Melvin Watt: “This final amendment, and I do think it is the final amendment, would strike section 3(b) of the bill. Section 3(b)…”

“This final amendment, and I do think it is the final amendment, would strike section 3(b) of the bill. Section 3(b) provides that a qualified civil liability action that is pending on the date of the enactment of this act shall be dismissed immediately by the court in which the action was brought or is currently pending. The effect of that language is to make this bill retroactive in its application applied to pending lawsuits as of the date the law becomes effective. Now, there are not currently any pending lawsuits, because all of them have been dismissed, as I have indicated previously. But between now and the time that this legislation may be enacted, other lawsuits may be pending or may be filed; and so this amendment is aimed at protecting against retroactive application of this bill because I think it is just unfair and almost un-American to change the rules of a legal process in the middle of the action.”