HB 438: INSURANCE/RATES: Provides relative to advertising expenses and prohibits use of certain expenses in setting insurance rates - Louisiana

HB438 Original → HB438 Act 85 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill updates the official title of the legislation to reflect its final enactment as Act No. 85 and adds multiple new co-sponsors to the original author. Substantively, the text of the law regarding insurance rate-setting remains unchanged, as the digest and line-by-line comparison indicate no modifications to the legal provisions themselves.

Scope change

The bill's scope of applicability and legal requirements remain exactly the same; the changes are limited to administrative metadata such as the bill number, sponsor list, and official status.

TECHNICAL

Added a list of new co-sponsors to the bill, expanding the group of representatives supporting the measure.

Updated the bill header to reflect its final status as 'ENROLLED' and 'ACT No. 85' instead of 'ORIGINAL'.

Added official signatures and approval lines for the Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, and Governor.

Removed the 'DIGEST' section, which is a non-binding summary prepared by legislative services and not part of the actual law.

HB438 Enrolled → HB438 Original · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill updates Louisiana insurance laws to explicitly exclude 'institutional advertising expenses' from the costs insurers can use when calculating insurance rates. Previously, the law defined 'expenses' broadly but only specifically excluded loss adjustment expenses; this change clarifies that general brand advertising and marketing not tied to specific sales cannot be factored into rate filings. The goal is to prevent insurers from passing on the cost of broad marketing campaigns to policyholders, ensuring rates reflect only relevant operational costs. The changes are effective January 1, 2026.

Scope change

The bill applies to all insurers regulated by the Louisiana Department of Insurance when they file rates with the state.

DEFINITION

Added a specific definition for 'institutional advertising expenses' as advertising not aimed at obtaining business for a specific insurer or providing consumers information to decide on purchasing insurance.

REQUIREMENT

Modified the statutory definition of 'expenses' used for rate-setting to explicitly prohibit the inclusion of institutional advertising expenses.

Added a new provision to R.S. 22:1452(C)(9.1) to formally codify the exclusion of these specific advertising costs from rate calculations.

TECHNICAL

Updated document headers and metadata to reflect the bill's transition from an enrolled version to an original version with legislative services digest.

HB438 Engrossed → HB438 Enrolled · 4 edits · Jun 4, 2025

MODERATE

This bill was formally enrolled for the Governor's signature after Representative Mike Johnson and several other legislators joined the original sponsor. The bill's substantive content remains focused on prohibiting insurance companies from using 'institutional advertising expenses' when calculating insurance rates, though the text includes minor formatting adjustments to the sponsor list and official signatures.

Scope change

The bill's scope of applicability did not change; it still applies to insurance rate-setting in Louisiana. The only change is the addition of co-sponsors to the original bill.

TECHNICAL

Representative Mike Johnson and 23 other legislators were added to the list of bill sponsors.

Signatures of the Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, and Governor were added to finalize the bill for enactment.

The 'Digest' section, which summarizes the bill's purpose, was removed as it is not part of the final legal text.

Minor formatting adjustments were made to the header and coding instructions to reflect the bill's transition from Engrossed to Enrolled status.

INSURANCE/RATES: Provides relative to advertising expenses and prohibits use of certain expenses in setting insurance rates

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