EPA is faulting environmentalists' claims that a recent ruling vacating a highway agency's penalty delay backs their suit seeking to scrap the Trump administration's delay of an Obama-era update to EPA's facility safety program, arguing that the Clean Air Act grants EPA authority to set rules' effective dates, and that it sought input prior to issuing the delay.
September 17, 2026
House Republican appropriators have rejected Democratic efforts to restore funding for OSHA in fiscal year 2019, prompting renewed criticism from Democrats that the Trump administration and their House GOP supporters are not adequately protecting workers, though companion Senate legislation seeks to increase OSHA funds in FY19.
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In response to the growing concerns about sexual harassment in the workplace, labor groups are launching a network aimed at mobilizing grassroots efforts to push for stronger regional OSHA enforcement over especially vulnerable workers in sectors such as healthcare, house keeping and farming, just as OSHA begins considering the issue.
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Labor supporters are concerned that President Donald Trump's just-announced Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, has often ruled in favor of employers in OSHA cases during his appellate court tenure, sparking fears that the conservative jurist will continue to express a “hostility” to the agency if confirmed to the high court.
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Senators are urging the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to gather more information, more frequently about the scope of the contingent workforce, underscoring concerns by labor advocates and Democrats who are pushing legislation to better protect workers classified as “independent contractors” in the so-called on-demand economy.
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As OSHA struggles to limit heat risks to workers, a just-released report from NIOSH says the agency's current guidance regarding occupational heat stress may not be sufficiently protective, and is urging employers to take a more conservative approach just as temperatures continue to rise in the summer season.
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Lawmakers are split over the potential effects on OSHA stemming from the Trump administration's plan to merge the Departments of Education (DOE) and Labor (DOL), with Republicans urging officials to use any merger to bolster states' funding and oversight responsibilities while Democrats fear it will curb workplace safety enforcement.
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A labor safety group and North Carolina are questioning EPA's proposed approval of an alternative method for removal of asbestos-containing cement (A/C) pipe, which they say may be impractical to achieve and violate OSHA standards.
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House and Senate Democrats have introduced a bill strengthening public employees' right to organize and bargain collectively, pushing back against the Supreme Court's ruling late last month blocking public-sector labor unions from compelling dues, which labor groups and others fear will curtail unions' lobbying for stricter workplace safety and other rules.
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The Senate has unanimously approved compromise legislation that would reauthorize EPA's authority to collect industry fees to support timely pesticide reviews, in exchange for preserving for three years two Obama-era rules aimed at protecting farmworkers from exposure to pesticides that the Trump administration had moved to roll back.
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Brushing aside Trump administration's requests to cut worker safety programs, Senate appropriators have approved legislation boosting funding for OSHA and other agencies in fiscal year 2019, while also instructing the agency to resume its practice of posting fatality information on its website as it had done under the Obama administration.
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Democrats and labor union officials are concerned that the Supreme Court's ruling that public sector workers cannot be required to pay labor dues -- even if they benefit from any contract -- could undercut workplace safety, arguing that the ruling would curtail unions' power and their insistence on safety and other requirements.
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Senate appropriators are seeking a $4 million funding increase for OSHA in fiscal year 2019, while also preserving a workplace safety training program, a Senate source says, plans that are at odds with provisions in a companion House bill, which GOP leaders stalled amid continuing controversy over the Trump administration's immigration policies.
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EPA is seeking to strengthen its 2001 lead paint dust hazard standards that trigger abatement and protective measures in homes and facilities undergoing renovation and repair but the agency is declining, for now, environmentalists calls for a new definition of “lead paint” that informs federal efforts to reduce exposure to lead in paint.
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Environmentalists' lawsuit challenging EPA's framework for reviewing new chemicals' risks, including to workers, appears to face legal hurdles because it challenges a policy that is not yet final but it nevertheless appears to have dissuaded the agency from following the novel process it floated last year to speed chemical reviews, industry and environmental attorneys say.
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The Trump administration is proposing to merge the Departments of Education (DOE) and Labor (DOL) into a new Department of Education and Workforce in which OSHA would be placed into an “enforcement” sub agency, a plan that is drawing concern from Democrats and labor groups who fear it would undercut the agency's workplace safety mission.
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The House has unanimously approved a bill that would create an advisory committee to provide recommendations to the Labor Department (DOL) on ways to limit the impact of opioids on workplace safety, though in a nod to GOP fears about new regulations, the panel's jurisdiction is limited to providing “informational resources and best practices.”
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The National Employment Law Project (NELP) in a new report is faulting OSHA for scaling back enforcement in the first years of the Trump administration, arguing that enforcement is continuing to decline at an “accelerated pace,” despite the agency's recent touting of an uptick in inspection numbers in fiscal year (FY) 2017 over the prior year.
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Despite plans to advance an Obama-era proposal to regulate a paint stripping chemical under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), recently released EPA documents suggest the agency will not soon pursue other proposed TSCA rules restricting uses of two other substances blamed for risks to workers, a move that is worrying environmentalists.
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Democratic appropriators are signaling that they will offer a series of amendments to pending fiscal year 2019 funding legislation for the Labor Department and other agencies that they say will bolster funding for OSHA and remove “poison pill” policy provisions.
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