Texas House expected to take up HB 19 tomorrow

AUSTIN—Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR) today released the results of a poll conducted among 500 Democratic Primary voters in 17 South Texas counties from April 20-22, 2021. The poll was conducted by Ragnar Research Partners and covered all of House Districts 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41, and part of House Districts 31, 43, 74 and 80.

“Democratic Primary voters have spoken, overwhelmingly supporting and trusting Texas small businesses over personal injury trial lawyers, recognizing the value job creators and commercial vehicles provide to our state, and voting accordingly at the ballot box,” TLR Executive Director Mary Tipps said. “Good policy makes good politics, and HB 19 is good on policy and good on politics. We urge House members to vote their districts and support Texas jobs by voting for HB 19.”

House Bill 19 by Rep. Jeff Leach—which ensures Texans can hold negligent commercial vehicle operators accountable while shutting down job-killing lawsuit abuse—will be heard in the Texas House tomorrow. The bill implements common-sense measures to ensure commercial vehicle lawsuits are tried consistently and fairly across the state, like allowing photos and videos to be introduced as evidence. House Bill 19 has broad support from job creators across the economic spectrum.

A summary of the results are as follows:

• 66% of Democrats are less likely (40% much less likely) to vote to reelect a state legislator if the legislator accepts political contributions from personal injury trial lawyers, whereas only 12% are more likely (only 5% much more likely) to do so.
• 56% of respondents are less likely (29% much less likely) to vote for a candidate in a Democratic primary endorsed by personal injury trial lawyers who advertise on TV and billboards, whereas only 22% are more likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by an advertising lawyer.
• 78% of respondents are more likely (43% much more likely) to vote for a candidate endorsed by small business advocates in a Democratic primary, whereas only 8% are less likely.
• 61% of the respondents agree (30% strongly agree) that “personal injury trial lawyers file too many frivolous lawsuits,” whereas 24% disagree (10% strongly disagree).
• 65% believe businesses using trucks to deliver goods help working Texans more (41% strongly believe so), whereas 19% believe personal injury trial lawyers who file lawsuits against commercial vehicles help working Texans more (only 9% strongly believe so).
• 84% agree that trucking companies are good for the Texas economy (64% strongly agree), whereas 8% say trucking companies are dangerous and cause too many accidents.
• 70% believe business owners are honest and trustworthy, and 15% believe they are not.

Click here to view a summary of the poll results. For more information about TLR, please visit www.tortreform.com.

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