BLANCO ASKS LOUISIANA LEGISLATURE TO BACK $29BN PACKAGE

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco yesterday asked the state legislature to approve a $29bn spending package that includes a plan to ease Louisiana’s insurance crisis. Ms Blanco’s speech at the opening of the 2007 legislative session. Ms Blanco said that hurricane recovery legislation should focus on the property insurance crisis, which had caused some owners to face premium increases well in excess of 100%. One of Ms Blanco’s proposed bills for the session would offer $100m of state money to insurers that agreed to write policies along the Louisiana coast. However, Democratic state senator Ed Murray observed that “I didn’t hear enough about recovery issues. I’m really surprised”.