Arizona Transportation Committee Holds Zero-Deductible Bill

A proposed Arizona bill to repeal the “zero-deductible” auto glass repair and replacement law was on the table for discussion yesterday during the state Senate’s Transportation Committee meeting. However, at the last minute it was held and not discussed, effectively putting the bill on hold for now; though it could be resurrected at a later date.

According to Rex Altree, owner of SafePro in Phoenix, the bill was sent to both the Transportation and the Finance Committees. Each committee has two opportunities left to vote on the bill: Transportation, February 7th and 14th; and Finance, February 8th and 15th.

State Sen. Karen Fann and Rep. Noel Campbell are co-sponsors of the bill, SB 1169, which amends the language of the current law to read “may offer,” rather than “shall offer.”

“The committees have three to four bills that are read and voted on in each session. According to Senators that I spoke with yesterday, the bill was not going to pass through the committee. Sen. Fann knew it wasn’t going to pass, so she held the bill,” says Altree. “If the bill gets held in the following two sessions, it could become a striker bill … but that would be her choice.”

A striker bill is a practice in which Arizona lawmakers take the language of a bill that died in committee, strike out the wording in a weaker bill, and add the language of the dead bill. Simply put, it reincarnates the dead bill allowing it to pop up in a later session.

“Both committees have to pass the bill for it go to the Senate to be voted on,” says Altree. “It’s my understanding that it will then become a majority vote.”

If the bill does get passed, Altree is worried how it will impact Arizona residents. “I think it would affect millions of Arizonians that have glass coverage. They wouldn’t have it anymore, and they may go to a deductible, either a $50, $100 or $500 deductible,” he says. “It’d be too expensive, and it would be less safe. People would be driving around with broken windshields, which is against the law here in Arizona. The reason for this law is that it’s not safe to drive with a broken windshield, but people will if they can’t afford to have it fixed.”