Unwanted intrusion
Asbestos bill in U.S. Senate would undercut recent Texas legislation with an inferior law opposed by consumers and corporations.
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

After extensive hearings and debate this session, the Texas Legislature passed a bill, crafted by Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, that allows only those who have serious illnesses caused by inhaling asbestos to sue companies that made or used products containing the material. The compromise legislation drew grudging support from business and consumer advocates.

All that hard work could go down the drain if the U.S. Senate passes an asbestos bill it is considering. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a physician, is strongly pushing S.852, the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act. The bill would eliminate defendants' and plaintiffs' access to state and federal courts. Instead, it would use borrowed federal funds and mandatory assessments on all corporate defendants in asbestos civil litigation and their insurers to establish a $140 billion fund. Only ill workers who could prove five years of occupational exposure to asbestos, and their dependents, would be eligible for compensation.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry wrote President George W. Bush last month to warn that the asbestos trust fund concept is "deeply flawed" and the Senate bill's medical criteria "far too weak." Texas Sen. John Cornyn says he cannot support the bill as written.

By limiting claimants to workers exposed to asbestos on the job, the Senate bill ignores the plight of people who purchased asbestos products, installed them in their homes and suffered exposure. Residents of neighborhoods polluted by asbestos siding and other materials also would be ineligible for compensation, with the exception of a single community in Montana.

As the bill cuts off victims' access to the judicial process, there's also the question of what happens if the compensation fund runs out of money and eligible patients have no other option for redress of their claims.

"A federal fix is better than no fix in Texas," Janek, also a physician, said. "But something did happen in Texas, and I don't want them to take it away."

Perry, Cornyn and Janek are right. Texas already passed legislation that eliminates frivolous asbestos lawsuits and sets a reasonable medical standard for patients who deserve compensation for their suffering due to asbestos-related illness.

By intruding into a matter best regulated by state laws and courts, the U.S. Senate bill tramples on well-established state, consumer and corporate rights, and it needlessly and harmfully undercuts Janek's compromise legislation.