The Vermont Senate gave final approval Wednesday to watered-down legislation that would make it easier for residents to sue companies that release toxic chemicals.
Bennington lawmakers pushed for the bill, which the House passed last week, in response to PFOA contamination that has affected hundreds of that town’s residents.
The legislation would allow affected residents to sue polluters for the cost of medical monitoring without first having to prove that the pollution made them sick.
The American Insurance Association warned that this change could result in an “avalanche of claims,” and other business groups have expressed opposition.
Gov. Phil Scott has also expressed concerns about the bill, making its fate uncertain.
The legislation was originally far more sweeping, and would have held companies liable for chemical contamination regardless of whether they were negligent. The House removed this more controversial provision, attaching it to another bill that has yet to get a vote.
Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington), who cosponsored the bill, said of the stripped-down version, “You don’t throw out the good in search of the perfect.”
Environmental groups were still pleased.
“This bill recognizes that it’s simply unfair that Vermonters who have suffered chemical contamination — through no fault of their own — should bear increased medical costs,” Lauren Hierl, executive director of Vermont Conservation Voters, said in a statement after the vote.
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Right Wing Conservatives love to scream about personal responsibility, especially when they are eagerly cutting social services to the poor and disabled in the name of balancing the budget and austerity. Well, if you follow that logic and since GOPers consider Corporations “persons” entitled to unlimited political speech via massive campaign donations ( legalized bribery) then Righties should have no problem with this bill as it wants those Corporate “persons” to take personal responsibility for the messes they make and the people they poison.
After all, isn’t that supposed to be the “free market” in action?
Corporations are some of the biggest government welfare queens going.
Left Wing hypocrites love to scream about corporate responsibility, but it’s OK to have so called progressive democrat controlled towns and cities dumping sewage and drainage into rivers and lakes with impunity.