Senate Insurance and Labor Committee, March 24, 2026

Transcript

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1. 0:19:16

   Got a quorum here. And, um, I'm gonna ask if, uh, Senator Pro Tem Larry Walker would pray for us if that would be appropriate. Number eight there, sir.

2. 0:19:28

   Yes, sir. Thank you. I definitely think we need prayers this, this, uh, time of session for sure. Bow with me, please. Heavenly Father, thank you for your love and your grace and all the many blessings you give us. Help us to be mindful of you and, and to, uh, do your will as we work for the people of Georgia. All these things we ask in your name. Amen.

3. 0:19:52

   Very good. Very good. We are a busy time and a lot going on, and there seems to be a lot of over- overlap from that standpoint. Uh, Representative Reeves, you have yourself, and I'm assuming, um, uh, Chairman Lumpkin, you're gonna be right there to help him with anything he gets stumbled up on, right?

4. 0:20:12

   Any way I can.

5. 0:20:13

   Any way you can. Okay. And let's see. Let's make sure we've got HB 1344 and LC 461559S. And so I'm gonna turn this over to you, and let's turn the speakers on, and you are ready to go, sir.

6. 0:20:32

   Thank-

7. 0:20:32

   Good to have you with us. Thank you.

8. 0:20:33

   Thank you, Chairman Harbin. It's great to be here. Uh, appreciate you and, uh, President Pro Tem Walker working a lot on this. Thanks for, um, Majority Whip for chairing the subcommittee. Um, when we left the subcommittee, uh, got legislative counsel to combine our four bills into LC 521105S, and then, uh, the Senate, uh, under good leadership, uh, pre- presented the sub LC 461559S. And so that's what I'll present today-

9. 0:21:05

   Okay

10. 0:21:05

    ... uh, in just a moment. But just to give a little bit of background about how we got this, uh, study committee, uh, insurance affordability bill. Chairman Lumpkin and I were appointed by the speaker to chair a, an 18-member study committee on insurance affordability that also looked at claims handling and, uh, risk mitigation, everything we could do to make insurance more affordable for hardworking Georgians in this time that insurance has increased, uh, about 60% in five years nationwide. Uh, like we've done in Georgia, we've done better than the national average in so many areas, and this is an area of insurance affordability that following the tort reform vote last year, we wanted to keep momentum, uh, going to make insurance more affordable.

11. 0:21:48

    We met at the state capitol. We met at, in Savannah, Georgia. We met in Macon. We met in Gwinnett County, Senator Still and I's, uh, home county. And, uh, we got a lot of good ideas. We heard from the University of Georgia Insurance School, Georgia State Insurance School, University of South Carolina Insurance School. We heard from dozens, if not hundreds, of citizens and representatives of citizens, and, uh, the insurance industry got a lot of good ideas. And, uh, so the bill before you has a lot of good measures to make insurance more affordable and to make claims run more smoothly for the benefit of Georgians.

12. 0:22:24

    I would like to point out that a positive turnaround has started in Georgia. We've had 10 companies file rate decreases recently in recent months. We've had two companies enter the market, uh, American Integrity Insurance, and then Donegal came back into the market. The 10 companies who've cut rates are State Farm, m- uh, multiple Li- Liberty Mutual entities, Safeco, Southern General, Progressive, Hanover, GoAuto, Allstate, and Country Mutual. And again, there are two that, uh, are additional who are in the process of filing rate, uh, decreases, we understand.

13. 0:22:58

    There are 9.1 million, uh, drivers in Georgia, driver's licenses, and about, uh, 20% of them are un- uninsured. So, uh, enforcing our uninsured motorist laws was something very important in this bill. And then also, uh, you've learned from homeowner property taxes, there are about a million and a half or so owner-occupied homes in Georgia. So homeowner policies, auto policies, in addition to property and casualty and business liability and health insurance, will benefit on affordability and claims management through this bill, House Bill 1344.

