Arizona Senate Bill 1286 that would’ve removed car rental companies as the primary insurer, failed in a House committee on March 12 in a 2-5 vote. The bill had already passed by a small margin in the state’s Senate in a 16-14 vote on March 1.

The proposed bill would’ve changed the state’s liability insurance coverage laws for motor vehicle rentals to say that a company’s insurance is “excess coverage to any other available insurance coverage for any damages and injury caused by a renter.” Currently, the law states that the public liability insurance or the obligation of a self-insured owner is the primary insurance provider.

The Arizona law, which was passed in 1997, means, for example, that a car rental company is the first source for insurance coverage if a renter gets into an accident and injures a third party, though additional liability may also be satisfied by the renter’s insurer. Only three other states have this type of statute: Delaware, Florida and Michigan.

To read the bill in its last form, click here.

— By Joanne M. Tucker

You can also check out a blog from Executive Editor Chris Brown on the Arizona bill when it was first introduced.