SB280: SB280 Commercial Drivers' Licenses; standards for liability of an employer or insurance provider for actions relating to a commercial vehicle driver; provide

Georgia law already requires employers of commercial truck drivers to check driver histories and bars them from letting disqualified or suspended drivers operate commercial vehicles. This bill keeps those existing duties but adds a new limit on what evidence can be used against an employer or its insurance provider in a civil lawsuit tied to a commercial driver's license holder. Under the bill, a driver's safety record (crashes and moving violation convictions) could only be looked at as far back as federal rules require employers to check. Separately, GPS data, video recordings, electronic control module data, and other onboard recording device data could only be used from the date the specific accident or violation happened, not from other time periods. The bill defines both key terms and repeals any conflicting Georgia laws.

• Amends Georgia's commercial driver employer duties law (O.C.G.A. § 40-5-145) to add new limits on evidence usable in civil lawsuits.
• Restricts use of a driver's safety record in liability cases to the time period required by federal driver-record investigation rules.
• Restricts use of GPS data, video recordings, and electronic control module or onboard recorder data to the date of the specific accident or violation at issue.
• Defines 'driver's record' and 'federal requirements' for purposes of these liability rules.
• Repeals any existing Georgia laws that conflict with these new limits.

Trucking companies and other employers of commercial motor vehicle drivers, their insurance providers, commercial drivers themselves, and people who might sue an employer or insurer after a crash involving a commercial truck in Georgia.

The bill would change what evidence plaintiffs' attorneys can present in lawsuits against trucking companies after accidents, potentially narrowing the driving history and vehicle data record juries see, which could affect how liability cases against employers and insurers are argued and decided.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 40-5-145 but keeps the existing rule requiring employers to collect driver application information and barring them from knowingly letting disqualified or unlicensed drivers operate commercial vehicles.
• New subsection (c)(1) defines 'driver's record' as the safety performance history of accidents and moving violation convictions tracked by the Department of Driver Services under O.C.G.A. § 40-5-2.
• New subsection (c)(1) also defines 'federal requirements' as the number of years federal law requires an employer to investigate a driver's record.
• New subsection (c)(2) limits use of a driver's record in civil liability cases against employers or insurers to that federal time window.
• New subsection (c)(2) also limits use of GPS data, video recordings, electronic control module data, and onboard recording device data to the date of the accident or moving violation itself.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting Georgia laws.

1. 2025-02-27Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-02-26Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)Primary sponsor
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-051)

• commercial driver's licenses
• trucking regulations
• civil liability law
• insurance law
• transportation safety