Legal and Regulatory Reform

Legal and Regulatory

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.

THE PROBLEMS

Louisiana lawsuit costs are among the highest in the nation.
Louisiana families and businesses pay nearly $7 billion in annual expenses related to tort litigation, translating to an average of $4,000 per household per year.
Excess civil litigation costs Louisiana more than 15,000 jobs every year, and fiscal losses were estimated to be around $76.4 million in state revenue and $64.3 million to local governments as of 2018.
Louisiana ranked 50th out of 50 states in a biennial assessment of state liability systems published by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform.
Louisiana received “Fs” for judicial accountability, executive accountability, legislative accountability, public access to information and ethics enforcement in the 2015 State Integrity Index produced by the Center for Public Integrity.
Louisiana has ranked as one of the nation’s worst “judicial hellholes” nine years in a row, according to annual reports published by the American Tort Reform Association.
Louisiana state government has built a complex web of rules and regulations that make it almost impossible, for businesses and entrepreneurs to thrive.
Louisiana is the only state in the country that requires florists to obtain an occupational license before they are allowed to arrange flowers for consumers.
Louisiana requires government permission slips for interior designers, hair braiders, and many other occupations that pose no risk to public health and safety.
Louisiana’s burdensome regulations hinder the ability for hard-working Louisianan’s and their families to get ahead.

THE SOLUTIONS

Give citizens greater access to jury trials by eliminating Louisiana’s $50,000 barrier for obtaining a jury trial in civil cases.
Strengthen Louisiana’s venue laws to preclude lawyers from unreasonable forum shopping in state courts.
Enact trust transparency laws to ensure that basic information is disclosed to the courts prior to trial so that judges and juries can use it to properly compensate asbestos claimants.
Enact the Full and Fair Noneconomic Damages Act and limit non-economic damages that can be awarded in civil cases to $250,000.
Implement wholesale reforms to increase judicial transparency to ensure that members of the state judiciary are more accountable to taxpayers.
End predatory state sponsored litigation to make it focused on protecting the public, not looking to cash in at the expense of one of the largest job creators in the state.
Transform Louisiana’s irrational and protectionist occupational licensing system and restore the proper balance between freedom and legitimate government regulation by enacting the Right to Earn a Living Act.
Provide greater legislative oversight of proposed rules and regulations and take steps to curtail the authority of the unelected and unaccountable members of boards and commissions in order to minimize costs and ensure that regulations are constitutional and necessary.
Adopt an “economic analysis unit” to provide independent, evidence-based reports on the costs and benefits of proposed regulations.
Enact a systematic process to review and eliminate unnecessary and/or outdated regulations that provide no public benefit.

Click here to view our paper on the economic impacts of Louisiana’s coastal lawsuit against the oil and gas industry. For more information on the Pelican Institute’s solutions to reforming Louisiana’s legal and regulatory systems, check out our two-page overview or view the full paper by clicking here. You can also click here to view our full paper on Restoring the Right to Earn a Living in Louisiana through occupational licensing reform.