BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- A House committee has approved a bill that would raise the minimum insurance coverage Louisiana motorists must carry on their vehicles.
Then-Governor Kathleen Blanco vetoed a similar bill last year. She argued that raising the cost of minimum auto insurance would be too expensive for too many drivers, causing them to drop all coverage.
The insurance industry agrees with that reasoning, and on Wednesday was opposed to the bill by Representative Erich Ponti, a Baton Rouge Republican. Ponti said his bill would get Louisiana's minimum coverages to the same level as neighboring states.
The House Insurance Committee voted 6-2 to send the bill to the House floor.
