Political Quotes

“If I may respond to the rather strident criticism of this bill by the gentleman from North Carolina, there is a practical reason why Federal preemption occurs here. Many of the disasters, such as the earthquakes in California, the forest fires, hurricanes in Florida attract volunteers from across State lines. The Red Cross, for example, would like to be able to train people to go in for disaster relief for people to train other volunteers, and it is important that they not have to concern themselves with a checkerboard of liability laws. In addition, there is a very small insurance market to cover volunteers. The cost of that insurance becomes prohibitive if it has to be complicated by a plethora of liability standards from State to State. So from a very practical point of view, it is useful to have a Federal preemption in many cases so that volunteers who cross State lines to give and risk their lives many times are not troubled by having to comply with a checkerboard of laws and are able to get insurance from the organization that attracts them to protect them.”