Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2015

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. DelBENE. Mr. Chairman, the FACT Act, which is part of the underlying legislation, has been touted as an effort to promote transparency and address a supposedly systemic problem of fraud with asbestos trusts set up to pay settlements owed to victims of asbestos exposure, but this bill is a solution in search of a problem and places invasive demands on victims that violate their privacy and open them up to identity theft and other abuses while failing to require transparency from the companies that created this nationwide problem in the first place. The nonpartisan GAO found that 98 percent of trusts perform audits, and none of those audits uncovered fraud.

While the bill's proponents claim that this is a measure to protect asbestos trusts for victims, it speaks volumes that not a single victims group supports this bill.

For decades, asbestos companies knowingly put Americans at risk-- servicemembers, children, teachers, first responders, construction workers, and even those who work here in the Capitol--with a toxic product that kills close to 15,000 people every year. Today old structures across the country still contain asbestos and can pose serious health risks. Experts have referred to workers who perform repair work as the current third wave of victims.

Given the nature of the asbestos threat, it is outrageous that the laws fail to require asbestos companies to disclose information when it comes to public health and safety and disappointing that this has become a partisan issue.

In 1988, President Reagan signed into law the Asbestos Information Act, which required manufacturers of asbestos-containing products to report information about these products to the Environmental Protection Agency, but the Asbestos Information Act was just a one-time reporting requirement, and it predated the Internet.

That is why, along with my colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gene Green), I have introduced the Reducing Exposure to Asbestos Database Act, or the READ Act, which amends the Asbestos Information Act to require those who manufacture, import, or handle products containing asbestos to annually report information to the EPA about their products and any public location where they have been present in the past year. This information would be made publicly available online, helping Americans avoid exposure to asbestos and incentivizing the continued reduction of asbestos use in our Nation until it is finally eliminated once and for all. Unfortunately, when the READ Act was offered as an amendment to this bill, it was not ruled in order.

Asbestos poses an ongoing threat to public health, and more transparency about this deadly product, not less, should be the norm.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. DelBENE. I urge my colleagues to oppose the FACT Act and join me in working to promote transparency that helps, rather than victimizes, those who have been facing heartbreaking consequences of asbestos exposure.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source