May 16th, 2005

A conservative lobby has dubbed the asbestos trust fund bill proposal a ‘government slush fund’. The bill is for a fund that will be financed by businesses and insurance companies, and will be used to settle asbestos claims out of court and with a much more stringent eligibility factor. The bill has already run into many problems in the past, and has fallen dead in the water on a couple of occasions over the past year. The latest bill, although delayed, is likely to be voted on this month by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

However, the bill now has competition, as a Utah congressman has put forward another bill, this time to still deal with asbestos related injury cases through the courts, but to simply make the medical criteria more stringent so as to eliminate or at least reduce the risk of fraudulent and frivolous claims. Sponsors have stated that this would also speed up payment of compensation for this awarded money.

The congressman stated, "There is an incredible amount of fraud. If we just get rid of the exaggerated claims of defendants, we can handle the problem." The conservative lobby, FreedomWorks that has been blasting Arlen Specter’s bill is backing this one. The group went on the radio to express their dissatisfaction about the trust fund bill.

However, supporters of the trust fund bill insist that this is a measure that must be taken in order to solve the crisis of numerous asbestos lawsuits and the risk of job losses through companies going bankrupt.