Washington, D.C., Mar. 24--Senate staff are preparing a bill to reform the asbestos litigation system, and plan to bring it to the floor on April 19, an aide to Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist said on Tuesday.
Supporters of the proposal hope the pressure of a deadline will prompt long-time doubters, including organized labor, to work toward agreement on outstanding issues, the aide said.
"We're going to the floor on April 19," the aide said, speaking on condition that he not be identified. "We want a bill that will actually pass."
The bill will be based on a proposal by Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch to end asbestos lawsuits and replace them with a victims' fund supported by asbestos companies and insurers, the aide said. He added it would probably incorporate $114 billion in funding that Frist worked out late last year.
But a Senate Democratic aide was skeptical of the effort, saying it appeared the Republican majority were drafting a proposal on a very contentious issue with little or no Democratic input -- and warned this was unlikely to work in the closely divided Senate.
"This is not going to get done if they try to jam (force) folks by some date, with a bill no one has seen," the Democratic aide said.
The Hatch asbestos proposal was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee last summer, but it stalled, and Frist has been trying to revive it. Organized labor liked neither the original Hatch bill nor the Frist funding deal, saying they were inadequate to pay claims of people who have been injured by the fire-proofing mineral.
Asbestos was widely used for fireproofing and insulation until the 1970s. Scientists say inhaled fibers are linked to cancer and other diseases.
Peg Seminario, occupational health official with the AFL-CIO labor organization, said labor officials were still engaged in talks with insurers and asbestos defendants on possible legislation. Sponsored by Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, the talks recently have focused on details of how a victim's compensation fund would operate.
"That's where we've been a long time," Seminario told Reuters on Tuesday. "We continue to be engaged, but we are not going to support a bill for the sake of it. We are looking for an agreement to be reached on a bill that is fair."
In a letter to senators earlier this month, the AFL-CIO denounced the $114 billion Frist funding proposal as a "huge bailout" for asbestos defendants like oilfield services giant Halliburton Co. -- which has a pending $4.3 billion asbestos settlement -- while shortchanging victims who have been harmed by asbestos.
