Amends existing law to revise the definition of “proof of financial responsibility.”

The purpose of this legislation is to increase the required automobile minimum liability insurance (proof of financial responsibility) from $25,000 to $50,000 minimum (for one claimant); from $50,000 to $100,000 minimum (for two or more claimants in the same accident); and from $15,000 to $50,000 minimum for property damage (to one or several vehicles damaged by the at-fault driver in the same accident). The effective date of this legislation would be January 1, 2019. Automobile liability insurance minimum requirements have not been increased since 1983, almost 35 years ago. The same $25,000 in medical services that a person received in 1983 would cost over $110,000 today—after adjustment for medical inflation, according to federal statistics. Similarly, the current required $15,000 cumulative minimum property damage insurance does not begin to cover the cost of replacement of, for example, a 2018 Ford F-150 and a Toyota Camry totaled in a single accident by an at-fault driver. According to the insurance companies, approximately 20 percent of Idaho drivers who buy insurance buy only the $25,000/$50,000 minimum liability requirements.