Officials with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry say lawmakers made progress toward tort reform, a key legislative issue watched by the organization.
Prior to the start of the session - which wrapped May 13 - the chamber pointed to reports claiming unfair judiciary practices in Missouri. The American Tort Reform Association ranked the state fourth on its annual list of Judicial Hellholes, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform’s Lawsuit Climate Survey placed Missouri at No. 42, a decline from 31st in 2008.
“The reforms passed in 2016 are a positive step forward and, should they be signed into law, will help repair our national reputation and signal that it’s safe to do business in Missouri,” state chamber President and CEO Dan Mehan said in a news release.
The organization pointed to two bills passed during the session:
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Senate Bill 591, sponsored by Sen. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, which requires expert witnesses who testify to have knowledge specific to the topic at hand; and
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SB 847, legislation sponsored by Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, which would limit recoveries in injury lawsuits to only the actual medical expenses incurred.
“The current number of lawsuits in Missouri is alarming, and people in this state are the ones paying for the cost,” Emery said in a separate news release. “These measures are just one step forward to improving a poorly functioning legal system.”
In the January Springfield Business Journal article, “
Tort reform: What’s at stake?”, Strong Garner Bauer PC attorney Steve Garner said the real need for reform in the civil justice system should be less breaks for businesses and their insurance companies.
“They’re doing what insurance companies do; they want to limit their exposure but they’re doing it by slandering the Missouri justice system,” Garner said at the time.
Budget wrap-up
An end-of-session news release issued by the Missouri Senate provides a glimpse into the state budget passed during the session.
The release pointed to the General Assembly’s passage of a $27.3 billion budget that includes a $71 million increase for the K-12 formula and a 4 percent boost for public higher education institutions. It also includes a 30 percent increase for the state’s Medicaid system.
However, Appropriations Chairman Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, said the Medicaid bump is not in Missouri’s best interests.
“Its spending is consuming every single dollar of (general revenue) growth for the year, and the federal government gives us few choices in where we can spend it,” he said in the release. “We cannot as a state sustain this kind of growth.”
