In a letter to the Senate today I urged for the elimination from the stimulus package a provision in both the House and Senate proposals that give state attorneys’ general, working with private plaintiffs’ lawyers, broad authority to bring civil lawsuits.

The House-passed stimulus bill authorizes state AGs to bring lawsuits for statutory damages and attorneys fees on behalf of their respective states for violations of the federal Health Insurance Privacy and Accountability Act (HIPAA) statute. 

Allowing private law firms to litigate HIPAA enforcement is a recipe for vastly higher costs and increased regulatory complexity. Far from stimulating the economy and creating jobs, this provision would only serve to increase the size of the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ pocketbooks and siphon badly needed money out of the economy.