Bill aims to lift minimum insurance requirement for carriers to $5 million
Legislation introduced in the U.S. House by a group of Democratic lawmakers would lift the minimum insurance requirement for motor carriers to $5 million from the current $750,000.
The Fair Compensation for Truck Crash Victims Act would also index the new minimum insurance requirement to inflation.
In a statement, lead sponsors Rep. Jesus “Chuy” García of Illinois and Derek Tran of California said increasing outdated insurance requirements can protect “truck crash victims and their loved ones from the financial debt caused by loss of life or lifelong injuries in a catastrophic truck crash.” The Truck Safety Coalition, Parents Against Tired Truckers, and Road Safe America are among the groups that have endorsed the legislation.
The $750,000 minimum insurance requirement for interstate motor carriers was first set in 1980. Similar legislation has been introduced several other times in recent years, but has failed to advance.
The bill was referred to the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. Chairman Rep. Sam Graves (R-Kan.) recently announced his retirement but said the committee would soon begin moving a draft surface transportation reauthorization bill. The current highway funding law expires on Sept. 30.
In a report sent to Congress earlier this year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said that “the landscape of crash costs” exceeds existing minimum financial responsibility requirements, and there is “a disparity between current minimums and the actual costs incurred in some fatal and severe/critical injury incidents.”
However, FMCSA noted that its ability to provide a thorough assessment of motor carrier financial responsibility requirements is limited due to factors such as outdated data and the confidentiality of lawsuits under non-disclosure agreements.
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Well said Jim! I couldn’t agree with this more!
Dear Members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure / Representatives,
I am writing as a concerned Texas commercial truck insurance agent / small business owner to strongly oppose H.R. 8218, the Fair Compensation for Truck Crash Victims Act, which would raise the federal minimum liability insurance requirement for interstate motor carriers from $750,000 to $5 million.
While I support ensuring crash victims receive fair compensation, simply raising the minimum insurance limit without meaningful tort reform will not achieve that goal. Instead, it will dramatically increase litigation and drive-up costs for everyone. Without caps on damages—similar to the protections medical doctors receive under Texas medical malpractice laws—this change will encourage more lawsuits and larger settlements, creating an even bigger cash grab for opportunistic plaintiffs and attorneys. Most claims do not require $5 million; the current $750,000 level (unchanged since 1980) already covers the vast majority of cases, yet the lack of reasonable thresholds invites excessive claims.
In Texas, many small trucking companies and owner-operators are already struggling with insurance affordability. Average annual premiums for $1 million in liability coverage are running around $25,000 per truck. Raising the required minimum to $5 million will force most carriers to purchase expensive excess/umbrella policies on top of primary coverage, making premiums completely unaffordable for the majority of Texas-based operators. This will lead to more carriers exiting the industry, reduced capacity, higher shipping costs passed on to consumers, and potential job losses—exactly the opposite of what we need for a strong supply chain.
If Congress truly wants safer roads and better protection for victims, the solution should include both updated minimum coverage and balanced reforms to limit frivolous or inflated lawsuits, just as Texas has done successfully with medical malpractice caps (non-economic damages limited to protect providers while still allowing full economic recovery). Raising insurance requirements alone is not the answer—it simply shifts more money to insurers and litigators without improving safety.
I urge you to reject or amend H.R. 8218 to include these critical protections. Thank you for your time and consideration of the real-world impact this legislation would have on hardworking Texas truckers and the communities we serve.
Changes are necessary but the house and senate need to also identify why there are so many dog gone bill board lawyers looking for a truck to chase. A change to increase the insurance minimums also requires a change to the laws to protect trucking companies and insurance companies from the unscrupulous methods that lawyers are using to obtain nuclear verdicts.
The current environment is just a playground for plaintiff lawyers to encourage any scratch, dent and bump into a injury claim which needs to stop.
At the very least, all the technology that carrier’s install in the truck should not be automatically assumed that the plaintiff should have that ‘evidence’. A plaintiff’s legal team should not expect to obtain the dash video of the defense if the plaintiff’s vehicle was not installed with one.
The current system is not an award for damages – it is a reward.