Full speech: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp delivers State of the State address

Full speech: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp delivers State of the State address

(1ALIVE) Gov. Brian Kemp drew a line in the sand on his top legislative priority with his State of the State address on Thursday, vowing that tort reform would happen “whether it is this legislative session or perhaps a second one later this year.”

Joking to the legislators assembled for his address, Kemp added: “The lieutenant governor and speaker noticed how quick you picked up on that line.”

The governor has long sought tort reform legislation, which among other changes would cap lawsuit payouts. Kemp has argued such a measure would make strides in lowering insurance costs.

In his address, he spoke forcefully about what he feels the policy can achieve: lower business and consumer costs, without which Kemp asserted Georgia would be at a perilous business disadvantage relative to neighboring states.

He highlighted Waffle House, saying that while the Georgia-based breakfast chain has 22% of its restaurants in the Peach State, it allocates almost 37% of its litigation costs here. He said the company’s liability premiums are up 235% since 2018, and that their average cost of negligence security lawsuits is five times higher in Georgia than Florida, nine times higher than in Texas, 21 times higher than in South Carolina and 27 times higher than in Alabama.

READ MORE; https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/state/georgia-gov-brian-kemp-state-of-the-state-address-stream-thursday-january-16/85-c8c3ef7b-faad-4efa-835f-a61b8c537261