mr. chairman , i rise in opposition to h.r. 420 , a measure that purports to reduce frivolous lawsuits .  while no one likes to see unnecessary , merit-less lawsuits clogging our court system , this bill only serves as an unneeded intrusion of federal authority into state matters .  h.r. 420 substantially changes state court procedure by forcing state judges , within 30 days of a case being filed , to conduct an extensive and lengthy pre-trial hearing to determine whether federal sanctions must be imposed in a state proceeding .  this would require a judge to examine evidence in detail and even to make a pre-trial judgment as to what the outcome of a case might be .  these requirements will only serve to add time and expense to the proceedings .  federal judges overwhelmingly agree that the federal court rules operate more efficiently and fairly when they are discretionary rather than mandatory .  mr. chairman , states already have some version of the rule that is exactly or substantially similar to the federally available sanction .  state courts should not be forced to spend scarce taxpayer money to conduct an expensive hearing in order to apply a federal rule that mirrors a mechanism they already have in place .  