Senators by unanimous consent on Jan. 9 approved the nominations of Cynthia Atwood and Amanda Laihow as members of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), clearing the path for the panel to resume its long-stalled work on reviewing a host of contested OSHA workplace citations and penalties.
The Senate has confirmed along party lines Paul Ray, the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the White House Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and currently its acting head, permanently installing him as the top rule reviewer over the objections of worker safety advocacy groups, environmentalists, and others.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has rejected the Center for Biological Diversity’s (CBD) long-running challenge aiming to limit or overturn the Congressional Review Act (CWA), finding Congress has broad discretion to scrap OSHA and other agencies’ rules with a streamlined voting process that limits judicial review.
Congress’ year-end budget deal gives OSHA just under $582 million in funding through the remainder of fiscal year 2020, a $24 million increase above both the FY19 enacted level and President Donald Trump’s budget request and the highest level ever for the agency, with the new funds largely allocated to enforcement and state plans.
Supporters of legislation banning the use and importation of asbestos under EPA’s toxics authority are gearing up to advance the bill in the Senate after the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted overwhelmingly Nov. 19 to approve a bipartisan compromise, which gives the chlor-alkali industry as much as 10 years to phase-in the ban.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) plans a “hard” push next year to advance in the Senate just-passed House legislation that would force OSHA to issue workplace violence standards for the healthcare and social service sectors, saying the more than 30 Republicans backing the House bill suggest it could attract similar bipartisan support in the Senate.
The House appears poised to approve legislation that would force OSHA to quickly issue workplace violence standards for the healthcare and social service sectors, with Democratic and GOP lawmakers discussing potential compromises to bolster the bill’s support, even as the measure faces a White House veto threat.
Senators are eyeing a fix for small business legislation to address concerns from a major firefighters’ group that the bill puts first responders and communities near chemical facilities at risk, with the bill’s lead sponsor Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) aiming to swiftly revise the bill ahead of the homeland security panel’s next markup.
James Sullivan, the chairman and lone member of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), is optimistic that Congress will swiftly approve two nominations to join the panel so that it can once again have a quorum to resume its work reviewing contested OSHA workplace citations and penalties.
House Democrats used an Oct. 23 hearing to bolster pending legislation that they say would enhance safety protections for so-called “gig” workers, who are currently identified as independent contractors and not covered by OSHA safety requirements and other federal labor protections that apply to employees.