Lawmakers want Arizonans to pay more
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via PinalCentral
Rebuffing claims it will harm some low-income individuals, a Senate panel agreed Tuesday to increase the amount of liability insurance that motorists must purchase to drive on Arizona roads.
The 6-1 vote by members of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Technology came over the objections of Sen. David Farnsworth, R-Mesa, who said the more extensive coverage will increase costs.
“There are a lot of folks that live paycheck to paycheck,” he said. “There are people out there right now that are faced with either a permanent or probably a temporary situation where they have to choose between paying the electric bill or paying their mandatory insurance.”
The result of SB 1075, Farnsworth said, would be that more people would simply choose to flout the legal requirement to have liability insurance. And that, he said, would mean more motorists on state roads who have no insurance at all to compensate those they kill, injure or whose property they damage.
