Senate Democrats have unveiled their counterpart to a House bill that would give OSHA a one-year deadline to craft a long-sought workplace violence standard, after it passed the lower chamber by a bipartisan margin in 2021, giving supporters hope that it could overcome a filibuster in this Congress although so far it has no Republican co-sponsors.
President Joe Biden has withdrawn his nomination of attorney and former Obama Department of Labor deputy solicitor Susan Harthill to serve on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), leaving the normally three-member panel to continue with two commissioners for the foreseeable future.
The White House is asking Congress to raise OSHA’s budget by nearly $90 million in fiscal year 2023, with more than half of those funds earmarked for enforcement just as the agency is unveiling a new strategic plan calling for a 25 percent increase in workplace health and safety inspections by the end of the calendar year.
Lawmakers appear poised to approve a fiscal year 2022 omnibus spending bill that would boost OSHA’s funding by $20 million as part of an overall $1.8 billion for the Labor Department’s (DOL) worker protection agencies -- a $42 million hike from current levels and just $2 million shy of the White House’s request.
OSHA is raising its civil penalties for violations of the OSH Act and regulatory standards by 6.2 percent to account for inflation -- the largest such adjustment in recent memory and one industry attorneys are warning could lead to an even sharper spike in total fines as the agency looks to step up enforcement action across the board.
OSHA plans to start enforcing its COVID-19 vaccination emergency temporary standard (ETS) on Jan. 10, with employer vaccine policies to take effect Feb. 9 -- provided employers make “good faith efforts” to comply -- after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit voted 2-1 to dissolve an earlier order staying the rule.
The Senate has confirmed by voice vote two of President Joe Biden’s three nominees to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), moving the panel, which investigates industrial incidents and advises OSHA and other agencies, closer to full strength after it spent more than a year with a single member.
The Senate voted Dec. 7 to approve a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would nullify OSHA’s emergency COVID-19 vaccination rule with two Democrats joining the chamber’s Republicans to back it, marking a symbolic win for the GOP even though it faces long odds in the House and a certain veto if it does pass there.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is backing a Republican-led effort to repeal OSHA’s emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19 vaccines, all but guaranteeing it will pass the 50-50 Senate while House Republicans are hoping to secure support from Democratic moderates that would allow them to force a vote in the lower chamber.
Two OSHA-related nominees won key Senate votes Dec. 2, as lawmakers voted to confirm Larry Turner as the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new Inspector General (IG) just hours after members of the labor committee backed Susan Harthill’s nomination to join the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC).