Top Issues in the 87th: Business Liability Protections
As the 87th Texas Legislative Session gets underway, the Lubbock Chamber is highlighting some of the key issues we’re focused on in Austin. Previous issue spotlights included broadband access, support for maintaining K-12 education funding, and locally funded advocacy which you can read about here.
The next issue is one that emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; temporary and targeted business liability protections. As businesses continue to re-open and people get back to work, there needs to be a safe harbor for good-faith actors trying to safely re-open by following health guidelines and legal protocols. Without these protections in place, even business owners working to make things as safe as possible might be deterred by the threat of a frivolous lawsuit if any customer or employee were to contract COVID-19. This fear adds an additional hurdle to potential economic recovery.
In 2020, the Lubbock Chamber supported inclusion of business liability protections in federal COVID-19 relief discussions, for businesses such as the ones below:
The next issue is one that emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; temporary and targeted business liability protections. As businesses continue to re-open and people get back to work, there needs to be a safe harbor for good-faith actors trying to safely re-open by following health guidelines and legal protocols. Without these protections in place, even business owners working to make things as safe as possible might be deterred by the threat of a frivolous lawsuit if any customer or employee were to contract COVID-19. This fear adds an additional hurdle to potential economic recovery.
In 2020, the Lubbock Chamber supported inclusion of business liability protections in federal COVID-19 relief discussions, for businesses such as the ones below:
- Businesses that work to follow government guidelines against COVID-19 exposure claims
- Healthcare providers and facilities on the front lines of the COVID-19 response
- Manufacturers that repurposed production and distribution to provide PPE, sanitizers, and other needed countermeasures
- Companies that have donated their stock of supplies to hospitals and medical professionals
- Public companies that could face securities lawsuits, including those driven largely on stock price drops resulting from the global pandemic under the spurious assertion that management failed to warn investors
Ultimately business liability reform was not included in any final packages, but there appears to be support at the state level as bills have been filed in the Texas Legislature to create liability protections for businesses.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) found broad, bipartisan support for temporary, targeted business liability protections that would shield businesses from frivolous lawsuits when it conducted a survey last year. We hope that the Texas Legislature can find bipartisan common ground on this issue and work together to safely get people back on the job and earning paychecks again.
At the federal level, the Lubbock Chamber signed a coalition letter with nearly 600 other organizations last week to support business liability reform.
As this issue moves to the forefront of COVID-19 relief efforts during the 87th session, it will remain a top priority for the Lubbock Chamber. The livelihoods of business owners and employees shouldn’t be jeopardized by the threat of frivolous lawsuits. Temporary and targeted business liability reform will help get people back to work in a way that protects good-faith actors but not reckless ones and will aid in our continued efforts to recover from the pandemic.
