The state legislature’s non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau is unearthing provisions buried in the budget introduced last month by Governor Jim Doyle.
For example, the bureau’s Summary of the Governor’s Budget Recommendations, available on my website at http://budget.senatordaleschultz.com, puts the light to provisions that you pay dearly for by raising the cost of your car insurance.
In a minute we’ll see why trial attorneys are the vocal advocates for these bad ideas. First, let’s consider why Wisconsin drivers currently enjoy the third lowest car insurance rates of all fifty states.
Our rates are low because our driver financial responsibility law is progressive public policy. Under the law, you lose your driver’s license and vehicle registration if you’re found responsible and can’t cover damages in a crash. Having car insurance makes you financially responsible. The carrot and stick approach, plus relatively few uninsured drivers in our state, combine to give us affordable rates.
The law sets minimum coverage levels at $25,000 bodily injury per person, $50,000 bodily injury per accident, and $10,000 property damage. Trial attorneys love the Governor for trying to raise the minimum to $100,000, $300,000 and $25,000 respectively.
Since the current 25/50/10 limits cover total damages in ninety percent of all claims, why do the trial attorneys want us to have unnecessary coverage? The answer is coming, but there’s more to the story.
If you have car insurance and the trial attorneys get their way, in a few months you’ll be forced to buy underinsured motorist coverage at $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. Today, underinsured coverage is optional!
Trial attorneys are also praising the Governor for tucking in the budget more car insurance changes to mandate “stacking”, broaden the definition of “underinsured motor vehicle” and prohibit reducing clauses. Each of these policy changes will further raise your cost for car insurance.
These policy changes will raise everyone’s car insurance costs leading some drivers to drop coverage altogether. Buckle up and be on the defensive; you’ll be sharing the road with more uninsured drivers.
It’s obvious these public policy issues have no business in a fiscal budget. But it’s an old trick to stick unpopular items in a budget when the courage is lacking to vote for the items separately.
Fact: Democrat legislators control Wisconsin’s Assembly and Senate and if they fail to help me yank these mandates out of the budget, you and other responsible drivers will soon have the nation’s highest minimum car insurance levels and we’ll go from the third lowest to among the highest cost states for car insurance.
Rural drivers would be hit harder than urban and suburban drivers by these changes. The more miles you drive, the higher your insurance cost. And rural residents drive many more miles for work, school and everywhere else. It’s a cruel plan for rural families with no public transit and household incomes averaging far below an area like Madison.
Please ask your insurance agent how these changes will affect you and family members. Then ask your state legislators to join me in standing up for you instead of special interests on this issue.
So, where will your additional dollars go if the trial attorneys win and your car insurance costs jump? Bet on a windfall for the trial attorneys. With higher insurance coverage, we’ll see many more claims litigated and attorneys will receive higher settlements from your insurance company and win more big awards from juries.
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