03 Feb 2006 Asbestos Legislation: FAIR or Unfair?
Senior Fellow Dana Joel Gattuso has a column up on TownHall.com. It examines Senator Specter’s Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act, also known as the FAIR Act, and finds it wanting.
Around DC at least, there are very many rather expensive commercials running that urge lawmakers to support this bill. I’m not sure if they all are supported by the same group, but I am reasonably sure The Asbestos Alliance is running some of them, and their website covers that group’s point of view rather well.
I am sympathetic to arguments in favor of a trust fund generally (as one can see from numerous things I have written over the years on The National Center’s asbestos page), but the legislation has to be done right.
Unfortunately, as Dana demonstrates on TownHall.com, there are a lot of weaknesses in the so-called FAIR Act.