Governor Brian Kemp used his seventh State of the State Address to push lawmakers to act on what he has called his top legislative priority this year — civil litigation, or tort reform.
Kemp cast Georgia’s approach to health, budgeting, economic development and public safety as a model other states should emulate, declaring “the Georgia Way is indeed the better way.”
But the second-term governor told lawmakers gathered in the House Chamber that in his view, Georgia’s legal environment is causing rising premiums and impeding growth.
Kemp devoted roughly a third of his speech to tort reform. He framed excessive civil litigation as driving up costs not only for big corporations like Georgia-based Waffle House, but also consumers, health care providers, patients, motorists and small businesses.
WABE politics reporter Rahul Bali joined “All Things Considered” to explain what the governor is proposing, as well as to elaborate on the arrest of a state senator just outside of the chamber where Kemp delivered his address.
