The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry released its annual scorecard Thursday. State representatives Phillip Tarver, District 36, and Les Farnum, District 33, received high marks.

“We scored 27 key votes cast by lawmakers throughout the legislative session on bills that LABI’s 2000-plus members considered critical to the business climate,” said Johnston von Springer, LABI spokesperson.

Bills pertained to education, insurance, lawsuits, workman’s comp, unemployment, workforce development and re-entry, energy, environmental quality, small business and government reform.

In addition to Tarver and Farnum 28  legislators received the ranking of “All-Star,” scoring between 90 and 99 percent on legislation selected for the Scorecard analysis.

“I’m a business person,” Tarver said. “That’s my background. That’s why I was elected to the position that I was elected to, so scoring high on some business measure seems consistent with that.”

There was one vote against LABI’s recommendation. Tarver voted no exception for end-of-course failures in favor of “our proven and determined graduation requirements,” he said.

He wasn’t consistent on the insurance reform bills and caught some flack.

“I just thought some of those bills were less favorable to people in our situation in Southwest Louisiana, letting them (insurance companies) change the rates at their own whim.I didn’t think that’s particularly well suited to the problems we’ve been through.”

Tarver told the insurance commissioner that if he lived in Shreveport, he might have voted yes, but in an area tremendously impacted by disaster, he could not go along with certain changes in homeowner policies.

The legislative session will pick up again in March 2025. Tarver serves on the education, labor and industrial relations and transportation committees.

This year, 75 lawmakers scored 80 percent or above on bills LABI’s members determined were of the utmost importance. Southwest Louisiana delegates on the honorable mention list with a score of 80-89 percent were Sen. Mark Abraham, District 25; Sen. Mike Reese, District 30; Ryan Bourriaque, District 47; and Troy Romero, District 37,