Even as the battle over the asbestos industry bailout bill continues full steam ahead in the House, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and Senator John Ashcroft (R-MO), the author of the bill, in an extraordinary April 4 colloquy on the floor of the Senate, declared the Senate version of the asbestos bill dead for the year.

The House version of the measure, however, was favorably reported out of the Judiciary Committee by narrow 17 to 16 margin (with bipartisan opposition). It is expected that the committee report may be filed the week of April 10, and could come to the floor of the House for a vote thereafter.

In the Senate the night of April 4, Senator Ashcroft, chief sponsor of S. 758, even went so far as to state, on the Record, that "it serves no purpose to represent that S. 758 will pass or be acted upon this year or in the future."

As important and unusual (rarely, if ever, have the Majority Leader and author of a bill taken the extraordinary step of going to the floor to declare a bill they support dead) as this result is, several important notes of caution remain:

* The House could still consider the Judiciary Committee bill this year (although the likelihood of its doing so now is diminished, and the Committee Report has yet to be filed).

* Senators Lott and Ashcroft, even while pronouncing the bill dead in its present form, seem to have left room for action on a bill in the next Congress if the legislation takes a different approach. Ashcroft, for example, again cited "two Supreme Court rulings urging Congress to act on national legislation that would fairly and efficiently compensate victims of asbestos."

ATLA is battling vigorously against this industry-backed bailout legislation. It is estimated that proponents of the bill -- including GAF Corp., W.R. Grace, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- spent at least $20 million to date on their lobbying and media campaign.

Small Business Liability Protection Bill Could Reach Senate Floor In May

It is believed that Senate Republican leaders are ready to bring small business liability protection legislation to the floor sometime around May 1, ahead of so-called class action "reform." The small business measure has yet to be marked up by the Senate Judiciary Committee, however, raising some questions about whether the May time frame can be met.

On February 16, the House of Representatives narrowly approved the so-called "Small Business Liability Reform Act" (H.R. 2366). The White House has indicated the bill would be vetoed if it reaches the President's desk. The House vote, one of the largest against so-called tort reform since 1995, assures that a presidential veto would be sustained.

H.R. 2366 would cap punitive damages and eliminate joint and several liability for non-economic damages in all civil actions against businesses with 25 or fewer employees (regardless of net worth). It would also minimize the liability of all sellers--regardless of size--and eliminate vicarious liability for all renters.

The most significant difference between the Senate bill and the House-passed version centers on language included in the House bill that essentially allows for a judicial override of the bill's punitive damage caps in certain instances in which the conduct of the defendant is determined by a judge to be especially egregious.

ATLA is opposed to this unnecessary measure, which would only succeed in preventing children and other injured consumers from recovering the full costs of injuries caused by those rare small businesses which manufacture or sell very dangerous products or harmful services.

ATLA president Richard H. Middleton, Jr., testified against HR 2366. His extensive, fact-filled testimony can be found here. Also read about why this bill is bad for American families.

Note: For the latest version of these bills and their status, see http://thomas.loc.gov and search at the top of the page for the bill number.