(The Center Square) – Louisiana drivers are beginning to get lower auto insurance costs in 2025, with Gov. Jeff Landry and Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple offering starkly different explanations for why.

The Louisiana Department of Insurance announced this week that more than 20 insurers have filed rate decreases since January, with 14 of them lowering premiums by more than 1%. According to Commissioner Temple, those decreases are largely a product of fewer accidents. From January 2024 to August 2024, only seven companies filed for a rate decrease.

“As cost drivers in the market go down, losses go down with them, and businesses are incentivized to compete for customers through lower pricing,” Temple said in a release. “While it will take time for this year’s legal reforms to take effect and begin making a difference, it is a positive sign that insurers saw fewer accidents in 2024 and early 2025.”

Gov. Landry, however, has been quick to claim credit for the declines, pointing to sweeping tort reform legislation he signed earlier this year.

“This year we passed the boldest insurance reforms in Louisiana history,” Landry said Tuesday. “The results: 20 insurance companies have filed a rate decrease since the start of the year! We promised to fight for Louisiana families and we are delivering.”

Those reforms included new restrictions on personal injury lawsuits, caps on general damages, limits on attorney fees, and tax incentives for dashboard cameras, among other changes. Landry framed the package as a direct strike at what he called a “culture of frivolous lawsuits,” a claim Temple has also embraced.

Temple insists insurers are citing reductions in accident frequency – not lawsuits or courtroom reforms – as the driver behind the current round of price cuts. He has also repeatedly emphasized that while legal changes could eventually make the market more attractive to insurers, the effects will not be felt overnight.

By contrast, Landry has leaned heavily on tort reform as both a political and policy victory.

“Today, we’ve taken steps to shield Louisianans from frivolous lawsuits driven by trial lawyers – using a data-driven strategy,” Landry said after signing six tort reform bills in June.

The split is the latest flashpoint in what has been an increasingly strained relationship between the state’s top insurance regulator and the governor.

Earlier this summer, Landry touted the launch of a General Motors-backed insurance product as proof his reforms were attracting new insurers to Louisiana. The Department of Insurance quickly corrected the record, noting that GM’s insurance subsidiary had been licensed in the state since 2006 and that the only change was regulatory approval of a new usage-based policy – a routine process unrelated to legislation.

The two men have also publicly contradicted each other at press events. Landry argued that regulators lacked sufficient authority to reject excessive rates, while Temple pushed back, insisting, “I have all the authority I need to deny a rate for being too high, and I exercise it.”

In April, Landry excluded Temple from a press conference on insurance reform. Asked about it, Landry told reporters, “I have no idea, you’d have to ask him tomorrow.” The next day, Temple hosted a briefing, saying, “There were a couple of things he said that are incorrect, and it’s important to correct those on the record.”