimately increases costs for everyone. Senate Bill 323 and House Bill 678 would define rights, duties and timelines to ensure swift resolution of claims processes. At the same time, penalties for bad faith would be cut from 200% to 50%, reducing motivation for legal abuse.
Finally, House Bill 120, which extends the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program, would help us help ourselves. The program provides grants of up to $10,000 for homeowners to strengthen their roofs to withstand hurricane winds, providing more safety and lower insurance premiums.
We can only hope for good weather. But this session, we can support better laws that will maintain consumer protection, while increasing competition and lowering costs.
CHRIS KANE
chairman, Greater New Orleans, Inc.
MONROE, La. (KNOE) – Families spent part of Independence Day weekend at Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo for the first-ever “Red, White and Blue Day,” a new event the zoo hopes will become an annual tradition.
The celebration featured children’s activities, food vendors and patriotic decorations throughout the grounds.
Organizers also added a pair of crowd-pleasers: a pizza-eating contest and a watermelon-eating contest, drawing spectators who gathered to watch contestants race the clock.
Zoo Director Phillip Crawley said the event was designed as a family day focused on bringing the community together.
“We want a family day, you know, we want people to come together. We want the, all of America needs to come together,” Crawley said. “Everybody’s been so at each other lately that hey, let’s all just get back together… let’s come out here to the zoo let’s have a good time… and see that everybody’s happy.”
Crawley said the goal is to give families another reason to visit while creating a positive, shared experience in a relaxed setting.
Zoo officials said “Red, White and Blue Day” was the first of its kind at Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo, and they hope to make it a yearly event moving forward.
Copyright 2026 KNOE. All rights reserved.
(KTAL/KMSS) – The ongoing saga of Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has many commentators on social media questioning what the grand jury process entails.
A grand jury is unlike a trial jury. A trial jury hears a case and decides a defendant’s guilt or innocence. The purpose of the grand jury is to determine if there is sufficient evidence against a defendant to bring them to trial.
The evidence viewed by a grand jury only represents what the state government considers just cause to bring charges in a case. They do not render verdicts; instead, they indict, which is a formal accusation or a decision that a person should be tried for their alleged crimes in a court of law.
In Louisiana, the grand jury is empanelled for a six-month service term. Occasionally, a special grand jury may be empanelled for eighteen months. Grand jurors are selected by lot from a pool of at least 300 prospective jurors. The number of grand jurors is specified by the court.
Once a grand jury is selected, the process becomes cloaked in privacy as names are sealed in envelopes and locked in sealed boxes. The clerk of court in the parish prepares subpoenas ordering pool members to appear on the date set forth by the court for grand jury selection.
Louisiana
Louisiana Supreme Court recalls Liz Murrill’s arrest warrant in late-night emergency ruling
The Louisiana Supreme Court in an emergency order late Friday night agreed to recall an arrest warrant for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, after issuing a ruling earlier in the day to stay her indictment from an Orleans Parish grand jury.
The grand jury indicted Murrill on Thursday, charging her with 16 felony counts of malfeasance in office and intimidation. Orleans Criminal District Court Judge Leon Roche issued an alias capias arrest warrant and set Murrill’s bond at $400,000.
The attorney general quickly asked the state Supreme Court to intervene, who responded with an order Friday morning that stayed the indictment.
But by late Friday, Murrill went back to the high court alleging that the special prosecutor appointed to her case, former New Orleans judge Laurie White, had refused to recall the alias capias arrest warrant despite the stay.
“I object to the removal of the capias (warrant), as the accused should not get any more preferential treatment than any other criminally charged defendant,” White allegedly told Murrill’s legal team, according to their filing to the Supreme Court.
The Louisiana Supreme Court issued another order late Friday night, saying it was “in order to add clarity and specificity where none should have been required.” The order recalled Murrill’s arrest warrant, ordered White and law enforcement to remove the warrant from law enforcement databases, and ordered White and law enforcement to “take all necessary actions to comply with this Order.”
The court’s vote on recalling the warrant was 4-3, with Justices Billy Burris, Cade Cole, Jefferson Hughes and Jay McCallum voting in the majority. Chief Justice John Weimer and Justices Piper Griffin and John Michael Guidry each dissented. Weimer and Guidry had also dissented earlier Friday from the decision to stay Murrill’s indictment; Griffin had voted in favor of the stay.
“It is said that procedure is the handmaiden of substance, but in criminal cases procedural rules are indispensable to serve justice and ensure that all are treated equally,” Weimer wrote in his Friday night dissent over recalling the warrant. “Yet, ironically, on the eve of this July 4th when our nation will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this court is once again called upon to provide exceptions to the normal process pursuant to another feigned emergency by one party.”
Griffin wrote in a dissent that recalling the warrant goes to the merits of the case. Guidry wrote in his dissent that the majority had elevated “power and privilege over process.”
“This is yet another unprecedented preferential act by the majority bestowing a privilege that no other criminally charged defendant can reasonably expect to receive,” Guidry wrote.
This is a developing story, check back later for more.
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