This is a bipartisan issue whose time for action has arrived. Governors support federal preemption of state product liability laws for a number of reasons. Variant litigation and insurance settlements are time-consuming, costly, unpredictable, and counterproductive. Consumers need prompt payments, fair settlements, and new jobs generated by new products. Lengthy legal complications cause unnecessary price increases for consumers and slow development of new technology.
Global competition requires costs to be competitive.
There are many excellent examples of federal uniform laws with state flexibility, in the national highway system, truck and bus drivers' licenses, highway and bridge standards, food and safety regulations, environmental protection under the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, and now in health care reform, such as portability and prior conditions. The United States needs a single, predictable set of product liability rules. The adoption of a federal uniform product liability law would eliminate unnecessary cost, delay, and confusion in resolving product liability cases. The current system is a patchwork. That is not fair, efficient, or cost-effective to those who have been injured.