House Bill 92

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 63-15-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE THE MINIMUM MANDATORY MOTOR VEHICLE LIABILITY INSURANCE REQUIRED FOR COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES; TO PROVIDE A COMBINED SINGLE LIMIT OPTION FOR COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES; TO DEFINE COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES; TO AMEND SECTION 83-11-101, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ELIMINATE THE OPTION TO REJECT MANDATORY UNINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE FOR COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 63-15-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

63-15-3. The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall, for the purposes of this chapter, have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section, except in those instances where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

(a) "Highway" means the entire width between property lines of any road, street, way, thoroughfare or bridge in the State of Mississippi not privately owned or controlled, when any part thereof is open to the public for vehicular traffic and over which the state has legislative jurisdiction under its police power.

(b) "Judgment" means any judgment which shall have become final by expiration, without appeal, of the time within which an appeal might have been perfected, or by final affirmation on appeal, rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction of any state or of the United States, upon a cause of action arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of any motor vehicle, for damages, including damages for care and loss of services, because of bodily injury to or death of any person, or for damages because of injury to or destruction of property, including the loss of use thereof, or upon a cause of action on an agreement of settlement for such damages.

(c) "Motor vehicle" means every self-propelled vehicle (other than traction engines, road rollers and graders, tractor cranes, power shovels, well drillers, implements of husbandry and electric personal assistive mobility device as defined in Section 63-3-103) which is designed for use upon a highway, including trailers and semitrailers designed for use with such vehicles, and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead wires but not operated upon rails.

For purposes of this definition, "implements of husbandry" shall not include trucks, pickup trucks, trailers and semitrailers designed for use with such trucks and pickup trucks.

(d) "License" means any driver's, operator's, commercial operator's, or chauffeur's license, temporary instruction permit or temporary license, or restricted license, issued under the laws of the State of Mississippi pertaining to the licensing of persons to operate motor vehicles.

(e) "Nonresident" means every person who is not a resident of the State of Mississippi.

(f) "Nonresident's operating privilege" means the privilege conferred upon a nonresident by the laws of Mississippi pertaining to the operation by him of a motor vehicle, or the use of a motor vehicle owned by him, in the State of Mississippi.

(g) "Operator" means every person who is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle.

(h) "Owner" means a person who holds the legal title of a motor vehicle; in the event a motor vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale or lease thereof with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee or lessee or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then such conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this chapter.

(i) "Person" means every natural person, firm, copartnership, association or corporation.

(j) "Proof of financial responsibility" means proof of ability to respond in damages for liability, on account of accidents occurring subsequent to the effective date of said proof, arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of, for a noncommercial motor vehicle, in the amount of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) because of bodily injury to or death of one (1) person in any one (1) accident, and subject to said limit for one (1) person, in the amount of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) because of bodily injury to or death of two (2) or more persons in any one (1) accident, and in the amount of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) because of injury to or destruction of property of others in any one (1) accident; and for a commercial motor vehicle, either (i) in the amount of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) because of bodily injury to or death of one (1) person in any one (1) accident, and subject to said limit for one (1) person, in the amount of Three Hundred Thousand Dollars ($300,000.00) because of bodily injury to or death of two (2) or more persons in any one (1) accident, and in the amount of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) because of injury to or destruction of property of others in any one (1) accident, or (ii) in an amount of Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($750,000.00) as a combined single limit of liability because of bodily injury to or death of one (1) or more persons and injury to or destruction of property of others in any one (1) accident. In addition, proof of financial responsibility for all commercial motor vehicles shall include medical payments coverage in an amount of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or more. Liability insurance required under this paragraph (j) may contain exclusions and limitations on coverage as long as the exclusions and limitations language or form has been filed with and approved by the Commissioner of Insurance.

(k) "Registration" means a certificate or certificates and registration plates issued under the laws of this state pertaining to the registration of motor vehicles.

(l) "Department" means the Department of Public Safety of the State of Mississippi, acting directly or through its authorized officers and agents, except in such sections of this chapter in which some other state department is specifically named.

(m) "State" means any state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any province of the Dominion of Canada.

(n) "Commercial motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating over ten thousand (10,000) pounds.

SECTION 2. Section 83-11-101, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

83-11-101. (1) No automobile liability insurance policy or contract shall be issued or delivered after January 1, 1967, unless it contains an endorsement or provisions undertaking to pay the insured all sums which he shall be legally entitled to recover as damages for bodily injury or death from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle, within limits which shall be no less than those set forth in the Mississippi Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law, as amended, under provisions approved by the Commissioner of Insurance; however, at the option of the insured, the uninsured motorist limits may be increased to limits not to exceed those provided in the policy of bodily injury liability insurance of the insured or such lesser limits as the insured elects to carry over the minimum requirement set forth by this section. The coverage herein required shall not be applicable where any insured named in the policy shall reject the coverage in writing and provided further, that unless the named insured requests such coverage in writing, such coverage need not be provided in any renewal policy where the named insured had rejected the coverage in connection with a policy previously issued to him by the same insurer. However, the coverage herein required may not be rejected for a commercial motor vehicle as defined in Section 63-15-3(n).

(2) No automobile liability insurance policy or contract shall be issued or delivered after January 1, 1980, unless it contains an endorsement or provisions undertaking to pay the insured all sums which he shall be legally entitled to recover as damages for property damage from the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle, within limits which shall be no less than those set forth in the Mississippi Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law, as amended, under provisions approved by the Commissioner of Insurance; however, at the option of the insured, the uninsured motorist limits may be increased to limits not to exceed those provided in the policy of property damage liability insurance of the insured or such lesser limits as the insured elects to carry over the minimum requirement set forth by this section. The coverage herein required shall not be applicable where any insured named in the policy shall reject the coverage in writing and provided further, that unless the named insured requests such coverage in writing, such coverage need not be provided in any renewal policy where the named insured had rejected the coverage in connection with a policy previously issued to him by the same insurer. However, the coverage herein required may not be rejected for a commercial motor vehicle as defined in Section 63-15-3(n).

The property damage provision may provide an exclusion for the first Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) of such property damage; however, the uninsured motorist provision need not insure any liability for property damage, for which loss the policyholder has been compensated by insurance or otherwise.

(3) The insured may reject the property damage liability insurance coverage required by subsection (2) and retain the bodily injury liability insurance coverage required by subsection (1), but if the insured rejects the bodily injury liability coverage he may not retain the property damage liability coverage. No insured may have property damage liability insurance coverage under this section unless he also has bodily injury liability insurance coverage under this section. However, the coverage required in subsections (1) and (2) of this section may not be rejected for a commercial motor vehicle as defined in Section 63-15-3(n).

(4) In the course of the sale or issuance of any automobile liability insurance policy, insurers shall inform the named insured or applicant, on a form approved by the Department of Insurance, of the benefits of and reasons for electing to purchase uninsured motorist coverage. If the insured named in the policy wishes to reject uninsured motorist coverage, such form shall be signed by or on behalf of the named insured. If this form is signed by or on behalf of the named insured, it is binding upon all persons insured by the automobile liability insurance policy and it shall be presumed that there was an informed, knowing rejection and waiver of uninsured motorist coverage.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2018.