Date: 2013-11-13
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. we are here today for several reasons. and my friends on the other side of the aisle have their high calling and reasons of great merit that they argue. but I think we have a more devastating and prevailing reason that we are opposed to this legislation. Frankly. as I indicated earlier in my remarks. there are thousands and thousands of asbestos victims who are suffering from lung disease or cancer. Many of them were diagnosed late. Many of them. unfortunately. have passed. Their families are still victims. They have lost everything that they have had in trying to treat them. and now we add what we are used to saying in the community: insult to injury. We come with an enormously burdensome and unfair initiative. So today I rise to introduce an amendment that I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to consider because it is fair. The amendment would apply the transparency rules that they are seeking from those victims who are barely receiving dollars out of a trust that is the final result of numbers of bankrupt companies. We are asking to equally apply these transparency rules to asbestos industry defendants by requiring asbestos companies to report information about the location of their asbestoscontaining products. and the amendment. out of respect for trade secrets. will exempt that. So today we are asking for transparency on both sides. H.R. 982 is onesided in that it maintains the rights of asbestos defendants to demand confidentiality of settlements and protects an asbestos defendants right to continue to hide the dangers of their asbestos products from asbestos victims and the American public. A typical asbestos defendant who settles a case in the tort system demands the utmost confidentiality along with the right to file for bankruptcy as a condition of the settlement in order to ensure that other victims cannot learn how much they paid or for which asbestos products the defendant is paying compensation. By no means do we want to help those who are hurting. We certainly dont want to give them a leg up by understanding what the process of compensation is. These same defendants now. under this particular bill. want the victims to disclose specific settlement amounts with the trusts along with product exposure information and work history. How unfair is that? On my dying bed. I have to offer and find a basis of giving you a settlement. or my family has to give it to you in the midst of our crisis. The asbestos health crisis is the result of a massive coverup. therefore. we are asking today for simple fairness. If there is confidentiality on the defendants part and they ask for information on those who are suffering. then I believe. minimally. defendants can give information about the location of the asbestoscontaining products to ensure that our victims are not exposed any longer. Furthermore. the trust information is already public. and I would ask why this bill is even necessary. And then the further point of controversy is that this bill seeks to override State law regarding discovery disclosure of information. So I am asking my colleagues to be fair. to recognize the hurt and the pain. and to support the Jackson Lee amendment. which simply asks for those defendants. those companies. to give us the location of the asbestoscontaining products. Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the Jackson Lee amendment which would require the Asbestos Industry to Report Information about Dangerous Asbestos Products.