As the General Assembly continues to advance legislation, SB1587/HB1706 remains a key bill we are actively engaged in and monitoring on your behalf.
As introduced, SB1587/HB1706 would impose significant penalties on trucking companies that employ commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders who may not be legally entitled to hold a CDL and who are involved in accidents. We have been actively engaged with House leadership to secure substantial changes to the bill. Those efforts have resulted in important revisions, including restoring punitive damages caps, eliminating fines, removing qui tam actions, redefining “employer,” and adding a safe harbor provision for companies that utilize E-Verify to confirm driver eligibility. The bill is now significantly narrowed and largely limited to actions the state must take to report CDL holders who are “unlawfully present” in Tennessee and accidents involving those CDL holders.
The bill passed out of the House Transportation Subcommittee with near-unanimous support and is scheduled for hearings in the House Transportation Full Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee this week.
Despite progress, several important concerns remain. We have repeatedly sought to remove the “strict liability” language from the bill, but have not yet been successful. Efforts to explain that trucking companies are already subject to liability under existing vicarious liability principles have proven challenging with some members. Unresolved issues remain regarding how Tennessee’s comparative negligence framework would apply to these new causes of action, how MCS-90 endorsements would be treated, and whether the bill would impose strict liability on state officials. We have also proposed alternative language to prevent unintended insurance coverage gaps for existing policyholders and expect that the revision will be adopted as an amendment during committee consideration this week.
We will continue to work closely with the bill sponsors and key committee members as the legislation moves forward and will keep you informed of any material developments. Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions or concerns as this legislation progresses.
