The Oregon House of Representatives today voted 39-20 to ensure that Oregon auto insurance consumers can actually use liability coverage they pay for every month.
Senate Bill 411 removes a longstanding loophole that has prevented approximately 500,000 Oregonians from ever being able to use their Underinsured Motorist Coverage—even though they pay for the coverage and expect it to be there when they need it.
“More Oregonians would be surprised to find out that they can’t access coverage they’re paying for, and they find out after being in an accident,” said Rep. Paul Holvey (D-Eugene). “This is catastrophic to a lot of people in this situation. They don’t have money to pay bills, they’re out of work, and they go into financial ruin.”
“Without this fix, many more people will have their lives ruined, through no fault of their own,” Rep. Holvey added. “We have a duty to make sure that people are getting the coverage they’re paying for.”
>Drivers are required to carry a minimum of $25,000 in Underinsured Motorist Coverage. But if they are injured in an accident caused by an underinsured motorist, the current law is that the atfault driver’s insurance (a minimum of $25,000) is subtracted from the victim’s Underinsured Motorist Coverage—for a half million Oregonians, this means they’ll never be able to access the full coverage they’re paying for.
SB 411 will allow injured motorists to add their uninsured motorist coverage on top of the atfault driver’s liability coverage so injured consumers get the coverage they paid for. The bill also ensures that Personal Injury Protection policyholders are able to recover their total damages first, before their insurance company.
“Oregonians expect that when they pay for insurance policies every single month, they’ll be fully covered in the event of a bad accident,” said Rep. Jennifer Williamson (D-Portland). “This bill will help make sure working families are covered when they need it most.”
SB 411 passed the Senate in February and will now go to Governor Kate Brown for her signature.
