ATLANTA – Today, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce issued the following statement after the Georgia State House of Representatives passed SB 68, the omnibus bill in Governor Brian Kemp’s meaningful, comprehensive tort reform package. SB 68 passed with a bipartisan vote. SB 68 now returns to the Georgia State Senate for agreement before heading to Governor Kemp to be signed into law.
The Georgia State House will continue to debate SB 69, the second bill comprising Governor Kemp’s tort reform package, which passed the Georgia State Senate in a unanimous, bipartisan vote.
Chris Clark, President & CEO of the Georgia Chamber said:
“The Georgia Chamber of Commerce and our tens of thousands of members across the state, applaud the Georgia State House of Representatives for passing SB 68, the first part of Governor Brian Kemp’s tort reform package. We especially thank Speaker of the House Jon Burns for the instrumental role he played in passing this meaningful piece of legislation.
“SB 68 will curb lawsuit abuse while protecting families, small businesses, the medical community, and Georgia’s economic competitiveness. For the past 20 years, securing tort reform has been the top legislative priority of the Georgia Chamber. The House passage of SB 68 takes us to the brink of finally delivering meaningful tort reform for Georgia. We look forward to working with Georgia’s legislative leaders to do right by Georgians and finish the job by getting both SB 68 and SB 69 signed into law so our courts can focus on justice—not jackpots.”
SB 69 appears as a good document to control and/or prohibit financial litigation support from sources outside the State of Georgia. I think it should incorporate some of the same limitations to financial litigation to organizations within the State of Georgia, not all, but some of the litigations.
I don’t particularly care for SB 68 as it is written. I believe judge discretion and professional attorney standards should prevail. Of course, that’s like continuing to allow the fox to control the chicken coop.