June 3rd, 2005

Last week, changes were approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on the asbestos trust fund bill. These changes will ensure that those who are the sickest will receive compensation the fastest from the trust fund. This is just one of the changes that has been made to the proposed trust fund bill, which aims to put together a $140 billion trust fund to pay victims of asbestos exposure, thus taking asbestos related legislation and action out of the courts.

Senator Arlen Specter has been working on a number of changes to the bill following past meetings and controversies over various parts of the bill. He is hoping to have everything completed by the end of the month. Further meetings with regards to the bill and any changes are expected to take place over the next couple of weeks.

Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) offered the amendment regarding the sickest people getting compensated first, and stated that this would be a condition of her giving her support to the bill. At present, many asbestos victims die before they ever get to see a cent of their compensation, leaving their families and loved ones in a financially unstable environment, and having recouped nothing for medical and legal costs.

Other senators have also put forward amendments which, if incorporated could win over more votes for the bill.