Louisiana is requiring insurers to break down premium costs for policyholders and report any decision to cease, pause, or resume writing new business.
The Louisiana Department of Insurance issued back-to-back bulletins on March 30 and March 31, 2026, providing guidance on two companion laws passed during the 2025 Regular Legislative Session. The two measures, aimed at increasing transparency in the property and casualty insurance market, create new reporting and notification obligations that will affect admitted insurers, authorized insurers, and producers operating in the state.
The first bulletin, numbered 2026-05, addresses a new rate transparency reporting requirement under La. R.S. 22:1464.1, originally enacted as Act No. 428. Starting January 1, 2027, every admitted insurer licensed to write homeowners or private passenger automobile insurance in the state must submit an annual rate transparency report based on its most recently approved rate filing. The report must present a graphical representation identifying a percentage breakdown of the average premium across a set of cost elements, and those percentages must add up to one hundred.
The statute as cited in the bulletin requires the report to include the percentage of the indicated average premium associated with the cost of reinsurance, the projected cost of claims, loss adjustment expenses, fees and commissions, the profit and contingency of the insurer, any other relevant risk factors, contact information for the department including the phone number, email address, and hours of service for the Office of Consumer Services, and any other rate factor or information provided by the insurer.
The LDI's attached model report breaks these out into more specific subcategories for presentation purposes. Its sample pie chart shows claims cost at 40 percent, net cost of reinsurance at 10 percent, loss adjustment expense at 10 percent, commissions and brokerage expense at 10 percent, administrative expense at 10 percent, profit and contingency provision at 10 percent, taxes, licenses and fees at 5 percent, and other costs at 5 percent. Insurers are expected to design their own reports in a substantially similar format, populated with their actual numbers.
What makes this particularly notable for the industry is that the obligation does not stop at the regulator's desk. Upon issuing a new policy and upon every renewal, insurers must provide a copy of their most recently approved rate transparency report for that line of coverage to the insured. Consumers in Louisiana will see, in plain language and in graphical form, how their premium is allocated, including how much goes to paying claims, how much covers reinsurance, and how much is attributed to the profit and contingency provision.
The model report includes consumer-friendly explanations for each cost element, describing reinsurance as something like insurance for the insurance company that helps the insurer handle large losses, such as a hurricane or wildfire, by sharing the risk with another company. The profit and contingency provision is described as funds the company collects in order to remain financially stable and continue providing coverage.
The bulletin notes a terminology clarification. While the underlying statute refers to "rating factors," "rate factors," and "risk factor," the LDI's model report uses the term "cost elements" to align with actuarial and ratemaking practice, where "rating factors" typically refers to classification relativities or multipliers in a rating plan. The department noted this terminology is not intended to alter, limit, or expand any requirement established by the statute.
Insurers will need to submit these reports in PDF format through the POIDRS module in the Industry Access Portal, though the LDI noted that the portal is not yet active and is anticipated to be active by November 1, 2026, with separate notice to follow upon activation.
The following day, Commissioner Timothy J. Temple issued Bulletin 2026-06, addressing La. R.S. 22:1276, as amended by Act 429 from the same legislative session. This provision has already been in effect since January 1, 2026, and the bulletin provides clarification and promotes uniformity in how insurers comply.
Under this provision, any insurer authorized to transact the business of automobile or property insurance in Louisiana must provide written notice to the Commissioner within ten days of notifying its producers or other representatives of any decision to cease, pause, or resume the writing of new insurance policies in any geographic region within the state.
The notice must include the effective date of the cessation, pause, or resumption, the lines of insurance affected, the specific geographic areas impacted, and a brief description of the reasons for the action. All submissions go through the Industry Access Portal, using a module titled "Market Activity Notification" that must be added to the insurer's account by the industry access administrator in order to submit the first notice.
One notable distinction between the two requirements is confidentiality. While rate transparency reports are designed to reach the consumer, market activity notifications carry a different treatment. Any information submitted to the Commissioner under La. R.S. 22:1276 is confidential and proprietary and is not subject to public disclosure under the Public Records Law, La. R.S. 44:1, et seq., except as otherwise required by law or pursuant to an order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
The practical effect of these two bulletins arriving in tandem is clear. Louisiana is directing its insurers to be transparent in two directions – outward to consumers about what drives their premiums, and inward to the regulator about where they are willing to write business.
For compliance teams, actuarial departments, and distribution leadership at carriers operating in the state, these requirements call for new reporting workflows, new consumer-facing documents, and timely notifications to the Commissioner.
