HB667: HB667 Motor vehicles; standards for liability of an employer or insurance provider for actions relating to a commercial vehicle driver; provide

Georgia law already requires employers to check a commercial driver's history before hiring and bars them from knowingly letting a driver operate with a suspended license, multiple licenses, or an out-of-service order. This bill keeps those existing duties but adds new limits on how that history can be used against an employer or insurance company in a lawsuit. The bill says that when someone sues an employer or insurer over a commercial driver's actions, the driver's safety record that can be used is limited to whatever period federal law requires employers to check, no more. It also limits vehicle GPS data, video recordings, and electronic control module or onboard recorder data to only the specific date of the accident or violation in question, rather than allowing broader use of that data.

• Keeps the existing rule that employers must collect required background information from every commercial driver applicant.
• Keeps the existing ban on employers knowingly letting drivers operate with suspended licenses, multiple licenses, or under an out-of-service order.
• Adds a new rule limiting how far back a driver's safety record can be reviewed in civil lawsuits, capping it at the period required under federal law.
• Restricts use of GPS data, video recordings, and electronic data recorders (like control module or onboard recorder data) in lawsuits to only the date of the specific accident or violation.
• Defines 'driver's record' and 'federal requirements' for purposes of these new liability limits.

The bill affects trucking and other commercial vehicle employers, insurance companies that cover them, commercial drivers whose records and vehicle data may be used in court, and people who sue employers or insurers after an accident involving a commercial vehicle.

By capping how much driver history and vehicle data can be used against employers and insurers in court, the bill could make it harder for injury victims to show a pattern of negligent hiring or supervision, while giving trucking companies and insurers more predictable exposure in lawsuits.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 40-5-145, keeping employer duties to check applicant information and bars on allowing disqualified or multiple-license drivers to operate.
• New subsection (c) defines 'driver's record' as the accident and conviction history the Department of Driver Services tracks under O.C.G.A. § 40-5-2.
• New subsection (c) 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 to only the federally required look-back period.
• New subsection (c)(2) limits use of GPS, video, and electronic recorder data in civil liability cases to the date the accident or violation occurred.
• Section 2 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-03-03House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-28House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-27House Hopper (House)

• Victor Anderson (R, HD-010)Primary sponsor
• Chris Erwin (R, HD-032)
• Matthew Gambill (R, HD-015)
• Mitchell Scoggins (R, HD-014)
• Josh Bonner (R, HD-073)
• John Corbett (R, HD-174)

• commercial trucking
• civil liability law
• insurance regulation
• driver safety records
• transportation law