14. 0:23:31

    So, uh, let me give an overview of the contents of the bill. Um,

15. 0:23:41

    on section two, we have, um, a fee increase, and there are many, um, uh, fine increases in this bill to make sure that insurance companies follow the law and they follow, uh, the contr- the insurance contracts, and they will be held accountable if they do not. In section two, there's also, um, uh, a, um, an update in the criminal provision about, uh, uh, runners or steerers who are soliciting, uh, uh, claims, uh, in violation of the law, and there are many insurance fraud provisions in, uh, section two.

16. 0:24:23

    You may have gotten a letter from the, uh, National Insurance Crime Bureau, which points out that insurance fraud, that is not a victimless crime, because what it's doing is it is, uh, causing cost on hardworking, honest people who are paying their bills, uh, by driving up their premiums. So, uh, insurance fraud is something that we tackle through this bill. Uh, section three, uh, requests the insurance commissioner to work with the Department of Economic Development to invite insurance companies to put their regional or national headquarters here in Georgia.

17. 0:24:58

    If you look at Aflac, if you look at State Farm in Dunwoody, if you look at Primerica out in Gwinnett County, those are good jobs. And also they're active members of the community and they treat insureds well if they're here. And so inviting insurance companies to come to Georgia and domicile in Georgia and have offices here is something that would be beneficial. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner goes to conferences and does various things where they'll have opportunities to do that. And so we steer them to working with economic development to recruit those companies to move here and to, you know, study things that might be impediments to insurance companies moving here like the premium tax over time.

18. 0:25:37

    Section four, this is a storm claim mitigation provision. We heard from people at the Savannah meeting and then many people in Augusta and all throughout Georgia who were hit by Hurricane Helene. That was our largest insurance event in Georgia history. That was our Hurricane Katrina. And so we learned a lot about storm claim management and how to get that done quicker. Georgia did a better job under Hurricane Helene than we did in Hurricane, the previous big hurricane a few years earlier, but there's still room for improvement.

19. 0:26:08

    And this brought some good ideas to bear there. On section five, we did not adjust the premium tax. That certainly is worth discussion over time. But one thing we did is we made sure that our local governments are sitting down, making an account of how they are spending that premium tax money in a way that's going to benefit policyholders. And we did get some input from our local governments on the wording of that paragraph in section five. Section six, this came from Chairman Lumsden's bill, House Bill 1263.

20. 0:26:42

    Right now, the premium tax clawback or refund provision arguably is indefinite. On the other hand, taxpayers and business people, it's three years or less to get a tax refund if there's an error. And we had one insurance company seven years later claw back $150 million from the state. And that just caused all sorts of budgetary problems. So Chairman Lumsden, section six caps it at three years, just like regular taxpayers or business people.

21. 0:27:14

    On section seven, this is President Pro Tem Larry Walker's aerial images bill, Senate Bill 409, with some amendments that he has made over the last few days after meeting with more affected parties. And what this does, it put guardrails on the use of aerial images in the course of underwriting and claims and insurance companies dealing with their insureds. Section eight, this is a statute of limitations issue that came up from a case from Hurricane Michael called the Shingler case where someone, they spent time with their insurance company on the claim on a farm and they got to week number 54 and they were at an impasse.

22. 0:28:05

    They filed suit within days of hearing no. And the court in that case said, your time barred, your one year is up. Well, one year is an unusual statute of limitations. This puts a two year statute of limitations on property and casualty claims because we heard testimony from Hurricane Helene that we are down to a very small percentage of claims left from Hurricane Helene about a year and a half later. So two years gives ample time for people to deal with their differences or take it on to court.

23. 0:28:38

    Section nine, this is additional storm damage mitigation. And this comes from the Fortified Homes program, which already has begun in earnest in Georgia. This expands that. Surrounding states are using that to help senior citizens shore up their homes and have their homes protected from claims occurring through wind and flood and things like that. I know in Houston, Texas, after Hurricane Harvey, a lot was done locally to keep people from having more floods in their home and have flood mitigation.

