STATEMENT: Small Businesses Deeply Disappointed in Senate Vote on E-Discovery

Date: March 19, 2014

Kyle Jackson, Georgia state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, released the following statement today in response to the Senate’s vote on House Bill 643, a measure that would provide needed clarity, predictability and limits on requests for electronic records, a process commonly known as “e-discovery.” ‘

The vote was 25-20, with 11 members declining to vote either way. However, it needed 29 votes to pass.

“Our members are disappointed not only in the 20 senators who voted to oppose this necessary and reasonable civil justice reform, but also with the 11 members who chose not to vote. If these senators had stood up against the trial lawyers, House Bill 643 would have passed and small employers could have had less to fear from trial lawyer intimidation tactics.

“This was a ‘key vote’ for NFIB/Georgia, meaning we informed senators that their votes would be monitored and would be reported back to the NFIB membership. Unlike other business groups, our public-policy positions are based entirely on the input of our members, and when we balloted our members this winter, an overwhelming majority of those who responded supported this reform legislation. In the 2014 Member Ballot, over 80 percent of respondents supported passage of e-discovery legislation.

“Georgia remains one of only 10 states lacking a statute to address electronic discovery, and as such, the legislature has put our job creators at a competitive disadvantage.”

NFIB/Georgia is the state’s leading small-business association with over 7,000 dues-paying members representing a cross section of the state’s economy.

PHOTO: Hermann Luyken/Wikimedia Commons

Related Content: Small Business News | Georgia

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