SB 5059 failed to advance out of the Senate Ways & Means Committee ahead of the February 5 fiscal committee cutoff. The committee heard the bill on January 15, but never scheduled it for a vote. AWC and other public and private sector stakeholders opposed the bill due to the unnecessary costs it would add to liability for circumstances largely out of defendants’ control.

AWC thanks the cities that reached out to their Senators to let them know you opposed SB 5059. Your outreach was a critical part of convincing the Senate Ways & Means Committee to set aside this costly bill.

Prejudgment interest bill revived for 2024

January 12, 2024

A bill significantly increasing liability that died in 2023 has been revived in 2024 and scheduled for a hearing this week. The bill increases the cost of tort claims damages awards against cities and other organizations. AWC opposes this drastic increase in liability and urges cities to contact their legislators to oppose this costly bill.

We wrote extensively about SB 5059 last year. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Patty Kuderer (D–Bellevue), requires interest on judgments against “public agencies” and other defendants for torts to begin accruing from the time of the injury creating the cause of action occurred, not upon entry of judgment by a court as is current law. This new standard would apply to arbitration awards and judgments entered after a trial.

SB 5059 would mean that interest would begin to accrue before a claim was even filed a city was even aware that there was an injury. Years worth of additional interest could be added to many tort claims.

AWC encourages you to contact your senators and tell them:

• This bill will further increase the cost of city liability insurance and may drive some insurers out of the state altogether.
• Judges already have the ability to factor in pre-judgement costs when they make an award. This bill will only add extra litigation costs before cities even knew there was a claim.
• This bill will penalize cities for timelines outside of their control. Courts are already overburdened; sometimes it can take years for a case to come to trial.
• This bill creates additional financial incentives for parties to delay filing a cause of action and for trial attorneys to file additional claims.

AWC opposed similar bills in 2021 and 2022 that failed to pass the Legislature. Cities joined a coalition of public and private sector organizations that helped defeat SB 5059 last year.

Dates to remember

SB 5059 is scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means Committee on Monday, January 15 at 4 pm.