“ITHACA, N.Y. — In 1980, the U.S. Congress passed a bill forcing all trucking companies operating across state lines to have insurance that covered at least $750,000 in damages in the event of a crash.

That number hasn’t been raised in the 35 years since.

‘It’s so pathetically low,’ says John Lannen, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition. ‘That $750,000 is not going to be anywhere close to covering the cost of a catastrophic crash.’

The company that owned the truck that hit Simeon’s in downtown Ithaca on June 20, 2014, had a policy of $1 million, which is considered by experts to be slightly higher than the $750,000 minimum. That information was confirmed in legal papers released earlier this month, in which the Sparta Insurance Firm asked the court to divide the $1 million between possible victims.”