Highway Accident Fairness Act of 2023
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Highway Accident Fairness Act of 2023
This bill makes staging a collision with a commercial motor vehicle a federal crime and modifies legal procedures for suits arising from commercial motor vehicle accidents.
A person who is operating a motor vehicle and intentionally causes a collision with a commercial motor vehicle (or arranges for another person to cause such a collision) is subject to a fine, a prison term of up to 20 years, or both. If the collision results in serious bodily injury or death, the prison term may not be less than 20 years.
With respect to legal procedures, the bill requires a plaintiff, in a suit in state or federal court concerning a bodily injury or death that involves one or more commercial motor vehicles, to disclose the identity of any commercial enterprise (other than the plaintiff or the plaintiff's attorney) that has the right to receive a portion of the plaintiff's recovery (e.g., commercial enterprises that are financing the litigation in exchange for a portion of the recovery). The bill also grants federal courts jurisdiction over such actions in certain cases where damages exceed $5 million. These provisions apply to any case pending on, or commenced on or after, the date of the bill's enactment.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on April 27, 2023. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on April 27, 2023: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Henry Cuellar (D-TX) introduced it on April 27, 2023, and 2 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 27, 2023, 1232 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1232 days ago, on April 27, 2023.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers