Congress Watch

Legislation that would require federal agencies to consider the cost new regulations impose on small businesses died in the Senate June 9 after failing to attract the 60 votes needed for approval.

Occupational Safety and Health Legislation Introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives
                                                             (in chronological order):

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) on April 14 introduced once again a bill intended to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. Lautenberg, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics, and Environmental Health, introduced a similar bill (S.

The Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate in 2010, but were unable to pass OSHA reform legislation. With a new Republican majority in the House, the prospects for passing such legislation appear dim in 2011.

The House Education and Labor Committee approved July 21 legislation that would increase criminal and civil penalties for OSHA violations, strengthen whistleblower protections and speed up hazard abatement. The Robert C. Byrd Miner Safety and Health Act (H.R. 5663), passed on a largely party line vote of 30-17, would also provide stronger enforcement tools to the Department of Labor to enforce mine safety regulations.

Five provisions of the Protecting Americans Workers Act (PAWA), including tougher civil and criminal penalties for OSHA violations, have been attached to 100 pages of legislation primarily aimed at reforming the Mine Safety and Health Act. This new bill, the Miner Safety and Health Act of 2010 (H.R. 5663) was introduced in the House July 1. Leading members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives released a summary and discussion draft of the bill (both are attached below) on June 29, 2010.

The Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., has introduced legislation (Sen. 3257) to protect OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-LA., would restore $3.125 million in funding for VPP cut by the Obama Administration in its fiscal year 2011 budget proposal.

U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, D-NJ, has announced legislation designed to overhaul the “Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976” (TSCA). Lautenberg, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health, introduced on April 15th  the “Safe Chemicals Act of 2010” (S.3209), a bill that he says would place the burden on industry to prove that chemicals are safe in order to stay in the market and require the safety testing of all industrial chemicals. 

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, David Michaels, told lawmakers that OSHA’s current penalties are not large enough to provide adequate incentives for employers to “do the right thing” and comply with OSHA requirements. Michaels spoke at a March 16 House Workforce Protections Subcommittee hearing on “Protecting America’s Workers Act: Modernizing OSHA Penalties.”