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Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple’s legislative agenda hit its first major roadblock last week in the Senate Judiciary A Committee, a place where tort reformers’ dreams often go to die.
Gov. Jeff Landry has not spoken out against the automobile tort reform portion of Temple’s package publicly.
But industry insiders detect the governor’s influence in last week’s decision by the committee to table or water down bills that supporters argue could move the needle on sky-high auto insurance rates.
“On the property side, most of our legislation has gone through the full process with broad support,” Temple told LaPolitics. “The auto package is still being held up in Senate Judiciary A, but they still have time to pass it this session.”
Reading the tea leaves of Jud A, the auto tort reform bills are likely done for the session, according to Will Green, president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.
That would be a surprise twist, given the support of Temple’s package in the House for both the property insurance portion and the automobile pieces.
“Up until [last Tuesday] in committee, this has been a pretty overwhelmingly supported, and to a degree bipartisan, package of legislation,” Green said. “We can’t continue to pass piecemeal legislation that’s watered down, and continue to treat bullet holes with Band-Aids.”
Boosters of the tort-and-deregulate agenda have been wary about where Landry stands on these tort reform bills, noting Louisiana’s new CEO is a pro-business Republican who was elected with trial lawyer support. Landry allies in Capitoland say they’ve received mixed signals on the issue at best, and a Fourth Floor spokesperson has not yet responded to emails asking about the governor’s positions.
“I am surprised and disappointed,” said Senate Labor Chair Alan Seabaugh when asked about the tort reform bills that were tabled last week. “Trial lawyers got involved in seven Senate races last year, and they went zero for seven.”
Seabaugh, who serves on Jud A and intended to vote for the entire Temple package, has been outspoken about the potential for the new Republican governor and legislative supermajority to enact changes that had been stymied by the previous administration. On the tort reform front, some lawmakers suspect Landry would veto these bills if they reached his desk — but, of course, no one knows for sure.
“I’ve gotten mixed signals from the governor on whether he was going to veto them or not,” Seabaugh said.
One of the industry’s most closely watched pro-tort reform bills, HB 423 by Rep. Michael Melerine, advanced out of Jud A last week, but not before being slightly gutted and re-stuffed.
Melerine said he was surprised by the far-reaching amendments to his collateral source legislation, which involves insured plaintiffs, the “sticker price” of medical procedures and, of course, who gets the end-game payouts.
Renee Amar of the Louisiana Motor Transport Association, said the bill was a “key piece of legislation for truckers” and that it was “greatly watered down at the request of trial lawyers and healthcare providers.”
Also escaping Jud A was HB 315 by Speaker Pro Tem Mike Johnson, a bill to extend the time a plaintiff has to file suit from one year to two. Landry has publicly vouched for that bill, which the business lobby opposes.
“The governor has made it very clear to me that he didn’t want any amendments,” Johnson told the committee.
Two so-called tort reform measures, HB 24 and HB 336, were not so lucky. In both cases, Jud A Chair Greg Miller suggested the authors “voluntarily” defer their bills and live to fight another day. After the meeting Miller said he had not spoken to Landry about the bills, but he said he understood the governor had some concerns.
As far as silver linings for industry, there’s still a chance to eliminate the right to sue an insurer directly, which currently makes Louisiana an outlier compared to most states. Also scheduled for a Senate floor hearing next week is SB 130 to eliminate the state’s $10,000 threshold to guarantee the right to a jury trial, though the proposal still has a long road to final passage.
For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on Twitter @ LaPoliticsNow.

BERWICK — Suppose, just to be supposing, that there was a flood, a hurricane or a fire (knock on a 130-year-old hardwood floor).
You have time to save only one of the treasures in the Brown House, Berwick’s heritage museum. What would you save?
—Would it be the wedding band that once belonged to Thresia Thorguson Brown, who married George Brown? Her father, Norwegian immigrant and shipbuilder Gunder Thorguson, built the house for her in 1893.
—Maybe it’s the bat once used by Berwick’s own Sid Gautreaux, a switch-hitting catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1936 and 1937.
—Or would you save the Army uniform worn by Elby Fangue, who came ashore at Normandy on D-Day plus one in 1944? Or the Navy uniform of Kenneth Thomas, who was on a ship carrying supplies to the troops invading Okinawa in 1945?
—There’s a 13-foot pirogue that once skimmed over the local waterways before it was restored by a Washington state man and returned to the Brown House. But it’ll be a tough save. The pirogue is so big it had to be pushed through a window.
—How about the ball gown worn by Shirley Savoie when Mardi Gras returned to Berwick in 1981?
—A pair of bronzed children’s shoes might catch your eye. They were once worn by a little girl named Sophie, who came to Berwick from a New York City orphanage by way of the Orphan Train. When she saw the stranger who would adopt her, she greeted him as “Papa!”
Brown House archivist Shannon McFate has a different take. She’d grab some of the texts — official documents, newspaper articles, an old town government newsletter, whatever — she’s been scanning to preserve Berwick’s history.
McFate and Patsy Thomas took a reporter on a tour of the Brown House on Third Street near Town Hall on Wednesday, and along the way told the story of Berwick.
Although exhibits explore the Native American role in the area’s history, the town’s story starts with Thomas Berwick, two generations off the boat from Scotland. He was sent by the Spanish authorities who ruled the area in the late 1700s to survey the lower Teche region.
Modestly, he named the large body of water he found here Berwick Bay.
Berwick returned to the area with his family, and a son born here, Joseph, would be the key to the development of the town of Berwick.
The nearby area had at least seven plantations, growing indigo first, then cotton and finally sugar.
By the time Thorguson arrived, Berwick was a bustling little town. He had his own shipyard and, when his daughter married, he built the two-story house for Thresia on Second Street with a view of the river.
There it stayed until the Long-Allen Bridge was built in 1933, when the house was moved to its current location on Third Street.
The Browns’ son, Dewey, donated the house to the town in 1987 as a museum. But those plans languished until 2018, when it opened to tell the town’s story.
You can see photos of historic homes and historic churches, and visit the Hall of Valor, where veterans going back to the War of 1812 are memorialized.
The museum is free to visit and is open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. You can also call for an appointment at 985-384-8858.
You can also view some of the scanned documents at:
https://www.townofberwick.org/community/blog.php
Available documents include infomation on Mardi Gras, the Long-Allen Bridge, the Orphan Train and the Berwick Beacon newsletter.
The Brown House also has a Facebook group called BewickLAHeritageMuseum.

