EDITORIAL: Insurance commissioner
The Times-Picayune
October 9, 2007
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita transformed the insurance commissioner into one of the most important state offices -- and also one of the most challenging.
It's the commissioner's job to foster affordable, reliable property insurance for homes and businesses and push companies to follow Louisiana's consumer protection laws. But the office also has to court current and new companies and persuade the industry of this region's long-term viability.
That's not an easy balancing act. But Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon has done a capable job and has launched initiatives that seem to be moving the state in the right direction.
Mr. Donelon has led the department since February 2006, first in an acting capacity and then as commissioner after winning a special election last fall.
As commissioner, he successfully helped lobby legislators for a package of insurance initiatives, including eliminating the Insurance Rating Commission and approving $100 million in incentives for companies writing new policies.
Those and other measures he implemented have yet to fully kick in, but the market seems to be slightly improving. State Farm, the state's largest home insurer, is once again writing new policies south of Interstate 10. Louisiana Citizens' Insurance, the state-backed insurer of last resort, is writing slightly fewer policies every month.
Mr. Donelon faces large challenges in a new term. His department will have to efficiently administer the incentives program and aggressively protect consumers. Above all, voters will expect him to continue the clean up of the financial and administrative mess at Citizens.
He is pledging to abolish the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana, a fire rating agency that essentially managed Citizens, and the Louisiana Automobile Insurance Plan, an obscure state-run auto insurer of last resort, which handled contracts and other financial matters for Citizens. Both groups have contributed to the gross mismanagement at Citizens and need to go. Mr. Donelon also should be open to other structural changes to ensure that Citizens is properly run going forward.
This newspaper has long argued that this post should be appointed, not elected. But it is an elected office at the moment, and Mr. Donelon is the best candidate in the race.