Governor gets wish for 2025 Legislature as bill to limit lawsuit damage awards awaits his signature
Sen. Randy Robertson talks to Sen. Blake Tillery and Sen. Brian Strickland during the debate over the Kemp-backed bill creating new limits on lawsuits in Georgia. Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder
It's official: Legislation to intended limit damages Georgia juries can award is heading to the governor's desk.
Kemp's legislative white whale, which will overhaul the way Georgia's civil litigation system functions and make it harder to prevail in lawsuits against negligent businesses, passed in a 34-21 vote Friday afternoon. The bill was forced to return to the Senate after being amended by the House, where it passed Thursday afternoon with the bare minimum 91 votes required to clear the chamber.
The new limits to damage awards outlined in Senate Bill 68 are immensely popular with business interests like the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, but it took a good deal of arm-twisting by top GOP power brokers to convince enough legislators to jump on board. At the start of the 2025 session, Gov. Brian Kemp had pledged to drag lawmakers back to Atlanta for a special session if 'meaningful, impactful' changes were not made to the state's civil justice system by the end of the regular session on April 4. His office also threatened to back primary challengers to any Republicans who opposed the bill. Ahead of the Friday vote, Republicans in the Senate briefly paused floor proceedings to assemble for a caucus meeting attended by Kemp.
The legislation also faced fierce opposition from Democrats, trial lawyers and survivors of sexual assault and human trafficking, who held waves of protests as the legislators debated the bill in the House Rules Subcommittee on Lawsuit Reform. The bill was eventually amended to carve out greater protections for survivors of human trafficking, but lawmakers in both chambers voted down amendments that would have extended similar protections to children, the elderly and sexual assault victims.
As in the House, the final Senate vote did not fall cleanly along party lines. Sen. Colton Moore, a Trenton Republican whose votes are routinely out of step with his party, spoke out against the bill, and SB 68's supporters included a few Democratic defectors: Sen. Ed Harbison of Columbus and Sen. Emanuel Jones of Decatur.
At a press conference held immediately after SB 68's passage, Kemp celebrated his legislative victory and commended lawmakers for their efforts in tackling such a complex issue.
'I was very excited to see bipartisan support in the House and in the Senate,' he said. 'I think that says a lot to the people of our state, regardless of the rhetoric that was going on around the bill and the tough politics around it, it shows that people were very thoughtful and that this is a big issue for our state.'
Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy, a Macon Republican who sponsored the bill, also applauded SB 68's passage, adding that the bill will 'continue to make sure that folks from the hardworking Georgians that have to pay insurance premiums to the rest of us that all want to live in this great state are doing so in a good, fair, competitive environment.'
Democrats swiftly condemned the SB 68's passage, citing concerns that it could give companies less incentive to protect their customers.
'We know that unfortunately, at some of these businesses, people are going to be harmed,' said Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II. 'This bill was a response to that, and that's why I say the response was either protect Georgians or protect insurance companies, and it is clear that this governor and the Republican Legislature decided to protect insurance companies.'
Trial lawyers, who warn about the unintended consequences SB 68 could create for Georgians seeking justice through the civil court system, also condemned the bill's passage.
'It will take years to know and understand the carnage this poorly written bill will leave in its wake as it is codified into law,' said Kara Phillips, a personal injury lawyer at the Atlanta firm Deitch & Rogers who has been speaking out against the bill. 'During that time numerous survivors and victims across the state of Georgia will not have access to civil justice. Today is a bad day for Georgians.'
Though the most contentious part of the lawsuit debate is over, legislators still have some work ahead of them. A companion bill, Senate Bill 69, which was also authored by Kennedy, has yet to come up for discussion in the House Rules Subcommittee on Lawsuit Reform. It is expected to come up for a vote in committee next week.
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