To bring jobs and opportunity back to Louisiana, the state needs to ensure a friendly, fair, and legally consistent legal and regulatory environment. Louisiana’s history of litigation abuse and government red tape continues to stifle opportunities for job seekers and working families to find good-paying jobs as businesses flee Louisiana for states with fairer, more predictable policies. Louisiana’s burdensome regulations and state government overreach only hinders our ability to create quality jobs for hard-working Louisiana families. Regulatory reform that limit strict government oversight is necessary to prevent jobs and opportunity from fleeing Louisiana to neighboring states currently experiencing economic booms.
Background about the settlement agreement Over the last decade, coastal Louisiana parishes have filed a total of 42 lawsuits against more than 200 energy companies. The parishes allege that the defendants’ federally authorized oil and gas exploration and production activities caused coastal land loss. Defendants named in these lawsuits range from major oil and gas...
Today, the Louisiana House and Government Affairs Committee passed House Bill 4, which will add checks and balances to Louisiana’s emergency declarations process. Pelican Institute CEO Daniel Erspamer released the following statement in response to the passage of the legislation: “Balancing executive power in Louisiana’s emergency declarations process has become one of the most consequential issues...
Louisiana’s business climate consistently ranks among the worst in the nation. The state’s heavy tax burden is already enough to stifle economic investment. Adding Louisiana’s long-standing reputation as a legal swampland further discourages the economic growth needed in the state. Furthermore, the state’s massive and inefficient regulatory environment serves as another major barrier to job...
Louisiana’s current legal and regulatory environment stifles opportunities for job seekers and working families as more and more businesses move out of state in search of places with fairer, more predictable policies. While Republican and Democratic lawmakers have avoided major reforms over the last two decades, the state’s business and legal climate has continued to...
Louisiana has a serious litigation problem when it comes to the state’s economic growth. Economic theory indicates that with increased risk of lawsuits against oil and gas producers comes less investment, and more specifically, less drilling activity. When the risk of getting sued increases, the expected costs faced by companies increases and as a result,...
Did Louisiana’s government infringe on the rights of its citizens with its COVID-19 mandates? Today, the Pelican Institute released a report to answer that question and offer approaches for addressing the ongoing pandemic and future disasters while safeguarding both public health and individual liberty. In future legislative sessions, lawmakers should consider the lessons learned from...
Last Wednesday’s Congressional antitrust hearing often had little to do with actual discussions of antitrust and instead, served as a platform for Congress to air their pet grievances to some of the nation’s largest tech firms. During the more than four-hour hearing, I couldn’t help thinking of the Inigo Montoya’s often quoted line from The...
On Thursday, Governor John Bel Edwards signed House Speaker Clay Schexnayder’s HB 57, which will help to lessen lawsuit abuse and lift the burden it places on Louisianans. With citizens across the state demanding solutions to lessen the harm caused by lawsuit abuse, this legislation earned widespread support in both the House and the Senate...
Today, the Louisiana Legislature passed HB 57 by Speaker Clay Schexnayder, the Civil Justice Reform Act of 2020, in an overwhelming majority. HB 57 is a major victory for curbing lawsuit abuse and lessening the personal financial pain it causes, as well as its damaging effects to our state’s economy The following is a statement from...
Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed a critical piece of legal reform legislation. Louisiana’s judiciary has adopted a practice to ignore legal liability limits and other protections, instead allowing aggressive plaintiffs to sue entrepreneurs of all sizes. This impacts everyone from small mom and pop shops to large oil and gas companies. HB 313 by Representative...
Louisiana has a problem. With the release of each new job and economic growth report, we get more evidence of our state falling further behind the rest of the nation in nearly every category. Unsurprisingly, jobs are the most reported reason people are giving for leaving Louisiana. While there are many culprits for the departure...
It’s become common for Louisianans to experience sticker shock while paying their car insurance bills. We all know insurance rates are too high and that lawsuit abuse is the root cause of the problem. But what many don’t know is that the continued abuse of our legal system is also leading to many of the...
The right to support organizations that you believe in is a core American principle. The First Amendment supports our rights to associate and financially support groups and causes we believe in. But due to today’s political climate, many people are worried that supporting the causes they believe in could result in them facing harassment or...
Louisiana’s lawsuit abuse climate has caught the eye of the Wall Street Journal, and a recent Pelican Institute study features prominently in its analysis: A new study by the Pelican Institute comparing offshore drilling on state and federal land in the Gulf finds the lawsuits have scared off producers. Oil and gas employment declined by 2,000...