Staff Report
The St. Mary Parish Council inched closer Wednesday to empaneling a group of citizens who will review the home rule charter with an eye toward asking voters for changes, possibly an altogether new charter.
Along the way, two agendas have emerged among proponents of change: making the parish president post full-time, and increasing minority representation on the council.
At Wednesday’s Parish Council meeting, no action was taken to create a charter review panel but heard that an ordinance for that purpose could be ready for introduction as early as the May 22 meeting.
Councilman J Ina of Franklin, who advocated for more Black representation on the council at Wednesday’s meeting, made it clear he wants the council to create a charter review commission, with power to put proposed changes directly to the voters, rather than a committee that makes recommendations to the council.
Ina noted that none of the changes suggested by an earlier review committee were enacted.
Meanwhile, he said, St. Mary’s population is 31% Black, but only two of the 11 council members are Black.
Ina, an African American representing a Black-majority district, said he proposed two changes to boost minority representation.
One was to create a voting district set-up similar to the St. Mary School Board, which has 11 traditional geographic districts and four minority members.
Alternatively, Ina proposed that the Parish Council should change its system of at-large districts.
Currently, eight council members are elected from traditional districts. Three more are elected from at-large districts. While each at-large member represents an at-large district, all three are elected by parishwide votes.
Ina argued that if at-large members were elected only by voters in their respective districts, District 9 in west St. Mary would become a Black-majority district.
Both those changes were rejected by the council.
Ina again made the case for more minority representation.
“At the end of the day, we have the opportunity to do it because it’s the right thing to do,” Ina said.
He talked about recent federal court rulings that have rejected Louisiana’s congressional map because it didn’t include a second Black-majority U.S. House district.
“I strongly believe we’ll do it right by choice … or someone will come in and make us do it,” Ina said.
Parish president
Current Parish President Sam Jones ran last fall on a platform that included making the post full-time with a full-time salary.
Jones doesn’t figure to benefit from higher pay because he has pledged to serve a single term.
But he and others have pointed out that the St. Mary post pays only $1,000 a month, while surrounding parishes pay six-figure salaries to full-time presidents who promote their parishes, push for economic development and play a larger role in overseeing day-to-day operations.
St. Mary’s charter leaves much of the supervision of parish government operations to an appointed chief administrative officer.
Another supporter of a full-time presidency is former three-term state Sen. Bret Allain. He spoke at a St. Mary Chamber event last month, saying that if the Parish Council doesn’t want to make the change, it’s time to build grassroots support.
They may have some persuading to do. In March 2023, St. Mary voters rejected a charter amendment that would have raised the president’s salary to the average of the mayors in the five St. Mary municipalities, or about $50,000.
The proposed amendment, which lost by a 60%-40% margin in a typically low spring election turnout, was billed as a step toward making the presidency full-time.

Keep St. Mary Beautiful was selected as one of the 71 recipients of the 2023-24 Keep Louisiana Beautiful Trash Receptacle Grant program, made possible with funding from the state of Louisiana and the Office of the Lieutenant Governor.  
Receptacles has been installed at Lake End Park, Siracusa Recreational Center, Lawrence Park and Front Street.
 In 2023-24, the Trash Receptacles Program awarded 628 receptacles to 71 organizations in 40 parishes for a total of $491,294. As part of the requirement of this grant, affiliates must perform a post installation litter scan and compare the data to preliminary scan results.  
“Recent data collected by Keep Louisiana Beautiful shows a reduction of litter by 79 percent in areas where trash receptacles are properly installed and maintained,” says Susan Russell, Keep Louisiana Beautiful executive director.
“This grant will help us provide more receptacles to our communities, reduce litter and keep our communities vibrant and livable,” said Keep St. Mary Beautiful Chairperson Lea Hebert.
 Keep Louisiana Beautiful is an anti-litter and community improvement non-profit organization focused on achieving a clean and beautiful Louisiana through education, enforcement, public awareness, and community engagement.  Keep Louisiana Beautiful is affiliated with Keep America Beautiful and comprised of a statewide network of 40 Community Affiliates and seven University Affiliates. You can learn more at www.keeplouisianabeautiful.org.