24. 0:29:10

    This Fortified Homes program, they're headquartered in South Carolina. They have a really neat center where they'll blow wind at buildings and they'll test front doors and windows. And this will help people prevent claims and mitigate claims.

25. 0:29:30

    Fortified Homes.

26. 0:29:35

    Can't argue with that, definitely. Hopefully the new building across the street has been fortified for that purpose. Section 10, this deals with uninsured motorist enforcement. We got a lot of good ideas about increasing uninsured motorist enforcement. Again, hardworking Georgians who haven't bought a new car, who haven't made claims, they're seeing their auto insurance go up. And one of the reasons is we have a very high percentage of uninsured motorists and this bill will increase uninsured motorist enforcement.

27. 0:30:10

    Section 11, this is the update and the fines throughout the code. Chairman Lumsden and I and the study committee, we went through Title 33, the insurance code, and we updated those fines. I believe it's about 40 different fines that were updated in the code to make sure that if an insurance company violates the law or violates the contract that there is recourse and they'll be held accountable. Uh, and that citizens will be served well by their insurance companies with good customer service.

28. 0:30:41

    Section 12, uh, may look familiar. You passed it out here. It was Chairman Harbin's bill about Airbnb, uh, insurance offerings, uh, and marketplace guarantees, and it, it irons out an area with some gray areas of the law. Uh, but it's definitely growing and, and has a need for, um, some, uh, better laws. And appreciate, uh, Chairman Harbin's and this committee spending time on that previously, and glad to add it to this bill. Section 13 and following, these were some, uh, issues that came up.

29. 0:31:12

    They were at one time in House Bill 1042. These are about claims mitigation for judicial security and title claims and things like that. Uh, this, uh, I believe Senator Dixon was the judicial security sponsor originally. And, uh, we have made efforts to keep our judges safe and to keep their homes from getting vandalized and damaged or for them getting harmed or killed. But unfortunately, last year in Indiana after we adjourned, there was a judge and the judge's wife who were shot in their home through their front door and windows.

30. 0:31:46

    There was property damage, a health insurance claim. Thank goodness they weren't killed. That would've been a, a life insurance claim. But we added those judicial security follow-up provisions in here to prevent our judges from getting harmed, and claims arising from that. And then title insurance claims with special masters and things like that were in section 13, 14, and 15. The effective date, care was placed in that to make sure there's a time, uh, for these, uh, items to be reviewed before they go into effect. That is an overview. I know some of these things may be more detailed than others, but I know we had a thorough subcommittee hearing yesterday, so definitely wanna spend time on what you have questions about.

31. 0:32:26

    Uh, there are some, um, matters that our study committee had, uh, in various legislation. I'm still talking to, uh, president pro tem and chairman about, and maybe we'll be back on Thursday for other matters. But, uh, I present to you this bill and respectfully request your approval of it, and glad to answer questions about the bill.

32. 0:32:44

    Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I'm reminded of what the speaker said to me at the beginning of session. He says, "We're in this together. We're not against each other." And I think that's a real good word for us, and we're really about the people of Georgia and what do we do in the situations, whether it's COVID, whether it's hurricanes back to back, or auto insurance issues. Tell me this. On section three, I was just gonna ask you about the issue of premium tax was discussed, and that's an issue that... Am I correct? That is also one of the issues that has kept some of the, how do I say, bringing companies in here.

33. 0:33:17

    Is that the, is that what I understood you were saying? Uh, or that was five, I believe, was it, that you were talking about.

34. 0:33:23

    Let's see. Uh, y- uh, section three, that is the recruitment of insurance companies. But yes, we did hear testimony at the committee. And then, uh, Majority Whip Robertson, I believe, uh, Senator Harbison mentioned AFLAC has its domicile in another state.

35. 0:33:39

    Oh, yeah.

