Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Insurance Reform topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sen. Kimball urges cooler tone, urges fixes for small-business insurance crisis
Summary
Senator from Spartanburg Luke Kimball called on colleagues to reduce personal attacks and work toward bipartisan fixes for rising commercial insurance costs that he says are forcing small businesses to close. He outlined two core problems he believes must be addressed: predictable underwriting and insurers’ payment of legitimate claims.
Senator Kimball of Spartanburg used floor time Feb. 19 to call for a lower temperature in debate over pending tort and liability bills and to press for policy changes aimed at lowering insurance costs for small businesses.
Kimball told the Senate he has read the proposals and filed bills of his own, and said the public debate had become personal and unhelpful. “The personal attacks need to be brought down,” he said on the floor, urging colleagues to “find some way to get there.”
Kimball identified two core issues that, in his view, must be solved to bring premiums down: (1) creating conditions in which insurers can underwrite reliably by limiting unpredictable, runaway verdicts so actuaries can set rates; and (2) ensuring insurers pay legitimate claims when liabilities are established. He cited local business closures — “5,400 plus businesses that are going out of business, particularly in the bar and restaurant scene” as he described it — to explain urgency; he said small operators are seeing premiums spike and some are closing or losing profitability.
Kimball said he was not endorsing any particular insurer or trial-law position and urged colleagues to accept compromise, noting that “at some point, everybody’s gotta be a little unhappy to get a deal.” He concluded by urging senators to focus on policy solutions for lowering premiums for mom-and-pop businesses.
Why this matters: Tort and liability reforms would affect insurance markets, small-business costs and access to civil remedies. Kimball’s floor statement signals a push for compromise language and highlights the political pressure behind pending bills.
The remarks occurred during the Senate’s business period before the joint assembly returned to a joint session for judicial elections.
