Declarations – Midwest

Worker, or Company, Protection

“(This bill) does not protect the employees, it protects the corporations. They don’t need protection.”

—Tina Trickey, testifying before a Missouri House committee about a bill that would require workers who file suit over an employer’s action to prove that discrimination was a “motivating factor.” Current Missouri law allows employees to win workplace lawsuits if discrimination is a “contributing factor.” Trickey said the bill assumes that all companies are going to do the right thing and not discriminate against their employees. Her husband, Jim, in 2011 won $760,000 in an age discrimination lawsuit against his former employer.

Terrorism Coverage

“TRIA and its successor programs have worked at little to no taxpayer expense and continue to make terrorism coverage widely available.”

—Leigh Ann Pusey, president and CEO of the American Insurance Association, which supports an extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (TRIPRA). The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act was passed in 2002; TRIPRA is a successor.

Youthful Drinking

“For the first time, we know what brands of alcoholic beverages underage youth in the U.S. are drinking.”

—David Jernigan, PhD, director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Jernigan authored a study that identified the alcohol brands consumed by underage youth and found that 25 brands accounted for nearly half of youth alcohol consumption.

Safety, Plus

“It’s all about safety. … If you get seriously injured, and your insurance runs out, then the state may end up taking over the cost. That’s one of my big concerns as well.”

—Nebraska State Sen. John Harms of Scottsbluff, who has filed a bill that would impose a $100 fine on car drivers and passengers who aren’t wearing seat belts, up from the current $25. The bill would give police the authority to stop motorists who aren’t wearing a seat belt. It would add one point to a driver’s record. Accumulating too many points can cause drivers to lose their license or see insurance rates increase.