AMCNO supported mandatory arbitration legislation introduced in the 127th General Assembly – SB 59

In February, the AMCNO Legislative Committee met with Senator Kevin Coughlin to discuss the feasibility of reintroducing the mandatory arbitration legislation in the 127th General Assembly. The Senator was pleased that SB 88 – legislation that was strongly supported by the AMCNO and introduced in the last General Assembly pass the Senate, it was disappointing that although the chairman on the House committee was interested in working with AMCNO and the Senator on the legislation the trial bar became involved in the issue toward the end of the session and they were able to effectively shut down the bill. Senator Coughlin is certain that no matter what the bill looks like in the future, the trial bar would not be in favor of it. Nonetheless, the Senator is reviewing the feasibility of reintroducing the bill in some format in the 127th General Assembly. If the bill is reintroduced, he stated that he hoped that work could be done to get the bill referred to the Senate Health Committee if possible, since Senator Coughlin is the chair of that committee. On Wednesday, February 21, 2007 the bill was reintroduced and assigned a bill number – SB 59, however, it has not as yet been referred to a specific committee. The AMCNO will work with Senator Coughlin once again to seek passage of this legislation if possible.