Date: 2010-07-01
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Thank you very much. Chairman CONYERS. We owe you a debt of gratitude. We are very pleased that we have answered the call of the pain of people like Michelle. and if you can read this language. it says "When Michelle tells her boys about their dad. shes not going to show them a pay stub. She will tell them how much their father loved them." That means. of course. that we are stranded on an island with laws that do not understand the crisis that these families are facing. These are the pictures of families who have lost loved ones and pictures of their loved ones who we are now standing on the floor of the House to say that any horrific tragedy such as the BP oil spill on April 20. 2010. will not go unanswered. and these families will not remain and be alone. This bill is assuring these families that they will not be alone. that the person or the entity that harmed them will not be able to escape the full extent of the cost of their actions that are inflicted on the people and the communities. It amends the Jones Act. an old law. and brings it in line with the needs of the 21st century. meaning that if you were an engineer on that Deepwater Horizon drill. you are not covered by the present laws. or. for example. the law that was used that was passed in the 1800s where they limited the amount of liability such that one of the actors in this went to court in Houston and wanted to limit their liability to $23.000. Under the Act in its current form. the family members left behind by seamen killed on the job can only recover economic losses. But it also does not cover those who are not classified as seamen. This bill amends DOHSA and. of course. it provides some very. very important changes that will make the lives of these loved ones left behind better. Without their loved ones. they are not good. But this will make them better. To the industry. and let me say one that I come fromand I am from the gulf regionand I believe what we are doing today is going to help the shrimpers. the oystermen. the fishermen. and we must continue to do that. Were changing the laws to respond to the current crisis. and we will not leave them alone. I look forward today to. as well. introducing the Remedies Act of 2010 that will further expand on the rights of families. will invest in R&D to improve whats going on in the gulf. But I want to thank the Judiciary Committee for being first and a leader to help these families. Mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5503. the "Securing Protections for the Injured from Limitations on Liability Act." introduced by Judiciary Committee Chairman JOHN CONYERS. I commend Chairman CONYERS for shepherding this bill through the Judiciary Committee. and am proud to have worked with him on the Managers Amendment. This bill makes great steps in reforming aspects of our laws that have grown outdated. and in assuring that those responsible for a variety of harms are not able to escape liability for the full extent of the costs their actions inflict on the people of the communities around them. It amends the Jones Act. a law enacted in 1920. and brings it in line with the needs of the 21st century. Under the Act in its current form. the family members left behind by a seaman killed on the job can only recover for economic losses. sometimes only the expenses of a funeral. There is no provision for damages for the emotional loss of a loved one. the loss of that persons care. comfort. and companionship. H.R. 5503 amends that restriction. H.R. 5503 also changes another outdated maritime law. the Death on the High Seas Act of 1920. The changes Chairman CONYERS bill makes to DOHSA will allow those same claims for loss of care. comfort and companionship. This bill will also allow claims under DOHSA to be brought before a court of law. rather than admiralty. and allow a jury to decide the relevant facts. It will allow recovery for the pain and suffering a decedent experiences before his death. and expand the geographic reach of DOHSA. H.R. 5503 makes other crucial changes. It eliminates certain limits on the liability of ship owners. remnants from a time when communications were much slower and owners might not be aware of their crews actions on the other side of the ocean. or the other side of the globe. H.R. 5503 changes our bankruptcy laws. and prevents responsible parties from escaping their liability through misuse of bankruptcy proceedings. Finally. it amends the Class Action Fairness Act to prevent suits brought by the States. on behalf of their citizens. from being removed to languish in Federal courts. These are all very. very important changes. and I want to state again how glad I am to have been able to work with Chairman CONYERS on these issues. However. there are other harms that the disaster in the Gulf has inflicted. harms that are not addresses in this bill. Last month. I spent time at the United Command Center in Hammond. Louisiana and flew over the impacted areas to assess the devastating damage to the Gulf region and visited Plaquemarins Parish. Pointe a La Hache (Hash). Louisiana to meet with local oystermen and other individuals affected by the oil spill. My experience left my heart wrenched and even more determined to work with my colleagues to develop an aggressive proactive strategy to assist the victims of the oil spill and to develop measures to prevent it from happening again. We need a claims process on the Gulf coast