36. 0:33:40

    Uh, and I believe due to the premium tax issue here in Georgia. We do have a high premium tax. Um, a portion of the premium tax goes to local governments-

37. 0:33:48

    Right

38. 0:33:48

    ... and there will need to be study over time. I know the House Ways and Means Committee has studied this issue and may bring, uh, some legislation in the future. But this bill does not touch the amount of the premium tax, but I think study needs to be done to see if changes of that will help recruit more insurance companies to have their, uh, legal headquarters here. But what this bill is doing is getting the insurance commissioner and economic development, uh, commissioner to invite companies to put offices here. Because those offices are good real estate value, they're good jobs, they do great in the community, and, uh, they're gonna treat, uh, customers well if they have a good sales force locally.

39. 0:34:26

    And so we wanna have more insurance companies, uh, feel at home here in Georgia.

40. 0:34:30

    The chairman would say, like a good neighbor, he'd like to have them here, right?

41. 0:34:33

    Absolutely.

42. 0:34:36

    Section, I was gonna ask you, um, and, and that, that's the part I, I think a lot of people don't understand, that there's a tax on premium because it's not-

43. 0:34:43

    Right

44. 0:34:43

    ... it's not out, out in the open as far as that. It's kinda hidden in that respect. So that's a great job.

45. 0:34:48

    It's, it's $2 billion hidden.

46. 0:34:50

    How, how, how much was that?

47. 0:34:52

    $2 billion.

48. 0:34:53

    Now-

49. 0:34:53

    Now-

50. 0:34:53

    ... both parts? State-

51. 0:34:54

    ... um, I think a little bit more than that goes to the locals, and then-

52. 0:34:58

    Got it

53. 0:34:58

    ... um, l- less than a billion goes to the state. But about 2 billion total a year.

54. 0:35:03

    Still a lot of money.

55. 0:35:03

    A lot of money.

56. 0:35:04

    And, and, and I really like section 8 'cause the timing issue, especially when we had the hurricanes back to back, the ability to get claims closed, things of that nature, I think that's a, a really, really good, good thing. Uh, I, you gave me a number in our conversations on section 10. What percentage of Georgia drivers do not have any insurance? And, and I wanna say y-

57. 0:35:27

    It's about 20% overall, but, uh, a friend from Milledgeville pointed out, uh, who was in law enforcement, uh, that's not 20% uniformly across the state. There are plenty of places where it's a lot more than 20%. Uh, so that's an urgent need, to make sure people are getting insurance before they crank up the car and get out on our roads. Because-

58. 0:35:49

    Right

59. 0:35:49

    ... what that's doing is it's passing on the cost to-

60. 0:35:51

    Yeah

61. 0:35:52

    ... people who are working hard to pay their bills. And, uh, that create, that, there'll, there's a lot of stress about uninsured motorist claims in the legal system. And so having more drivers insured will make things better in so many ways.

62. 0:36:04

    Very, very true, especially in the day that we're in when the prices are, of cars are actually higher. We've, uh, last year we, I was working on, uh, the D- a DUI, uh, issue, and we've not raised our, uh, limits of auto in 14 years. So I mean, it's there and car prices have gone up.

63. 0:36:20

    Yeah.

64. 0:36:20

    Okay, number 12.

65. 0:36:21

    Ch- Chairman Harbison, that brings up an issue. There, there are many good ideas an insurance study committee heard. We focused on the ones that will make insurance more affordable.

66. 0:36:31

    Affordable.

67. 0:36:31

    Uh, we had plenty of improvements of claims and mitigation of claims, but we didn't wanna do anything that's gonna increase costs-

68. 0:36:38

    Right

69. 0:36:38

    ... in insurance.

70. 0:36:39

    Right.

71. 0:36:39

    This makes insurance more affordable.

72. 0:36:41

    Gotcha. I gotcha. Senator Steels.

73. 0:36:44

    Thank you, Chairman. I love this. The third time I've heard this presentation. Uh, none as exciting and colorful as doing it at 6:00 AM though. So thank you for, uh, for that. I applaud the, the whip for keeping everybody awake and focused. And we, uh, we dug into this for, for two hours then, and we've hit it in 20 minutes today. Um-

74. 0:37:06

    It's on tape if anybody wants to watch it.

75. 0:37:08

    Yeah. I- It's how I went to bed last night. It was awesome. Um, the- Um, the point you made about tort reform, I don't wanna lose sight of the fact that insurance companies are coming back, premiums are going down. You and I were talking earlier today about our neighbors to the south that have seen over a billion dollars decreased because their tort reform measure is working. Um, how do we know that this is gonna continue to, to put premiums in a downward direction?

76. 0:37:45

    We, we studied other states. That was the excess premium billion dollar and, and we're continuing to discuss that with y'all, and appreciate it. Um, we looked at, um, what I wanna call low-hanging fruit. You know, what are things that we know of here in Georgia? What are things that are working in other states? What are things that, uh, people knowledgeable about insurance, uh, have seen, uh, result in tangible results for pocketbooks for insureds around the country? That's what, that's what we included in this bill.

77. 0:38:14

    Great.

78. 0:38:14

    Things that are working, uh, and will give people an immediate, uh, financial benefit, uh, to 11 million Georgians.

79. 0:38:22

    I just appreciate all the hard work you and the chairman of the committee have put into this. Uh, I know that it has been a, a, a true labor of love to, to get this put the way you do. And, and every Georgian will feel the results of this, so thank you.

80. 0:38:34

    Thank you.

81. 0:38:37

    Senator Merritt.

82. 0:38:39

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Section 12, that came from SB 503? The rental home marketplace about Airbnbs. Well, it doesn't say specifically Airbnbs-

83. 0:38:51

    I'm, I'm getting there

84. 0:38:52

    ... but it does-

85. 0:38:52

    Section 11's so long. All right. There we go. Section 12, that, uh, I believe did come from... Yes, that is from Senate Bill 503 that this committee passed out. Senator Harbin's, uh, sponsored it, so you've seen it previously.

86. 0:39:09

    Okay. So it was just subbed in.

87. 0:39:11

    Correct.

88. 0:39:12

    Okay. But, uh, I get... I had issues with that bill specifically because it's not insurance. It's acting like insurance.

89. 0:39:21

    Sure.

90. 0:39:22

    Um, I would still have an issue with... I mean, for this to be included with the bill, I would still have a issue-

91. 0:39:28

    Mm-hmm

92. 0:39:28

    ... with the bill if that is included in here.

93. 0:39:30

    Uh, our committee deals with what is sent to us.

94. 0:39:33

    I got you. Uh, did anything change from the House?

95. 0:39:38

    Chairman Harbin, is this the same, um-

96. 0:39:40

    Same bill.

97. 0:39:40

    Same.

98. 0:39:41

    Senator Hicks, timeline was-

99. 0:39:42

    This actually, uh, Senator Merritt, this got added, uh, by the Senate after it passed the House. So this is the same version that y'all passed out.

100. 0:39:50

     I got you. Okay. Thank you.

101. 0:39:53

     Thanks.

102. 0:39:53

     Chairman Harbin, is, is your bill 503 dead in the House? Is that why you're putting it in here?

103. 0:39:58

     It got resuscitated.

104. 0:39:59

     They, they added their language.

105. 0:40:02

     That's what I was asking.

106. 0:40:03

     It went, it went from three pages to 30 pages, 'cause he was kind enough to share with me his, um, his language was in that bill as well, so it, it, it was so heavy it, it sunk.

107. 0:40:15

     Senator Gooch, we're working, we're working with the chairman on that, so.

108. 0:40:18

     Okay. Right. Where she could support the bill.

109. 0:40:21

     All right.

