ASME Ohio Council seeks backing for tort reform measure

ASME's Ohio Council, representing more than 4,300 ASME members, has sent a letter to Ohio legislators urging support for S.B. 120, a bill that would significantly improve the state's civil justice system by limiting joint and several liability.

The measure, currently under consideration by the Ohio House Civil and Commercial Law Committee, would ensure that a defendant would have to pay only its proportionate share of damages, for those defendants found to be 50 percent or less at fault. To view a copy of the letter, go to www.asme.org/gric/ps/2001/01-41.html.

For additional information on the bill, or on the Ohio Council, contact Gene Hulbert, ASME Ohio State Government Coordinator, at (614) 882-0265 or hulbertL@asme.org.

Coalition urges support for increasing NSF budget

The Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), a group of 93 scientific, engineering and professional societies, universities and corporations, recently urged the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs-Housing and Urban
Development and Independent Agencies to increase the National Science Foundation's (NSF) fiscal year 2002 budget by at least 9.4 percent.

The group letter, which was signed by ASME's Council on Education, noted that investment in NSF over the past half-century has paid dividends in building the infrastructure of the individual scientific disciplines and has laid the groundwork for innovative interdisciplinary research to meet modern-day scientific and technical challenges.

To view the coalition's letter to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., go to www.asme.org/gric/ps/ 2001/01-38.html.

For additional information on fiscal 2002 NSF funding, contact Patti Burgio at (202) 785-3756 or at burgiop@asme.org.

— Mary Legatski
ASME Government Relations

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