Christine
Hall
(CNSNews.com) - What happened to all the
ambitious tort reform bills before Congress this year? They're
still in the clutches of the Senate.
Limits on medical malpractice awards, class action reforms
and an asbestos trust fund were considered GOP and business
priorities. The House of Representatives has passed class
action and medical liability bills, as has the Senate judiciary
committee, but the full Senate has yet to vote on them.
Still, despite big, lingering disagreements over appropriations
bills and Medicare prescription drug legislation, some tort
reform proponents insist that tort bills are still in play
for the fall.
"We are hoping to address them in this Congress, particularly
the asbestos reform bill," said Judiciary Committee
spokesperson Margarita Tapia. "The importance of this
bill can't be stressed enough."
And concerning the medical malpractice bill, "It's
going to get a vote soon in the Senate, we believe after
the recess," Gretchen Schaefer of the American Tort
Reform Association said. "We remain...cautiously hopeful."
One Senate Republican aide stressed that the fall schedule
in the Senate has not yet been set and will, at any rate,
be subject to change. And Washington-watcher David Baumann,
a National Journal columnist, has declared the fall schedule
virtually unpredictable.
"I think the Senate will pass [class action reform]," predicted
William Morley, vice president of congressional affairs for
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "It's going to pass it
not just with a majority, but with a super majority. Republicans
and Democrats recognize there's a real emergency out there.
The tort system [is] out of whack.
"A number of members on both sides of the aisle are
working very hard to come to an agreement," added Morley,
explaining his cause for optimism. "And...you've got
a lot of players sitting down over the August recess and
working to come to an agreement. I think that's very close
to happening."
But, Morley acknowledged, "There's a small group out
there that will filibuster it."
Schaefer and Morley both said that the Senate hurdle has
not been a surprise.
"Things are going pretty much how we thought they would," said
Schaefer. "In the beginning of the year, with the new
Congress, we pretty much anticipated it would be a challenge
to get reforms through the Senate."
"The Senate takes a little more time to get things
through," said Morley. "You have the filibuster
rule in the Senate, but you also have cloture," the
procedure by which 60 votes can break a filibuster.
A major sticking point for tort reform in the Senate has
been a GOP plan to cap non-economic damages (monetary awards
for pain and suffering) at $250,000. The Senate already voted
down that plan earlier this summer.
Another controversial provision has been a plan to allow
corporate defendants to switch cases to another jurisdiction
(often state to federal) when more than $5 million is at
stake.
One thing is certain, however. Many states aren't waiting
around for Congress to act. More than 20 states have already
passed tort reform laws this year.
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