[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1570 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1570

 To limit the amount of attorneys' fees that may be paid on behalf of 
       States and other plaintiffs under the tobacco settlement.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 27, 1998

 Mr. Faircloth introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To limit the amount of attorneys' fees that may be paid on behalf of 
       States and other plaintiffs under the tobacco settlement.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Health Funds Preservation 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The attorneys involved in the negotiation of the 
        proposed tobacco settlement on behalf of the State attorneys 
        general and other included plaintiffs are entitled to 
        reasonable fees.
            (2) The proposed settlement requires the tobacco companies 
        to pay $368,500,000,000 to be allocated among various public 
        health programs.
            (3) It is estimated that more than $100,000,000,000 stands 
        to be diverted from public health programs for attorneys' fees.
            (4) Congressional approval is required to enact the terms 
        of the settlement, including provisions relating to attorneys' 
        fees, and the scope of these fees is thus subject to the 
        discretion of Congress.
            (5) The attorneys responsible for suits against the tobacco 
        industry are entitled to fair compensation for their efforts, 
        but, unlike other attorneys in this matter, their fees will 
        reduce the total monies available for the ambitious health 
        goals of the settlement.
            (6) It is the obligation of Congress to ensure that 
        settlement funds are not diverted from public health programs 
        to the payment of excessive attorneys' fees.

SEC. 3. LIMIT ON DIVERSION OF PUBLIC HEALTH FUNDS TO ATTORNEYS.

    (a) General Limitation.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, any attorneys' fees paid to attorneys acting on behalf of a State 
or political subdivision of a State or other plaintiff in connection 
with the settlement of an action maintained by a State against 1 or 
more tobacco companies to recover tobacco-related medicaid expenditures 
or for other causes of action involved in the settlement agreement 
dated June 20, 1997, shall not exceed $125 per hour, together with 
reimbursement of actual out-of-pocket expenses as approved by the court 
in such action.
    (b) Fee Arrangements.--Subsection (a) shall apply to attorneys' 
fees provided for or in connection with an action of the type described 
in such subsection under any--
            (1) court order;
            (2) settlement agreement;
            (3) contingency fee arrangement;
            (4) arbitration procedure;
            (5) alternative dispute resolution procedure (including 
        mediation); or
            (6) other arrangement providing for the payment of 
        attorneys' fees.
    (c) Requirements.--No award of attorneys' fees shall be made under 
any national tobacco settlement until the attorneys' involved have--
            (1) provided to the Congress a detailed time accounting 
        with respect to the work performed in relation to any legal 
        action which is the subject of the settlement or with regard to 
        the settlement itself; and
            (2) made public disclosure of the time accounting under 
        paragraph (1) and any fee arrangements entered into, or fee 
        arrangements made, with respect to any legal action that is the 
        subject of the settlement.
    (d) Application of Act and Rule of Construction.--
            (1) Application.--This Act shall apply only to fees to be 
        paid to attorneys, under any arrangement described in 
        subsection (b), who acted on behalf of a State or political 
        subdivision of a State or another plaintiff in connection with 
        an action described in subsection (a).
            (2) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
        construed to limit the amount of fees that may be paid by 
        manufacturers of tobacco products to attorneys representing 
        such manufacturers in connection with actions described in 
        subsection (a).
    (e) Effective Date.--The limitation on the payment of attorneys' 
fees contained in this section shall become effective on the date of 
enactment of any Act enacted in connection with the national tobacco 
settlement.
    (f) Report.--Each attorney whose fees are subject to this section 
shall, within 30 days of the date of the enactment of this Act, submit 
to Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the 
Senate a comprehensive record of the time and expenses for which the 
fees are to be paid. Such record shall be subject to section 1001(a) of 
title 18, United States Code.
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