Abraham gives legislative wrap-up: Insurance rates, education shortfalls addressed

American Press

2 days ago

State Sen. Mark Abraham, a Republican, speaks to members of Kiwanis Club Lake Charles Tuesday afternoon at The Charleston. (Crystal Stevenson / American Press)
From sweeping insurance reforms to teacher pay raises, the 2025 Louisiana Legislative session closed with a flurry of bills aimed at addressing the state's toughest challenges — insurance premiums and public education shortfalls.
'Sometimes not everybody knows everything that's going on in Baton Rouge and it's our job to inform you of what went on and answer questions that you might have and need to have answered,' Abraham told members of Kiwanis Club Lake Charles on Tuesday.
'I'm Just a Bill'
Committees are in place for both the House and the Senate and bills must pass through both sets of committees before they can move forward.
'They have to be vetted and you have people on each side who get a chance to say if it's a good bill or a bad bill and if that bill gets out of committee, it goes to the floor,' Abraham said. 'Once it passes the Senate floor, it goes to the House and the same procedure starts all over again.'
Abraham said the purpose of those multiple steps is to make sure bills are vetted and the public understands what each bill would entail.
'The public needs a chance to come to the Capitol, tell us what they like or don't like about a bill and then we try to make a decision,' he said.
'Lots of bills get killed in committee. Some get killed on the floor. That's part of the process; you have to cover all the bases before a bill becomes law.'
In this most recent session, there were 700 House bills and 250 Senate bills introduced. Not all passed. Some of the 'hot topic' bills that became law this legislative session focused on education, food safety and auto insurance.
Auto insurance
House Bill 148 — which Abraham described as 'very controversial' — involved Gov. Jeff Landry and Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple.
'The governor said, 'We need to make sure the commissioner of insurance can lower rates any time he wants, any time he feels like it.' Temple said, 'No, I don't want to do that because if you have the impression that the insurance commissioner can lower the rate anytime they want, how many insurance companies do you think would want to come to Louisiana under those circumstances?' The public thought it was a good idea, but in business that's not good to do. You can't tell someone who's trying to make a profit that at any time you can cut their rates so that they can't make a profit.'
Abraham said when the bill made it to the Senate, language was added that required the commissioner to have actuary numbers and 'sound footing' on why he wants to lower the rate. The bill ultimately passed.
House Bill 450 requires someone who sues over injuries in a car accident to prove those injuries occurred during that accident and not one prior. 'Hopefully this will lower the claims and payouts,' Abraham said.
House Bill 434 'is a pretty good one,' he said. 'If you are uninsured and you get in a wreck, you cannot collect any money unless the damage is over $100,000. If you don't play by our rules, you don't get to collect any money.'
House Bill 436 limits the damages that
'undocumented immigrants' can recover in car accident lawsuits. Specifically, it prohibits the award of general damages — like pain and suffering — but they can still recover special damages like medical bills.
House Bill 549 provides for insurance premium discounts for commercial trucks that are equipped with dashboard cameras and telematics systems.
'We don't like to put a Band-Aid on anybody, but there is an exception to every rule,' Abraham said. 'We don't want to tell an insurance company that they have to give a discount, but in this particular case we did.'
If truckers put a camera in their vehicle, they get a 5 percent discount on their rates.
'A lot of information can be gleaned from these cameras — like who is at fault, who is not a fault,' Abraham said. 'We feel like claims might go down because the cameras are there.'
House Bill 431 significantly changes how fault is handled in lawsuits after car accidents. 'If you are at fault 51 percent, you cannot collect any money,' Abraham said. 'If you are 40 percent at fault, then you can collect 60 percent of damages.'
Abraham said, again, the goal is to reduce insurance claims in the state, therefore dropping insurance rates overall for drivers.
CVS bill
House Bill 358 prohibits the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy from granting or renewing permits for pharmacies that are wholly or partially owned or operated by pharmacy benefit managers.
'CVS is the only one that is vertically integrated,' Abraham said. 'They own the manufacturer, they own a pharmacy benefits manager and they own the pharmacy.'
Abraham said CVS operates 120 stores in Louisiana and they have 'hundreds of thousands of people who buy prescriptions.'
Originally the bill set rules for how pharmacists could work remotely. In the last minutes of the session, the addendum was added by a conference committee of six members.
'It wasn't vetted, we haven't had the pros and cons of the other committees to say this is why CVS is good or why CVS is bad. That was not debated and not talked about. Six people decided this,' Abraham said.
The Senate killed the bill by refusing to hold a final vote. There is a possibility that the issue of PBM ownership could be revisited in a special legislative session.
Teacher pay raises
In March, Louisiana voters rejected proposed Constitutional Amendment 2, which would have made one-time pay stipends of $2,000 for teachers and $1,000 for support staff permanent.
Abraham said in April 2026, voters will be asked again — though there is a better plan this time around.
'We have about $2 billion in a savings account that is dedicated to education. It earns about 3 percent a year. It's been sitting there a long time,' Abraham said.
The plan is to use some of that $2 billion to pay down teacher retirement debt, he said, which will in turn saves school boards money since they have to pay a 25 percent matching fee on teacher retirement.
'They are going to take that savings and give it to the teachers as a permanent raise,' Abraham said. 'It will be a $2,500 salary increase for teachers and $1,125 for support staff.'
Among the other education-related bills:
House Bill 262 mandates computer science as a high school graduation requirement, starting with students entering ninth grade in the 2026-2027 school year. This means students graduating in 2029-2030 and beyond will need to complete at least one computer science course to earn their diploma.
House Bill 77 creates the TOPS Excellence award, which is available to any student with a 3.5 grade-point average and a score of 31 or higher on the ACT or an equivalent score on a similar exam. The scholarship will provide tuition and fees at the Louisiana public university the student chooses or $12,000, whichever is less.
House Bill 279 increase mandatory anti-hazing training for fraternities, sororities and other college student organizations from one hour to two hours.
Other bills
Senate Bill 14 , also known as the 'Make Louisiana Healthy Again' bill, significantly impacts food safety and ingredient regulations. The law focuses on ingredient disclosure, school meal standards and restaurant practices. Certain food dyes are forbidden and seed oils used must now be disclosed.
House Bill 640 establishes the Office of Louisiana Highway Construction. This new office, within the governor's office under the Division of Administration, will handle the planning, design, construction and maintenance of state highways that are not eligible for federal funding. The OLHC will have the authority to enter into contracts, accept grants, and develop cost-sharing agreements.
House Bill 570 establishes protections for minors using mobile applications and digital platforms, creating new legal requirements for both application store providers and developers. Now teenagers need parental permission to download apps like TikTok, Snapchat or Instagram.
Senate Bill 99 bans red light cameras statewide and limit speed enforcement cameras to designated school zones during specified hours.