Miss. Legislative Session Ends with Little Impact on Insurers

The regular session of the Mississippi legislature adjourned earlier this month, with lawmakers passing a $3.6 billion budget and passing only a few bills relating to property/casualty insurers.

“There were 214 bills introduced during the session which related to insurers; only 11 passed, and none were detrimental to the industry,” said James Taylor, southeastern regional manager of the National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII).

Seven of the bills that passed were sponsored by the department of insurance, mostly dealing with “housekeeping” issues, Taylor said. One exception was H.B. 1113, which created the Mississippi Residential Property Insurance Underwriting Association to replace the old Rural Risk Underwriting Association.

The other four bills that passed were: S.B. 2628, creating the Medical Malpractice Insurance Availability Act; H.B. 787, which reenacts and removes the Repealer Insurance Integrity Enforcement Bureau; H.B. 1184, which deletes certain accident reports; and H.B. 1312, which provides liability protection for sponsors or advertisers of events.

Several onerous bills were defeated, including H.B. 792, which would have reportedly provided that physical contact is not necessary if uninsured driver causes accident under uninsured motorist coverage; H.B. 1090, which would have prohibited the use of competitive auto repair parts without the vehicle owner’s consent; and S.B. 2134, requiring healthcare providers to create a lien upon claims or actions of an injured person with an unpaid healthcare provider bill.