Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Protecting the U.S. Stone Slab Industry from Lawfare
2026-01-14
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Source: Congress.gov
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The subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. We welcome everyone here today for a hearing on litigation affecting the stone slab industry. Many, many times today, we will probably be showing this product that is, even by Dr. Michael's analysis, completely safe in its current form. So I'll be touching it, I'll be holding it, and I will have no fear.
and for the purpose of questioning witnesses and without objection, so ordered. I now recognize myself for the opening statement. Our hearing this morning examines the troubling rise of abusive litigation against U.S. stone slab industry. The stone slab industry contributes around $30 billion to the U.S. economy and employs about 100,000 workers. Stone slabs are used for many uses, but the most prominent in all of our homes would be as a effective, low-cost, hard surface in kitchens, bathrooms, and other countertops integral to both residential and commercial use. Unfortunately, A series of events, including the growth of illegal immigrants working in unregulated and unlawful fabrication facilities, has created many people who have been injured by ingesting in an unprotected way the dust during wrongful cutting. These bad actors cut corners in their fabrication shops. when it comes to workplace health and safety in violation of federal and their state laws. The result has been a race to the bottom that has resulted in vulnerable workers at these fabrication shops contracting silicosis, I told myself I'd be able to say that, silicone-related disease by ingesting it into their lungs. This results from the, the released inhalation of silica dust a naturally occurring element in many industry and consumer products throughout fabrication when it's processed by grinding or cutting it becomes exactly what you do not want to inhale osha and many state regulated authorities in cal including those in california have long-standing standards guidance to avoid
fabricating firms follow best practices. This includes, at a minimum, a process of water to make sure the dust doesn't accumulate and then the extraction of any materials and the cleaning of the water. Moreover, many of the fabricators use state-of-the-art, completely enclosed CNC machines, meaning no one is there during the process and it could be completely free of any dust getting into the factory. This best practices though does not, and I repeat, does not exempt the litigators from going forward and suing those people even though they can demonstrate that they were well below Dr. Michaels' acceptable level, basically being at the naturally occurring level and with no elevation. The option to be unsafe doesn't come without a cost. Companies who implement this have, by definition, higher CapEx for the machines, higher cost of processing, but these best practices are what people do for their employees. The bad actors, by contrast, are disproportionately, and particularly in my home state, using undocumented workers who, in fact, have no ability to report that they are, in fact, being abused until or unless they become sick, and then it becomes public knowledge. These opportunistic plaintiffs, though, are not seeking to shut down the bad actors. As a matter of fact, the bad actors often are not even sued, or if they are, they simply roll up and go away. What they're doing is going after companies who may not even have seen the slab, touched the slab, or in any way processed the slab.
Literally, companies that bring product in in bulk, often by ship or rail, and then put it onto a truck and disperse it to people who do fabricate it or who do sell it to fabricators are the target. Why? Because they have money. This is not a new practice, but it is a practice that is in fact causing a bankruptcy and a reduction in those who are operating legally. If you eliminate the people that are operating legally and using best practices, there's no question at all you, by definition, are empowering those who will do it clandestinely.
It is fairly easy to process over the Mexican border and bring the product back duty-free, which means If the legitimate players who are playing by the rules and investing vast amounts of money simply export these bad practices south of the border where the kind of protection that exists in the U.S. by law does not, they will simply be having many people in another country injured. This and other areas are the reason that we're trying to both go after the bad actors and today in this hearing, we will hear from those who are being impacted in their small or medium-sized businesses by being a target, even though they are either using best practices or in fact have not even touched the material. I'm gonna play a short video to set the stage for what we've been talking about for everybody, and then I'll recognize the ranking member. For everyone, this is an example of a machine where both water are being used, the water is being reclaimed, but most importantly, no person is there. It's completely sealed. So it's a double safety capability.
Silica, a common component in many stone surfaces, becomes hazardous when improperly cut, ground, or polished by releasing fine dust that is harmful when inhaled. Whether using hand tools or fully automated machinery, wet processing is one of the most effective engineering controls to manage silica dust by using water to prevent dust from becoming airborne.
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