The latest attempt at lawsuit reform aimed at lowering auto insurance rates clears the Senate and is headed to the House, this time with far less reaching reforms than previous attempts that passed but lacked the votes to override a veto. The bill lowers the jury trial threshold to 10,000 dollars, prevents insurance company’s names from being mentioned in court, and removes a gag order on whether a crash victim was wearing a seat belt. Bossier City Senator Barrow Peacock says it’s not as strong as past efforts, but…
Democrats fumed over the legislation’s lack of any wording requiring auto insurance rates to go down if the bill were to pass. Alexandria Senator Jay Luneau says it does nothing for drivers…
The vote was 29-9 and the bill will now return to the House for a final vote.
Legislation signed into law by Governor Edwards authorizing a 300 million dollar small business grant program funded by federal relief dollars is getting closer to reality. The program is expected to be online sometime next month, but has limited funds so State Treasurer John Schroder encourages businesses to apply the moment applications start being accepted because it’s first come first served…
For the first 21 days, only businesses with one to forty-nine employees as of March 1st that have received no federal aid can apply.
A big tax break for the casino industry clears House Ways and Means and is headed for final passage on the House floor. The 83-million dollar five-year package would allow each casino to give customers five-million dollars in free promotional play wagers without having to pay state taxes on those amounts. Lake Charles Senator Ronnie Johns says that’ll get warm bodies back into casino seats, generating revenue for the state…