to remedy the harm caused by the oil spill before it is compounded by delay and we need to ensure that claims are evaluated and paid through an expedited equitable and transparent process. There are numerous accounts of concerns of claimants that have underscored the importance of the need for the Federal Government to require that a totally independent claims process is set up to process claims related to the BP oil spill. and that structures are set up to process claims without delay. We know that victims are seeking assistance. but have experienced complicated claims procedures to follow. and have not been able to obtain relief or compensation from BP but rather. a hard way to go and the neverending claims requirements to satisfy the claims they have brought against BP. Take the story of Byron Encalade. Mr. Encalade. as owner of his own fishery company. and as President of the Louisiana Oysters Association. has sought to file claims with BP to recover damages suffered as a result of the Gulf oil spill. Unfortunately. Mr. Encalade has had a horrible experience with the everchanging claims process. Though Mr. Encalade came with the paperwork he was originally told to provide BP claims adjusters. he was told that he needed to provide his tax statements in order to be compensated for his loss. When inquiring about a second $5.000 check he was supposed to receive from BP. he was told that the check was in the mail. He has yet to receive the check. He was also informed that his claim would be based upon his net receipts and not his gross receipts. This policy puts Mr. Encalade and many others in a situation where they cannot recover the full value of their losses due to investments that were made to fishing boats that were lost in Hurricane Katrina. As such. this policy will prevent many fishers and shrimpers from recovering the full value of their loss. I can also tell you the story of the owner of a small seafood restaurant in Houston. Texas. who I have known for years and have supported. She is in trouble at this very moment. wondering whether her business will remain open to longtime customers like me. Whether she. as a small business owner and woman. can afford to pay the bills and continue to earn a livelihood. Although she is hundreds of miles away from the actual site of the oil spill. she too is a victim. Her restaurant relies on a variety of suppliers of Gulf seafood. and she bills her establishment as one which prides itself on seafood from Louisiana. a part of the Gulf region. So. now she confronts two issues that could prove fatal to her business. One. if the seafood is from the Gulf region or Louisiana in particular. perhaps it is tainted by the oil. Two. the prices of seafood from the Gulf continues to rise. making it impossible for the restaurant to carry certain items. Many items on the menu her patrons can no longer afford. It is the classic Catch22 situation. and what is clear to me is that unless this Congress acts and acts quickly restaurants like hers will be history. We need to make sure that victims like her. and like Mr. Encalade. are able to receive compensation for the harms inflicted on them. without the years of litigation that civil suits frequently entail. We need to establish independent claims systems. with established categories that treat fishermen. shrimpers. and other categories of indirect victims appropriately. and with clear and consistent guidelines for what types of proof claimants need. to avoid unnecessary delay. We need to update the liability cap under the Oil Protection Act. so that responsible parties cannot escape with paying a mere fraction of the damages they inflict. We also need to change the permitting process. so that entities drilling offshore must demonstrate they have a workable Plan B when their Plan A fails. and to establish a requirement that those disaster and spill mitigation plans be reviewed and approved by independent. disinterested experts. There are additional changes to both the Jones Act and DOHSA we should make. Both laws currently allow only one "personal representative" of a decedent to file claims. and there may be cases where that personal representative does not act in the interest of the parents. children. or other family members who face this terrible loss. we should allow those family members to make claims on their own behalf. We need to amend the Jones Act so that it covers all those injured on our ships. even those who may not meet the technical definition of seaman. Further. we should allow punitive damages under those laws in cases of gross negligence. As important as it is that we make the victims of this disaster whole. it is equally important to take steps to prevent the next spill of this magnitude. Therefore. we must establish a clear framework for response. so that there is never again a question of who is in charge. The United States is the world leader in science and technology. and it is in our best interest to direct some of our energy towards research and development of technologies that will better enable us to deal with leaks deep below the surface of the ocean. and provide access to those technologies to the appropriate agencies. Nonetheless. for all that remains to be done. H.R. 5503 is an important step. a necessary step. towards repairing the harm the disaster in the Gulf has done. Chairman CONYERS has crafted a piece of legislation that I am proud to be associated with. and I urge my colleagues to join with me in supporting it.