Byron Dorgan: “That is not what the law says that you are asking us to vote on, as written. You are not talking about whether the State…”

“That is not what the law says that you are asking us to vote on, as written. You are not talking about whether the State wants to determine if it is a product. You are talking about the question of the standard the State determines, appropriate. There are certain kinds of things that are very dangerous and high risk that the States determine it wants an elevated standard of liability. It's called a strict liability standard. The way this is written, you are saying that utilities are excluded as products under this bill. They are excluded. They are not involved in this bill, except if a State determines that their standard is one of strict liability, then they are considered as products. What you have done, you have swept claims against utilities under the bill. My point is, 18 States have already determined that in their courts with respect to claims against electric utilities alone, 14 have permitted strict liability in claims against natural gas utilities and 11 have allowed the same standard of strict liability on water utility cases. The fact is that there have been court cases and legislation on this very point. Thus, it appears it is already determined that claims against utilities are going to fall under the definition of 'products' under this bill. I am not trying to be antagonistic. I voted for cloture before, and I voted for this bill on final passage.”