Washington Amendment to Anti-Steering Law Meets End in Senate Hearing

Washington House Bill 3053, which would have amended the state's current anti-steering law and would prohibit an insurer or claims administrator from recommending an auto glass repair or replacement shop if the insured indicates he has chosen a facility, met its end earlier this week while under Senate review.

"It's gone—dead," says Rep. Steve Kirby (D-Wash.), who introduced the bill originally in the house, "but it'll be back next year."

Last Tuesday, February 26, a hearing was held before the Senate Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee regarding the bill, which ultimately led to its demise. Insurers came out in full protest against the bill, calling it "anti-consumer" and referring to its restrictions as a "gag order" (CLICK HERE for related story.)

Kirby had advised glassBYTEs.com™/AGRR magazine that the bill's fate in the Senate, though, wasn't surprising.

"Legislation that regulates the insurance industry usually fares better in the House than in the Senate," he said. "It is a strategy for the insurance industry to let things happen in the house and wait for them in the Senate and beat them down there."

He also said the insurance industry's opposition to the bill is characteristic of the insurer group's recent activities in Washington regarding legislation that involves them.

"I believe the insurance industry has drawn a line in the sand in the state of Washington and will fight to the death with every piece of legislation that attempts to regulate them in any way," he said.

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