[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 82 (Thursday, June 12, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5629-S5630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE PRODUCT LIABILITY REFORM ACT OF 1997, BIOMATERIALS ACCESS ASSURANCE 
                              ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

               LAUTENBERG (AND OTHERS) AMENDMENT NO. 375

  (Ordered referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.)
  Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Durbin, and Mr. Wyden) 
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by them to the bill (S. 
648) to establish legal standards and procedures for product liability 
litigation, and for other purposes; as follows:

       On page 9, line 14, strike ``; or'' and insert a semicolon.
       On page 9, line 16, strike the period and insert ``; or''.
       On page 9, between lines 16 and 17, insert the following:
       (iii) any tobacco product or component of a tobacco 
     product.
       On page 11, between lines 14 and 15, insert the following:
       (16) Tobacco product.--
       (A) In general.--The term ``tobacco product'' means--
       (i) cigarettes;
       (ii) little cigars;
       (iii) cigars as defined in section 5702 of the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986;
       (iv) pipe tobacco;
       (v) loose rolling tobacco and papers used to contain loose 
     rolling tobacco;
       (vi) products referred to as spit tobacco; and
       (vii) any other form of tobacco intended for human 
     consumption.
       (B) Cigarette defined.--For purposes of this paragraph, the 
     term ``cigarette'' means--
       (i) any roll of tobacco wrapped in paper or in any 
     substance not containing tobacco that is to be burned;
       (ii) any roll of tobacco wrapped in any substance 
     containing tobacco that, because of its appearance, the type 
     of tobacco used in the filler, or its packaging and labeling 
     is likely to be offered to, or purchased by consumers as a 
     cigarette described in clause (i);
       (iii) little cigars that are any roll of tobacco wrapped in 
     leaf tobacco or any substance containing tobacco (other than 
     any roll of tobacco that is a cigarette within the meaning of 
     clause (i)), with respect to which 1,000 units have a weight 
     of not to exceed 3 pounds; and
       (iv) loose rolling tobacco and papers or tubes used to 
     contain that tobacco.

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise to discuss an amendment I am 
submitting today to the product liability bill to protect the Nation's 
public health from the dangers of tobacco. I am joined in this effort 
by my colleagues Senator Durbin, Senator Harkin and Senator Wyden.
  Without this amendment, the product liability bill provides the 
tobacco industry with a backdoor escape hatch from the settlement 
negotiations in which they are currently engaged. Without this 
amendment, the tobacco industry will not have to make concessions to 
the public health community that could save millions of American lives.
  Mr. President, 36 States have now gone to court to recover the 
millions of dollars in Medicaid and other health care costs that were a 
direct result of the tobacco industry's deceitful and deadly practices. 
Thousands of Americans who have been grievously injured by tobacco 
products, and the loved ones of those who have been killed by tobacco, 
are seeking compensation from the tobacco industry for their lethal and 
addictive products. Currently, a bipartisan group of State attorneys' 
general are involved in sensitive negotiations with the tobacco 
industry concerning compensation for the illness and death caused by 
its products. Whether one supports the concept of a settlement or not, 
the fact that the tobacco industry has come to the table is an amazing 
development.
  They have come to the table because they realize that this President 
and enough of us in Congress will not allow them to continue seducing 
and poisoning our children without an appropriate response. They also 
know that they will be subject to increasing civil liability in the 
court system. I applaud the attorneys' general for bringing such strong 
cases against them, that they realized it was time to sit down and 
possibly release our Nation's children from their stranglehold.
  Mr. President, right now, one of the major sticking points in the 
talks between the attorneys' general and the Big Tobacco is the issue 
of restrictions on product liability suits that will be brought against 
the tobacco industry in the future. The industry has asked for a cap on 
punitive damages, and it wants to eliminate joint and several liability 
in tobacco cases. The attorneys' general are currently trying to work 
this issue out with the tobacco companies.
  Mr. President, 17 of these attorneys' general have signed on in 
support of our effort to remove tobacco from the scope of the product 
liability bill. I ask unanimous consent that letters signed by the 
attorneys' general endorsing this effort be printed in the Record. As 
time goes on, I expect additional pledges of support from more 
attorneys' general.
  There being no objection, the letters were ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                        Department of Justice,

