I voted Yes on H.R. 982, the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act.

Congress set up a trust-based system to handle payments of asbestos claims against companies in bankruptcy in 1994.  Under current law, however, claimants seeking compensation from a trust are not disclosed to the court system or other trusts.  This has led to certain bad actors filing claims with numerous trusts in order to receive multiple payouts, thereby gaming the system and leaving less funds in the trusts to pay legitimate asbestos claimants.  In 2011, the independent Government Accountability Office found that internal audits were not designed to detect duplicate claims among different trusts or the state courts.

The FACT Act would reduce fraudulent asbestos claim payments by requiring quarterly reports of claims and payouts made by the trusts.  These reports would be filed with a bankruptcy court, but could not include a claimant's medical history or Social Security number.  I supported this bill as one way to crack down on fraud and make sure that funds intended for legitimate victims are not used to pay frivolous claims. 

The bill was approved by a vote of 221 – 199.