I have to
pause and laugh when I see the recent political ads concerning the upcoming
governor’s election. While it is not my intent to make any formal
endorsement of any candidate, it is necessary to clarify some misinformation in
the ads. All revenue generating bills for our state, as clearly
delineated in the State Constitution, must originate in the state’s House of
Representatives.
The governor of our state can wish for and propose any
revenue seeking desires he or she wants, but has no power to directly implement
such revenue generating measures. It is up to the House of Representatives
to propose the revenue generating bill, vote on it, and if passing it, send it
to the state Senate for their approval by vote. If both legislative
houses pass the revenue bill, it then goes to the governor for his/her
signature into law or a veto.
So while the
latest political ads regarding the governor’s race talk about our present
governor raising taxes, technically it was the Republican controlled House of
Representatives that formulated the proposed sales tax increase bill and
approved it, along with the Republican Senate. Both had to approve the
sales tax increases in Louisiana for them to be implemented. To infer
that the present governor of our state single handily raised taxes is an
outright distortion of the facts of how revenue generating actions take place
in our state.
On another
matter, it’s too bad that we don’t hold elections every year, for that is
apparently the only time that some of our legislative leaders really try to do
their job to help their constituents.
Case in
point is the State Insurance Commissioner, Jim Donelon. Our state has one
of the highest automobile insurance rates in the nation and has an absurd hurricane
deduction on most homeowners policies written in Louisiana. Almost all
homeowners policies contain a 2 to 5 percent deductible of the total value of
the home before any damages are covered in the event of hurricane damage.
For example, if your home is valued at $250,000 by your insurance company, and
you have a 3% hurricane damage deductible, the insurance company will not pay
for any hurricane damage your home sustains until it exceeds $7,500. A 5%
deductible would increase that out of pocket cost to $12,500.
Our present
insurance commissioner has recently risen to the occasion on this issue and
issued a “cease and desist” order to State Farm over its practices of hurricane
deductibles regarding the recent storm Barry. However, this entire
deductible scam by all the homeowners insurance companies needed to be
dealt with long before Barry, but I guess now that Donelon has a credible
challenger to his job he decided to get some press P.R. showing he’s looking
out for the consumer.
And let’s
not even discuss how on Donelon’s watch auto insurance companies are allowed to
get a 10% increases in their rates automatically each year without approval and
review by the state insurance commission. However, I will give our
present insurance commissioner one accolade, at least he hasn’t gone to jail
like our previous ones.
Each of us
now has a great opportunity to change things in our state by going to the polls
and voting for individuals that will truly represent us. Sadly,
incumbents have one big advantage, name recognition. Please do not fall
for that trap. Vote for someone who you think will truly represent
you. Give some of the unknowns a chance based on their qualifications.
Some of our
present reps, all the way up to our lieutenant governor, have had questionable
ethical improprieties that have been noted in the media. It’s time to
throw them out. The power is in your hands by voting to change the status
quo in our state.
