Dems Sock Working Poor with Higher Auto Insurance Bills
The internet blog “Red Maryland” posted a video yesterday that reminds Maryland’s citizens about the fact that the Democrats are beholden to the labor unions and the trial lawyers.
The video contains a quote from Senator Thomas “Mac” Middleton (D-District 28) from a Maryland Association of Counties symposium held last fall where he confesses that: “It is labor [unions] and trial lawyers that get Democrats in office and you don’t bite off the hand that feeds you.” (to see the entire “Dueling Democrats” video, click here)
The power of the trial lawyers (known in Annapolis by the moniker of “Maryland Association for Justice”) was never more evident than in the Senate passage yesterday of House Bill 825 – Vehicle Laws – Required Security – Minimum Amounts.
The rumor in Annapolis is that the trial lawyers met with Governor Martin O’Malley and told him that they had not gotten anything over the last four years in return for their campaign support in 2006. So suddenly, a bill is rushed through the 2010 legislative session that pits the trial lawyers against the working poor. Guess who wins?
The bill would hike the minimum security required on a motor vehicle liability insurance policy from $20,000/$40,000 policy limits to $30,000/$60,000. While the bill would not directly affect most drivers (who carry policies far above the minimum limits), it would raise rates by over $300 per year for the working poor who struggle to pay for insurance at the minimum limits.
Why is the bill important to the trial lawyers? As Jay Hancock of the Baltimore Sun notes in his blog: “Lawyers typically take home 30 percent of a settlement, and auto cases are often settled to the limit of the insurance coverage. That would be an incentive to lobby for higher limits even if other factors stayed equal. But they haven't. Thanks to the recession, campaigns against drunk driving and safer cars, auto injuries and deaths have plummeted. As Dresser wrote a few weeks ago, U.S. traffic fatalities reached their lowest level in 55 years in 2009, falling 9 percent from the year previously. . . We can be reasonably sure that traffic deaths are a good proxy for accidents, injuries and lawsuits generally. No wonder the trial bar wants a raise. So many lawyers, so few crashes. A basic business rule is that, when you have fixed overhead and your volume goes down, you try to raise prices.”
Most Republican Senators opposed the bill and led a spirited debate in support of the advocacy groups that lobbied against the mandatory increase. Those groups included Maryland Alliance for the Poor, Job Opportunities Task Force, Public Justice Center, Episcopal Community Services of Maryland, Vehicles for Change and the NAACP Maryland State Conference.
The firepower of the trial lawyers was too great and the bill passed by a vote of 27 for and 20 against. However, the bill was amended in committee so that the law and the insurance rate hike will not take effect until after Election Day.
Some of the most impassioned floor speeches of the 2010 session were from Democrat Senators who abandoned the Democrat majority and voted against the bill:
Senator Delores G. Kelley (D-District 10): One of the reasons I came here was to represent ordinary people. And I fear with this bill we are making a mistake. I don’t see how we won’t have more uninsured people as a result of this. When you don’t have money and you don’t have a job, you don’t have healthcare, you don’t know how you are going to eat. The shelters in my district are filling up, I’ve been giving to folks in shelters like I never thought I’d be personally involved with. People who have degrees don’t have jobs right now. The timing doesn’t make sense. Why would we add, for people who have the minimum, at a time we are in the worse economic downturn since the great depression. I don’t know if under other times we would need to have this debate but think about it. The time is very poor, more than the normal number of people who are at the margin are out there today in this great state of Maryland. Many people can’t sit, as we do, and expect that they know where there next meal is coming from. The jobs have flown from inner cities and inner beltways to outer areas. To get to work they must drive their old jalopies that are breaking down. We hear that gasoline is going to $3 a gallon before the summer is out. Why would we do this now?
Senator George W. Della, Jr. (D-District 46): I’ve been down here for 28 years and have enjoyed every minute of it. It was all because I wanted to make a difference. All because I wanted to truly represent people. . . I spend a lot of time out on the street up in Baltimore City. There’s a Cross Street Market - I don’t know if you’ve ever been there. It’s a great place for lunch to go to talk to people, and to listen to people. I always walk back to the office with a bunch of messages in my pocket of things to do for people. They always ask me one thing: “What did you do for me?” You know it’s a tough bunch I represent. “What did you do for me?” And I always like to tell them something positive. Well I’ll be dog-gone if I’m going to go home next Tuesday and go to the Cross Street Market to have my coffee, have my bacon and egg sandwich and stand there and say “I increased your insurance premium.” “I increased you insurance premium!” I’ll be dog-gone if I’m going to do that. I don’t think it is the right thing to do.