Furthering Asbestos Claims Transparency Act of 2015
The Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2015 (old bill number- , now Section 3 of ) is a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Blake Farenthold that would require asbestos trusts in the United States to file quarterly reports about the payouts they make and personal information on the victims who receive them in a publicly accessible database. The legislation would also allow defendant corporations in asbestos cases to demand information from the trusts for any reason. Purpose The intent of the bill, according to The Wall Street Journal, is to bring "transparency" to a system that is susceptible to abuse. However, according to The New York Times, the bill would limit or greatly slow down the ability of trusts to award compensation to victims by instituting additional requirements for filing and reporting. Mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases often appear decades after exposure to asbestos. A Wall Street Journal investigative report discovered hundreds of alleged inconsistencies between claims with trusts and in-court cases. The opinion article also claimed many implausible claims that children were exposed to asbestos while working in industrial settings. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) studied asbestos trusts and concluded that the