Texas Senate Bills 30 and 39 Sacrifice your Safety for Corporate Profits
April 10, 2025
(832) 592-1108
Insurance Companies Are Trying to Protect Themselves at Texans' Expense with Texas Senate Bills 30 and 39
Texas has led the nation in large truck crashes since 2017, with more commercial vehicle wrecks than Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Colorado, Arizona, Nebraska, and Kansas combined. In 2023, Texas had 20,510 fatal and non-fatal truck crashes, the most of any state. Despite this, the Texas Senate is considering legislation that would further endanger Texas families.
Insurance and Trucking Lobbies Push Dangerous Bills
The insurance and commercial truck lobbies have introduced bills to drastically limit the responsibility of truck companies and their insurers in Texas.
The new legislation falls into two categories: damages caps and trucking liability restrictions. Senate Bill 30
and the corresponding House Bill 4806
cap non-economic damages, eliminate several categories of damages entirely, and artificially cap medical expenses.
These laws would
limit noneconomic damages to $250,000 in almost every case, no matter the injury — whether quadriplegia, brain damage, or severe burns result.
Liability for commercial trucking operators would be drastically limited by Senate Bill 39
and House Bill 4688. These bills shift the focus from the company to the driver, even though the company should be held accountable for its own failures and negligent actions and decisions. Say, for example, that a trucking company consistently makes its drivers illegally work more than federal “hours of service” laws allow, and as a result, one of their drivers falls asleep behind the wheel and causes catastrophic injuries to another person. In that case, Senate Bill 39 would stop the jury from learning about the trucking company’s illegal, dangerous policies, and would instead unfairly put the sole focus on the driver who fell asleep.
These bills pose a legitimate threat to the safety of Texas roadways, because American juries have consistently motivated important changes in corporate policies that regulations failed to address. Even the Texas Attorney General has relied on the jury system to affect important changes in corporate policies — most recently in a series of lawsuits stemming from the opioid crisis.
New Bills, Same Old Scare Tactics
Advocates of these bills claim that reducing liability will result in more money for insurance companies, and therefore lower costs for consumers. Unfortunately, they’re only half right: insurance company profits have reached new records, but premiums are higher than ever.
This isn’t the first time Texans have been sold a false bill of goods. In the early 2000s, “tort reform” was sold as a way to “lower premiums” by reducing liability costs for medical providers. Instead, our premiums have increased, and Texas has the highest number of uninsured residents of any state. It’s also virtually impossible to find an attorney to bring a case against a doctor or hospital, unless the person is a high wage earner or requires lifetime care due to the injury.
Insurers Pass Savings On To Themselves, Not Their Customers
According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the property casualty insurance industry earned $88 billion in profits in 2023 — its most profitable year of all time. In addition, AM Best reports that Q1 2024 saw profitability continue to surge, with net income reaching $40 billion, putting the industry on pace to shatter the 2023 record profits.
Evidently, they have chosen to reinvest these profits into lobbying efforts that would make themselves even richer at the expense of Texas citizens.
Texans Must Defeat This Irresponsible, Self-serving Legislation
- Contact your legislator: tell your representative that you firmly oppose Senate bills SB 39 and SB 30, and House Bills HB 4688 and HB 4806.
- Spread the word: share this information with your friends, family, and neighbors to make sure everyone knows what’s at stake.
- Find out which legislators represent your district here: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home
- Sign the Safe Roads Petition: https://www.texaswatch.org/we-need-safe-roads
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The information on this website is for general information purposes only. None of the information on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.
If you own a vehicle with keyless entry or a "push-to-start" ignition, you need to know about the relay attack.
Intersections and high center of gravity vehicles are associated with dangerous rollover crashes.
Can Parents be Held Liable for Their Child’s Negligence on an E-Bike?
When robot s rule the road, who's responsible for safety?
The crash at the intersection of Lake Woodlands and Grogans Mill knocked the wheels right off the Ford F-150.
On February 18, 2026, an accident involving a motorcycle and two other vehicles occurred on Aldine Westfield Road near Wood River Drive, Fox26 Houston reports. An off-duty officer was operating the motorcycle and was found unresponsive at the scene. Despite the efforts of EMS and firefighters, they were unable to save the deputy. The investigation into the crash is being handled by the Precinct 4 accident investigation team, and all lanes on Aldine Westfield Road were shut down due to the incident. The driver of the vehicle stayed on the scene and was not impaired at the time of the accident. It is not yet clear if the crash was related to the arrest of a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office deputy at the scene, who was charged with DWI.
February 12th, 2026, Houston: An 18-wheeler rollover on Southwest Freeway near Chimney Rock Road blocked multiple outbound lanes, leading to major delays for commuters, KHOU reports. The truck rolled onto its passenger side, crushing a pickup truck and dragging it approximately 100 yards. Fortunately, the pickup truck’s driver escaped unscathed, and there were no reported injuries. Fire officials also noted that the semi-truck did not lose its load during the incident. If you have been injured in a serious truck or 18-wheeler accident in Texas, please call Wham & Rogers for a free consultation at 832-592-1108 .
On February 5, 2026, a dramatic rescue unfolded on Highway 290 near Mason Road in Cypress, Texas, when a woman found herself trapped in her vehicle after a major two-vehicle crash. The crash caused significant delays, with two westbound main lanes on Highway 290 remaining closed. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office reported that when emergency services arrived at the scene, they discovered the woman wedged underneath a truck . This type of accident is called a Side Underride Crash , and car manufacturers face pressure to install additional safeguards. Thanks to the efforts of first responders, the woman was safely removed from her vehicle and taken to the hospital for further care. If you have been injured in a serious car accident in Houston, please call Wham & Rogers for a free consultation at 832-592-1108.
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On the afternoon of June 28th, a truck driver allegedly fell asleep while driving an 18-wheeler on I-20 east of Dallas , causing him to crash into four cars and three 18-wheelers. This accident resulted in five deaths and an unknown number of injuries. This crash caused I-20 to be closed for several hours on Saturday while the victims were treated and the vehicles were removed from the scene. The driver was arrested the next day after admitting to falling asleep while driving, and is facing five counts of manslaughter along with a count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. 18-wheeler accidents have become a near daily occurrence, putting many drivers at risk. It is important to obtain counsel immediately if you have been in a collision with an 18-wheeler to ensure evidence is preserved and the accident is investigated thoroughly. If you have been injured in a serious 18-wheeler or commercial vehicle accident in Texas, call Wham & Rogers at 832-592-1108 for a free consultation.
