Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chairman, this April, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced that it would be moving forward with a rulemaking that would increase the amount of required liability coverage for truck and bus companies.

This comes despite findings by the Department of Transportation that less than 0.2 percent of truck-involved accidents have property and injury damages that exceed the current minimum liability coverage requirements, which is $750,000.

Current proposals regarding the insurance increase call for minimum levels to go up by more than 500 percent, and this would lead to a significant reduction in insurance availability for motor carriers, especially small businesses. The bottom line is this: the trial lawyers win, the small businesses lose.

It is estimated that premiums could increase by more than four times the current levels, up to $20,000 per truck and even more per bus. Further, more than 40 percent of currently operating motor carriers could go out of business due to these new requirements.

There is no evidence supporting higher insurance requirements or that coverage levels result in the improved safety performance of a motor carrier. DOT's own report argued that increasing minimum insurance levels is not the best way to meet the needs of catastrophic accident victims.

My amendment would prohibit the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from moving forward with a rulemaking action that would increase the minimum financial liability insurance requirements for truck and bus companies during the 2015 fiscal year.

Please join me in support of this effort to keep safe small business truck and bus companies on the road.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. Chair, just a reminder that the DOT's own study says that less than 0.2 percent of truck-involved accidents have property and injury damages that exceed the current requirements.

The bottom line is this: let the small business owner decide what they want to insure above the already required $750,000. This is one more regulation that is going to benefit the trial lawyers at the expense of small businesses.

Remember, again, what the DOT said. Raising the minimum insurance levels is not the best way to meet the needs of catastrophic accident victims.

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