House lawmakers vote to raise mandatory insurance coverage to $2 million

[Mike]

Lawmakers marking up the U.S. House of Representatives’ version of the surface transportation reauthorization bill have approved an amendment to more than double the required amount of insurance coverage for truck owners from $750,000 to $2 million.

The amendment, introduced this week by U.S. Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Illinois, passed the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee late Wednesday by a vote of 37-27.

Proponents of the amendment argue that the current insurance liability requirement does not adequately compensate victims of accidents involving large trucks. Opponents of the measure, including small-business truck owners represented by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, warn that raising the limits could put small-business truckers out of business.

House lawmakers vote to raise mandatory insurance coverage to $2 million

Amendment more than doubles current minimum of $750,000 for commercial trucks

www.freightwaves.com

 

[Mike]

This won't help the problem with nuclear verdicts......

 

[Mike]

OOIDA's stance..

OOIDA says it can’t support highway bill with minimum insurance amendment

Approval of an amendment to more than double minimum insurance requirements for motor carriers moved OOIDA to drop support of the INVEST in America Act.

landline.media

OOIDA has long contended that there is no correlation between insurance coverage and highway safety and that drastically increasing the insurance minimum would likely force many small motor carriers out of business. Doing so, the Association said the amendment would actually decrease safety as it would remove some of the most experienced and safest truck drivers from the industry.

“This amendment will do absolutely nothing to improve safety on our highways,” OOIDA President and CEO Todd Spencer said. “What this proposal will do is destroy small-trucking businesses in every corner of the country.


“Small-business truckers have been working around the clock to keep the country healthy, while risking their personal well-being and struggling to stay in business due to historically low freight rates caused by COVID-19. Unnecessarily increasing their insurance rates is not the way to thank them.”

 

[Rigjockey]

Yet again driving up the price for small business owners. Do they even realise that O/O's and independant and many less than 100 trucks per company are actually family owned small businesses?
So much for the rah, rah, truckers are essential, frontline workers, That didn't last long!
That's just the government, never mind the ambulance chasing lawyers with T.V. ads.

 

[Mike]

The $2 Million itself doesn't bother me too much, as I already opted for it quite some time back. I started out with $1 million, and moved to $2 million almost a year ago to open myself up to more freight opportunities. The cost for the increased coverage was minimal, though that may change if it becomes an industry standard.

What bothers me is that there is no concern at all, from our elected officials, in curbing these insane lawsuits.

 

[Duck]

Hopefully McConnell kills it upon arrival.

 

[Mike]

Hopefully McConnell kills it upon arrival.

I think the more important concern is where should insurance requirements be at this point. I don't care if it is $5 million, as long as the largest carriers can still self insure, it is the small carriers who will suffer. This isn't a political battle, because even at the current numbers, small carriers are dead upon the first nuclear verdict.