mr. chairman , i thank my colleague from california for yielding me time . 
i rise in opposition of h.r. 420 and in support of the substitute . 
this bill would not do anything to reduce frivolous lawsuits . 
in fact , my concern about it is it is unnecessary , and it will infringe on states being able to manage their own court systems . 
rule 11 of the federal rules of civil procedure was amended in 1993 to its current state because it was being abused by defendants in civil rights cases who filed a series of rule 11 motions to harass the men and women who challenged discrimination . 
until now there has been no demonstrated problems with the current version of the rule . 
usually this type of change in civil procedure goes through a process of the rules enabling act . 
but in this instance we have decided to circumvent the united states judicial conference and the united states supreme court . 
we have taken it upon ourselves to decide what is best for the judicial system . 
the lawsuit reduction act would amend rule 11 of the federal rules of civil procedure and revert back to that pre-1993 status . 
by doing this , again , we take away states ' discretion to impose sanctions on improper and frivolous pleadings . 
this would eliminate the current safe harbor provision , permitting the attorneys to withdraw improper frivolous motions within 21 days after they have been challenged by an opposing counsel . 
additionally , this bill dictates where plaintiffs can file a personal injury lawsuit against a corporation in a state court . 
do we really want to get into the jurisdictional battles in our states ? 
reverting back to the previous rule 11 would make people less likely to challenge unjust laws because they are putting themselves at risk for being harassed . 
at the time some people thought brown v. board of education was a frivolous lawsuit , but it did not look like it had a chance until the supreme court recognized that separate was not equal . 
if we had this strict version of rule 11 back then , maybe brown v. board of education would have never made it to the supreme court . 
this bill is another example of congress intruding on states ' rights . 
our system of government is designed to keep our judicial system separate , particularly our state judicial system . 
we simply do not have the right to tell state and county courthouses across the nation how to enforce sanctions in their courtrooms or where the plaintiff may file a lawsuit in the state courts . 
