Weekly Legislative Update
February 19, 2010

Legislative cut off weeds out bills
Two significant measures remain

This week marked the cut off for bills to be out of their house of origin. This milestone in the process is important because it weeds out many bills. Unfortunately, the weeding left out two.

The bill to increase the interest rate a defendant pays while a judgment is on appeal (SB 6764) passed the Senate 29-19 and is currently in the House Judiciary Committee. Under current law, all defendants are required to pay an interest rate of two points above the T-bill but under SB 6764 that rate would increase to 12 percent or four points above the T-bill, whichever is greater. Legislators went one step further by requiring that only some defendants pay the higher rate while others enjoy the lower rate. Simply unfair.

SB 6508 expands the number of people who can bring wrongful death claims and increases the damages they can collect. The Senate adopted an amendment to the bill which eliminates joint and several liability in wrongful death claims for government entities. It’s an improvement on the bill but it still remains far too costly for taxpayers and with current law effectively working, this bill needs to be put aside. Unfortunately, not all lawmakers agree. The bill passed the Senate 30-18 and was heard this week in the House Judiciary Committee and is scheduled for a committee vote Feb. 22.

Both bills must be out of the House Judiciary Committee by the Feb. 23 cut-off. For more information, check out the LRC Issue Briefs attached to this week’s Update.

Personal trainer sued by client
Plaintiff seeking class-action status

A California woman has filed a lawsuit against personal trainer Jillian Michaels of the NBC hit show "The Biggest Loser." The plaintiff claims that she purchased diet pills peddled by Ms. Michaels but they failed to work. The plaintiff is seeking class-action status and unspecified damages not to exceed $5 million dollars. Read the complete story from the Associated Press.