110. 0:40:22

     Yeah. Senator Walker.

111. 0:40:25

     I wanna thank both-

112. 0:40:26

     Okay

113. 0:40:26

     ... of you, uh, for your good work on this. This is very good. And I just wanna remind ourselves and the audience that, uh, in the last several years, we passed legislation surrounding fortified homes, you mentioned that, um, to, uh, allow insurance companies to give a credit for fortified, on the premium for fortified homes. We passed legislation surrounding a disaster savings account so that people get tax-favored savings in the event of a, a property loss, and they can, um...

114. 0:41:03

     The idea is that they can increase their homeowner's deductible, reduce their premium, because they've got this, uh, tax-favored, uh, savings account. Last year, we, uh, really kinda led the nation in changing the non-renewal statute on homeowners insurance from 30 days to 60 days to give homeowners more time to, uh, remedy the problem, or find other coverage, or not be caught, you know, without coverage. Uh, we also passed what I call the storm chaser model last year after Hurricane Michael and then Hurricane Helene.

115. 0:41:39

     We saw unscrupulous contractors come in and, uh, insurance companies were assigning the insurance benefit to the co- through contract to the contractor. Uh, and the contractor wasn't performing the work possibly, and so this is to protect the consumer. Um, and then of course, tort reform is already making a big difference. So we've made some really good strides, and I think this just, um, continues to carry forward our interest in helping Georgians, uh, be able to afford insurance and to be sure they're protected, uh, in the event of a claim.

116. 0:42:18

     And, uh, and the folks that are gaming the system and not carrying insurance or are doing fraud, they're gonna be, uh, penalized. So I commend you on this. Good job.

117. 0:42:32

     Thank you, President Pro Tem.

118. 0:42:34

     Yeah.

119. 0:42:34

     You know, back when this was in the House, I said we worked across the state and we worked across the aisle to make insurance more affordable. We, uh, got about 170 votes on this in the House. And then since crossover day, appreciate you working with us to, uh, uh, add, uh, many good ideas, uh, that you have. Thank you.

120. 0:42:53

     Any other, any other questions? Any other I know that, that was here. I was just, I was gonna say this, is that in Florida there was a report it took about two years for their tort reform really to take place, and our tort reform is starting to take place really a little bit ahead of that, which I think is good. Having additional markets, having rate decreases, um, having a carrier come back that had left the state from that standpoint. So really, really good in that respect. So, uh, thanks for what you're do- what you're doing as far as that. Yes?

121. 0:43:21

     At the appropriate time, Mr. Chair.

122. 0:43:23

     At the appropriate time. Uh, I'm assuming I had, I had another... Okay, it's the appropriate time if you would like.

123. 0:43:29

     Okay. Move to pass House Bill 1344, LC 46, fif- 1559S.

124. 0:43:36

     Thank you. So we got a second. Any, any further discussion? No discussion. All in favor, raise your right hand.

125. 0:43:50

     All opposed, raise your right hand. All right. We got one, two... Okay. Very good. Thank you for your hard work.

126. 0:43:57

     Thanks a lot.

127. 0:43:57

     Look forward to working with you-

128. 0:43:58

     Appreciate it

129. 0:43:59

     ... making things happen. Thanks so much.

130. 0:44:00

     Thank you. Thanks a lot.

131. 0:44:01

     Great job. Thank you.

132. 0:44:02

     All right. Appreciate it.

133. 0:44:19

     Just don't really need it, just the committee. Uh, what? Just about it. I want to tell the committee- Hold on just a sec. Just a second, please. Sen- Senator Walker would like to say something. Go for it.

134. 0:44:31

     Uh, y'all have heard me talk about NCOIL, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators. Their next meeting is in Louisville, Kentucky, April 16th through 19th, and they do provide, uh, stipends for legislators to help defray some of the costs, but it's a really, really good program. I just want to make you aware, April 16th through 19th in L- Louisville, Kentucky. Thank you.