House and Senate leaders remain at odds over how to move a package of legislation to reform the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to aides. While the House moves forward on a series of small bills, Senate leaders are still working on comprehensive reform.
The House March 17 passed two of a series of eight OSHA reform bills. While Democrats in the past have opposed larger OSHA reform packages, they and the Clinton administration signed onto the two bills, which passed easily on the suspension calendar.
One bill would prohibit government managers from imposing on inspectors a quota of workplace citations they must issue. The second bill would authorize grants to states to provide voluntary, on-site consultations for small businesses about workplace safety without issuing citations for any violations found. OSHA already runs a similar program; the legislation by House Education and the Workforce Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Cass Ballenger, R-N.C., would codify that program.
Still pending in the House subcommittee are several other OSHA reform bills, each narrow in scope and addressing a specific issue. Ballenger's bills would protect businesses from liability for their own voluntary inspections; create more scientific peer review; give fair notice of proposed workplace standards; grant employers greater flexibility to meet standards; clarify who is an employer on a multi-employer construction worksite; and protect small businesses from large OSHA penalties.
Those bills are more controversial. House Republicans believe they have a better chance of moving them separately than as a large package, which they tried in the 104th Congress. "These are rifle shot bills that in the end will make a difference," said one committee aide.
But Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., the lead sponsor of a larger OSHA reform bill in the Senate, disagrees with that strategy and "prefers a more comprehensive approach," a spokesman said, adding, "Although this is an election year, he's working tirelessly on this, lobbying Senate Democrats on the merits of the bill."
Enzi's bill, cosponsored by Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., contains most of the House reforms. But it also would prohibit the citation of companies that violate workplace safety rules "unless the employer knew, or with the exercise of reasonable diligence, would have known, of the presence of an alleged violation." The bill also would allow companies to hire private sector consultants to inspect their workplaces.
Rep. James Talent, R-Mo., is the sponsor of a companion bill in the House. While House members also favor such comprehensive reform, they believe it will require a Republican president to accomplish it--and that they should get what they can now through the smaller bills.
"At the end of the rainbow, there's a Democratic president who likely will veto anything larger that we could support," said a House aide. The small bills "are valuable reforms that move OSHA to more of a consultative approach," the aide added. But with Enzi pursuing comprehensive legislation, Senate aides said they do not anticipate taking up the House-passed bills anytime soon.
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