TJ Cox: “I have already made my complete presentation on why I think this amendment would gut the bill. It would strip all the…”

“I have already made my complete presentation on why I think this amendment would gut the bill. It would strip all the protections concerning conflict of interest, protection of litigants from abuses by the attorneys not in the interests of the clients and so on, just on the thin tissue that there happens to be a government entity involved. But I did want to address the comments of the gentleman just preceding concerning the applicability of this legislation to litigation arising out of the Orange County problems. Any litigation arising out of the Orange County problems that anyone chooses to file under Federal securities laws will be covered by this bill as soon as it is passed by the Congress. Thus far the actions have been filed, not under the Federal laws, but under State laws, so it really would not matter what is the effective date for this purpose, and I have taken it to be an affront to this Member to suggest that, when we introduced the bill on January 4 and made sure that the bill was drafted with a provision that makes it clear that there will be only one rule applying in the middle of any lawsuit, that that was somehow directed to Orange County. In my view this is good legislation which I want applicable to my constituents.”