Georgia House Insurance Committee adopts Dalton lawmaker’s bill to prosecute more people for faking car crashes

The Georgia House Insurance Committee has passed state Rep. Kasey Carpenter's bill aimed at prosecuting more people for faking car crashes. Carpenter, R-Dalton, has proposed creating the specific crime of staging a motor vehicle collision. Under the legislation, intentionally crashing your vehicle for insurance purposes would carry a mandatory minimum of two years in prison. So would faking a car crash or taking part in a scheme that causes another vehicle to crash. Carpenter's bill also carries two other sentences. If someone dies as the result of this fraud, the guilty party would face a mandatory minimum of five years in prison. If someone filed a lawsuit over a crash that he or she faked, that person would also face a mandatory minimum of five years. "This is a major issue," he said during a committee hearing Monday morning. "It's costing consumers and businesses." The committee voted to pass Carpenter's bill. With crossover day this week -- the deadline for a bill to pass at least one chamber -- Carpenter said he was immediately heading to the Rules Committee, hoping to get his legislation on the calendar.