HB 1344: Georgia Insurance Affordability and Claims Integrity Act; enact

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Discussed in meetings (13)

The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.

1. House Insurance Committee, February 19, 2026

   From 0:26:56 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor described HB 1344 as a study committee package intended to lower insurance costs and improve claims handling. The sponsor outlined nearly 40 additional fine increases, fraud enforcement, uninsured-driver enforcement, insurance headquarters recruitment, parameters for local premium tax spending, expanded home-strengthening assistance and catastrophe claims procedures. The sponsor said committee testimony put uninsured drivers at about 20% of drivers. Members questioned provisions treating drivers expressly excluded from a policy as uninsured. The sponsor said ordinary permitted borrowing would remain unchanged and that exclusion requires deliberate paperwork, not merely failing to add a newly licensed driver. Members also asked about injured third parties’ rights and vehicle owners’ liability. The sponsor said the provision mainly concerns ticketing and compliance, rather than broader civil liability. Another member described electronic access to excluded-driver information for law enforcement, which the sponsor confirmed. Asked about fraud and pricing by ZIP code, an Insurance Commissioner’s Office representative said about 35 investigators work statewide and insurers may legally use ZIP code data. The representative offered to check which information could be released because some rating information is protected. The committee approved the bill by voice vote.

2. House Rules Committee, February 23, 2026

   From 1:28:15 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

   Summary by Georgia Commons: A member requested HB 1344 on behalf of its absent sponsor and identified it as an insurance affordability and claims-integrity measure arising from a study committee. No substantive explanation, debate or calendar vote followed.

3. House Rules Committee, February 25, 2026

   From 1:01:33 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1621

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor described HB 1344 as a product of the House insurance rate study committee intended to make insurance more affordable. The sponsor said it would increase insurer fines, address insurance fraud, strengthen uninsured motorist enforcement, improve claims and storm processing, and require the insurance commissioner to consider violations and misconduct when reviewing rates. No questions followed. Later, the committee placed the bill on Thursday's floor calendar without stated opposition.

4. House floor session, February 26, 2026 (legislative day 25, AM)

   From 1:59:30 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 1628

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1344 grew from nine months of insurance study committee work and aims to lower costs and improve claims handling. The sponsor described increases to 40 insurance fines, stronger uninsured-driver enforcement, fraud provisions, limits on premium tax fund use, a program to strengthen homes against storms, and tighter claims-processing rules. The sponsor said 10 insurers had reduced rates and two had entered Georgia's market. One member asked about homeowners losing coverage because of trees. The sponsor said the bill would let the insurance commissioner consider customer complaints and other information during rate reviews and address such practices. A second member questioned higher penalties for uninsured drivers. The sponsor said existing fines were decades old, described the increases as modest, and argued insured drivers should not subsidize uninsured drivers. The House passed the bill, 166 to 3.

5. House Insurance Committee, March 20, 2026

   From 0:28:13 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor identified HB 1344 as an insurance-affordability measure incorporated into SB 462. A supporting member described the package as addressing claims processing, risk reduction, fraud and uninsured motorists. A witness for the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia said county reporting provisions duplicated existing reports and did not match legal restrictions on premium-tax spending. Asked whether the entire measure should be removed, the witness requested changes only to the reporting language. A supporting member said roughly $1 billion in annual premium-tax revenue should benefit residents and offered to work on revisions. After reconsidering SB 462, the committee adopted language requiring annual reports beginning January 1, 2027, demonstrating legally authorized spending, or permitting counties to submit an existing required budget report. The committee approved the revised package. Later, a member said HB 1344 was also included in SB 503. The committee added the same reporting amendment and approved that bill.

6. Senate Insurance and Labor Committee, March 24, 2026

   From 0:20:20 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor presented a substitute combining insurance study committee recommendations with Senate additions, saying it aimed to lower costs and improve claims handling. The sponsor described stronger fraud enforcement and insurer penalties, uninsured-driver enforcement, storm-claim improvements, fortified-home measures, aerial-image safeguards, and a two-year deadline for property and casualty lawsuits. Other provisions addressed insurer recruitment, local premium-tax spending reports, a three-year limit on premium-tax refunds, rental-home marketplace guarantees, judicial security and title claims. The sponsor said insurance costs had risen about 60% nationally over five years and about 20% of Georgia drivers were uninsured. Asked whether premium taxes discouraged insurers from locating in Georgia, the sponsor said the issue warranted study but the substitute would not change tax rates. Asked how the package would keep premiums falling, the sponsor said it drew on measures working in other states. Another member objected to the marketplace guarantee provisions, saying the guarantees acted like insurance without being insurance. The sponsor and chair confirmed that this language had been added after House passage and matched language previously approved by the committee. A motion to recommend the substitute received a second and a show-of-hands vote. The chair did not clearly announce the result or a complete tally.

7. Senate Rules Committee, March 30, 2026

   From 1:05:01 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The president pro tempore selected HB 1344, describing it as an insurance reform package without explaining its provisions. The committee unanimously approved the calendar containing it.

8. Senate floor session, April 2, 2026 (legislative day 40, part 1)

   From 2:20:08 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Taken from Table)

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 1344 combined recommendations from a House insurance study committee with other insurance proposals to address costs, fraud and consumer protection. The sponsor described broader payments into the insurance-fraud fund, penalties for attorneys using intermediaries to solicit accident clients, insurer recruitment, greater transparency in local use of premium taxes and authority to extend claim deadlines after disasters. Other provisions, the sponsor said, would impose a three-year deadline for insurers seeking refunds of overpaid taxes or fees, protect homeowners when insurers use aerial images, require at least two years to sue over a property-insurance claim, support housing improvements, raise uninsured-driver fines and address short-term-rental marketplace guarantees. The sponsor said implementation was moved to January 1, 2027, to accommodate insurer concerns. The sponsor also credited the previous year's lawsuit changes with improving insurance competition and rates. No substantive questions or opposition were offered. The Senate adopted the committee substitute and passed the bill 53 to 0.

9. House floor session, April 2, 2026 (legislative day 40, PM, part 2)

   From 2:20:27 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub)

   Summary by Georgia Commons: The presenter said HB 1344 would make insurance more affordable and claims processing fairer. The presenter described the Senate addition as a restriction on insurers' use of aerial images. Asked how the bill would protect health-insurance consumers, the presenter cited increases to 40 fines, anti-fraud measures, and changes to claims-processing deadlines. Another member asked about staged crashes, and the presenter said the bill addressed that fraud. A third member questioned stronger penalties for uninsured drivers. The presenter argued that uninsured motorists increase costs for insured customers and said Georgia had an unusually high number of uninsured motorists. The House agreed to the Senate's replacement version, 164 to 3.

• Read aloud: House floor session, February 18, 2026 (legislative day 20), 0:36:18
• Read aloud: House floor session, February 24, 2026 (legislative day 23), 0:43:36
• Read aloud: Senate floor session, March 3, 2026 (legislative day 26), 0:28:25
• Read aloud: Senate floor session, March 25, 2026 (legislative day 37), 0:34:33

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