The second part of Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s top priority to limit lawsuits and large verdicts won final approval from the House on Thursday
Georgia House approves the second part of sweeping plan to limit lawsuitsBy CHARLOTTE KRAMONAssociated Press/Report for AmericaThe Associated PressATLANTA
ATLANTA (AP) — The second part of Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s top priority to limit lawsuits and large verdicts won approval Thursday from the House. The full package, also called tort reform, is set to hit his desk in the coming weeks.
The bill, which seeks to limit predatory activity from third parties and foreign adversaries who invest in litigation, got overwhelming approval in the Senate and bipartisan support in the House, passing 98-69. But those moves come as lawmakers grapple with the fallout from political disputes over the first half of the proposal.
Senate Bill 69 requires third-party entities that invest in litigation to register with the Department of Banking and Finance and bans foreign adversaries and governments from investing in litigation, among other reforms. It also limits how much the funders of litigation can influence civil litigation proceedings and the people involved.
“What this bill does is puts regulation and parameters around an industry that is, frankly, wide open at this point,” House Republican Majority Whip Rep. James Burchett said Thursday.
The first part of the package, Senate Bill 68, won narrow final approval in the House last week and contains a series of changes that will overhaul Georgia’s litigation landscape, including limiting when property and business owners can be held accountable for injuries on their property.
Kemp said businesses are struggling to keep up with the costs of frivolous lawsuits and that insurance rates would stabilize with a balanced legal landscape, although the evidence for that assertion is uncertain.
Kemp promised the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, a top ally, that he would take action to limit lawsuits in 2023.
Senate Bill 68, which passed this year, generated an uproar from lawyers and survivors of sexual abuse, human trafficking and violence who said the bill would stop them and wronged Georgians from getting justice in court. Still, the bill picked up support from one Senate Democrat and three House Democrats.
State Rep. Stacey Evans, an Atlanta Democrat and lawyer, saw the bill as a handout to insurance companies and businesses, as did many of her Democratic colleagues. She said after it passed that she was disappointed in her colleagues who voted for it.
“Hard decisions are hard because you have to look people in the eye that you disappoint. I don’t want to disappoint those victims,” Evans said. “But guess what? Those victims won’t be here every day. But the Chamber will be here. Insurance companies will be here. And I think too many of my colleagues are worried about walking down the halls looking them in the eye and not worried about the people back home.”
A day later, Democratic state Rep. Mack Jackson, a Black Democrat who grew up in the 1960s and has previously split with his party, voted against the bill. He compared an unnamed Democratic colleague who donated to his reelection campaign with segregation-era figures George Wallace and Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor.
“I realized that somewhere in her subconscious mind, she thought that she had bought me and my freedom to choose,” Jackson said, adding that he returned her money because he doesn’t “want anyone to think that they own me.”
“The chains and shackles that she thought that she had on me had to be broken,” Jackson said. “Because in that very instance, I realized that she only tolerated me as long as I went along to get along.”
He then said other colleagues had approached him about money they donated to his campaign, and he plans to refund them.
On the other side, Republican state Rep. Vance Smith lost his job as the CEO of the Harris County Chamber of Commerce after voting against the first part of Kemp’s package, although he voted for the second part. Smith teared up on the House floor Tuesday as he talked about what happened. Democrats gathered behind him in support.
“I want to thank you. This is a family in here, and you won’t believe the calls and texts I’ve had,” Smith said.
Before the Senate vote on the first part of his proposal, Kemp threatened Republican detractors that he would fund primary opponents against them.
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Charlotte Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.
