Senate committee derails ‘most important bill of the session’ that could lower auto insurance rates
The 4-1 vote to defer the Omnibus Premium Reduction Act of 2019 by the
"We're not shocked," said state Rep.
Talbot sought changes to legal procedures that he said would provide incentives for parties in car wreck cases to settle their disputes rather than go to court.
The price of the average auto insurance policy in
The Legislative Fiscal Office, however, found that the changes sought in HB372 likely would add 57 to 87 civil jury trials to already clogged court dockets statewide at a cost of about
Beyond what the fiscal note calculated, state Sen.
State Sen.
HB372 proposed extending from one year to two the deadline for filing a lawsuit; lowering the amount of damages sought to qualify for having the dispute decided by a jury instead of a judge, called jury trial threshold, from
"This is a wish list for the insurance industry," Luneau said. "We're limiting ourselves about what we can do and who we can sue."
"This bill is a great bill," said Republican Sen.
Talbot said he never argued that his legislation would lower auto insurance rates, though some supporters did, but would lower costs by bringing
Though the effort is dead for this legislative session, Talbot predicted that high auto insurance rates will be an issue in the governor's race.
"Something has to be done. We can't continue going this way," Talbot said. "We are in crisis with the high cost of insurance."
Voting against changing the state's judicial system (4): Sens. Luneau, Gatti,
Voting for HB372 (1):
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