Congressional Update - Tuesday, April 21, 2009 11:43 - 0 Comments

Two Important Bills Dealing with Arbitration Should be Passed

As mentioned in this section, there are lots of important and badly-needed bills in Congress that affect consumers and which need attention. I am going to mention just two more of them at this juncture. These bills, dealing with arbitration, have been introduced in Congress. The following is a brief summary of each bill:

• The Nursing Home Arbitration Act was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Linda Sanchez (HR 1237) and in the Senate by Sen. Mel Martinez (S. 512). These bills would prohibit binding mandatory arbitration agreements in nursing home contracts, safeguarding the legal rights of an all too vulnerable population. Meanwhile, Senators Herb Kohl and Lindsey Graham introduced S. 537, the Sunshine in Litigation Act, a bill to restrict protective orders and secrecy agreements in Federal cases where the result of such agreements would be to withhold public health and safety information from the public.

• Rep. Hank Johnson introduced HR 1020, The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009. This bill will eliminate unfair binding mandatory arbitration contracts in consumer agreements. Hopefully, this bill will be passed since it’s badly needed by consumers.

Hopefully, each of these bills will pass in the current session. Consumers have had the short end of the stick in Washington for years and it’s time for the corporate-dominance of the White House and Congress to end.

Source: AAJ Release