Introduction of the Insurance Act--Improving National Safety By Updating the Required Amount of Insurance Needed By Commercial Motor Vehicles Per Event Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the INSURANCE Act, a bill introduced today with Representative Matt Cartwright to ensure that those who fall victim to crashes with motor carriers receive the fair financial compensation they deserve to cope with their tragedies.

On May 2, 2005, Kate Brown's 27-year-old son Graham was hit by an impaired and fatigued truck driver in Round Lake, Illinois. Graham underwent 22 different surgeries, and three full years of physical and occupational therapy. He is now permanently, partially disabled.

Their story is unfortunately an all-too often occurrence on today's roads. In fact, since 2007, the U.S. has seen a 41 percent increase in truck crash fatalities; an increase that was felt by Pam Biddle's family. In 2017, Pam's 23-year-old son, Aaron Lee, was with his father, Brian, and Brian's partner, Stephanie Swaim in traffic, when they were rear-ended and pushed into another semi in front of them. Both vehicles burst into flames killing Aaron, Brian, and Stephanie. Aaron was close to receiving his degree from the Purdue School of Nursing. Brian was a Navy veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm. Stephanie is survived by her five children.

Thousands of families, like Kate's and Pam's, are suffering in silence, saddled with crippling medical and long-term care costs associated with catastrophic injuries that come as a result of crashes with motor carriers and large trucks.

I am so proud to lead this effort with Rep. Matt Cartwright to do better for those who fall victim to the nightmare of such accidents.

The INSURANCE Act ties the minimum insurance required for large trucks or motor carriers to inflation of medical costs. For 40 years, since 1980, that minimum requirement has remained stagnant at $750,000. That minimum should be almost 6.5x higher, to account for today's inflation of medical costs--a figure we calculated using the estimated rate of inflation for medical costs issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This bill is not asking for anything unreasonable. Families shouldn't have to go bankrupt because a family member died or became severely injured with life-long disabilities as a result of negligent truck drivers. Big Business shouldn't grow profit margins by leaving the taxpayer's to foot the bill for medical costs that families cannot realistically cover.

For these families, we should do better. This bill is common sense and it is simply the right thing to do. In fact for families like Kate's or Pam's, it is long overdue.

We urge members to cosponsor the INSURANCE Act and require that families are adequately compensated for the injuries and fatalities caused by motor carrier negligence.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source