Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tort Reform Insurance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sen. Kimball urges cooler tone on tort debate, warns of insurance-driven small-business failures
Summary
On the Senate floor during the joint assembly day, Senator Kimball of Spartanburg called for less personal attacks in the statewide debate over proposed tort reforms and said two issues — underwriting clarity and insurers' obligation to pay claims — must be addressed to lower premiums and stem small-business closures.
On Feb. 19, 2025, on the floor of the South Carolina Senate during the joint session day, Senator Kimball of Spartanburg urged colleagues to lower the temperature in public and online debate over pending tort and insurance legislation, citing sharp personal attacks and urgent economic consequences for small businesses.
Kimball told senators he had been following the debate on social media and in constituent meetings and said he was concerned about the personal nature of some attacks. "The Twitter wars gotta stop. The personal attacks need to be brought down," he said on the Senate floor.
Kimball outlined two technical problems he said must be solved to reduce commercial insurance premiums: first, insurers must be able to underwrite risk with dependable actuarial tables; second, insureds and claimants must have a reliable path to payment once a claim is valid. "If they can't actually know what the cost is gonna be, the premiums are gonna keep going up and up," he said, adding that insurers also must be held to paying claims when liability is established.
He stressed the economic stakes for small businesses: "We cannot have another 5,400 business failures between now and the end of the year," Kimball said, noting bars and restaurants were being driven out of business as premiums rose. He urged colleagues to accept that compromise will leave some members "a little unhappy," but said that is the usual path to workable deals.
Kimball did not identify specific pending bills on the floor during his remarks; his comments were framed as an appeal for civility and for lawmakers to focus on technical fixes related to underwriting and claims handling as they consider tort-legislation options.
His remarks were delivered during a broader session that included nominations, introductions and committee reports; they were not tied to a formal motion or vote in the joint assembly record.