                                                    June 12, 1997.
       Dear Members of the U.S. Senate: We, the undersigned state 
     Attorneys General, ask you to support the Lautenberg Tobacco 
     Amendment to S. 648, the Product Liability Bill. While we do 
     not in this letter take a position on the overall product 
     liability bill, we support the exclusion of the tobacco 
     industry litigation and tobacco from the scope of the bill.
       Frankly, we are asking you not to let the tobacco industry 
     off the hook. If the product liability bill passes without 
     the changes contained in the Lautenberg amendment, the bill 
     could affect the negotiations we are involved in today.
       Senator Lautenberg's amendment excludes ``tobacco 
     products'' from the scope of product liability litigation 
     affected by S. 648. This is the right thing to do. Without 
     the amendment, the tobacco industry will gain substantial 
     protection without conceding anything to the state 
     governments and public health advocates who are now at the 
     negotiating table.
       Therefore, we strongly urge you to support the Lautenberg 
     Amendment. We are trying to make historic breakthroughs in 
     these settlement negotiations. It would be a tragedy to take 
     a step backwards.
           Sincerely,
     Tom Miller,
       Iowa Attorney General.
     Winston Bryant,
       Arkansas Attorney General.
     Bob Butterworth,
       Florida Attorney General.
     Jeffrey Modisett,
       Indiana Attorney General.
     J. Joseph Curran,
       Maryland Attorney General.
     Scott Harshbarger,
       Massachusetts Attorney General.
     Frank Kelley,
       Michigan Attorney General.
     Joe Mazurek,
       Montana Attorney General.
     Hubert H. Humphrey III,
       Minnesota Attorney General.
     Peter Verniero,
       New Jersey Attorney General.
     Tom Udall,
       New Mexico Attorney General.
     W.A. Drew Edmondson,
       Oklahoma Attorney General.
     D. Michael Fisher,
       Pennsylvania Attorney General.
     Jan Graham,
       Utah Attorney General.
     James Doyle,
       Wisconsin Attorney General.
     Don Siegelman,
       Alabama Attorney General.
                                  ____



                                 Attorney General of Missouri,

                                 Jefferson City, MO, June 9, 1997.
     Sen. Frank Lautenberg,
     Washington, DC.
     Re S. 648
       Dear Senator Lautenberg: I applaud your efforts to ensure 
     that the tobacco industry is exempted from the coverage of S. 
     648, the Products Liability Bill. As Missouri's chief law 
     enforcement officer, I have filed suit against a number of 
     manufacturers of cigarettes and other tobacco products. I 
     have been active in the negotiations between the Attorneys 
     General of the suing states and the tobacco industry. The 
     sweeping protections afforded manufacturers in S. 648 must 
     not be extended to the tobacco industry during the pendency 
     of these historic

[[Page S5630]]

     lawsuits and negotiations. Good luck with your amendment and 
     thank you for your efforts.
           Sincerely,
                                          Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon,
                                                 Attorney General.

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, if the product liability bill passes 
in its current form, the tobacco industry will get what it wants, and 
the American public will receive nothing in return. As reported out of 
the Commerce Committee, the product liability bill will cap punitive 
damages and eliminate joint and several liability in tobacco liability 
cases. This would be another sweetheart deal for big tobacco, and it 
would undercut the state attorneys' general. This is unacceptable. And 
what will America lose if we don't pass my amendment? Mr. President, I 
say perhaps millions of lives.
  The tobacco industry is on the verge of agreeing to stop marketing to 
American children, to stop lying and hiding the truth from the American 
public, to commit to actual target numbers for reduction of teen 
smoking, to subject themselves to appropriate regulation by the Food 
and Drug Administration and to back real reforms that will put teeth 
into laws that prohibit the sale of cigarettes to kids. Do we in 
Congress want to throw that away forever? Do we want to give big 
tobacco the green light to continue seducing and addicting our 
children? I certainly hope not.
  Mr. President, that is why it is critical that we pass my amendment, 
which would exempt tobacco products from the restrictions on liability 
covered by the product liability bill. Regardless of how any Senator 
feels about the overall goals of the product liability bill, exempting 
tobacco is the right thing to do. We should not sell out our Nation's 
public health to the tobacco lobby. Congress should not provide the 
tobacco industry with a back door deal through the product liability 
bill. To prevent this from happening, we must attach my amendment.
  Mr. President, some of my colleagues might ask: ``Why should we give 
tobacco litigation a carve-out from the restrictions of this bill?' The 
answer is simple and rather straightforward: The tobacco industry is 
unlike any other American industry. No other industry in this country 
kills over 400,000 Americans each year. No other industry has conspired 
to deviously addict children to its product. No other industry has 
submitted such highly questionable testimony to Congress and the 
courts. Is this Congress prepared to undercut unprecedented public 
health programs and give the tobacco industry the sweetheart deal they 
have been dreaming of? Is Congress going to bail out the industry once 
again? The American people won't tolerate it.
  Mr. President, this Senator will do everything I can to prevent that 
from happening. I ask my colleagues to join me in support of this 
effort to remove tobacco litigation from the restrictions of the 
product liability legislation. It is the right thing to do for the 
public health, for our State's highest law enforcement officials, and 
most important, for our kids.

                          ____________________