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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2142

To promote the scientific, technological, and the national security interests

and industrial wellbeing of the United States through establishing missions for and streamlining Department of Energy laboratories, and for

other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 31, 1995

Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas, Mr. FAWELL, Mr.

HASTERT, Mr. WAMP, Mr. BAKER of California, and Mrs. MORELLA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

Science, and in addition to the Committee on National Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To promote the scientific, technological, and the national

security interests and industrial wellbeing of the United

States through establishing missions for and streamlining

Department of Energy laboratories, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Energy

5 Laboratory Missions Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 For purposes of this Act—

3 (1) the term ‘‘departmental laboratory’’ means

4 a Federal laboratory, or any other laboratory or fa5 cility designated by the Secretary, operated by or on

6 behalf of the Department of Energy;

7 (2) the term ‘‘Federal laboratory’’ has the

8 meaning given the term ‘‘laboratory’’ in section

9 12(d)(2) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Inno10 vation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a(d)(2));

11 (3) the term ‘‘relevant congressional commit12 tees’’ means the Committee on Armed Services of

13 the Senate, the Committee on National Security of

14 the House of Representatives, the Committee on

15 Science of the House of Representatives, and the

16 Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the

17 Senate; and

18 (4) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

19 of Energy.

20 TITLE I—MISSION ASSIGNMENT

21 SEC. 101. FINDINGS.

22 The Congress finds that—

23 (1) through their unique historical missions, the

24 departmental laboratories have developed core com25 petencies and technical capabilities that strategically
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1 position them to contribute to the scientific and

2 technological wellbeing of the Nation;

3 (2) the departmental laboratories have contrib4 uted and continue to contribute technology to ensure

5 the maintenance of the nuclear deterrent and other

6 elements of the national security;

7 (3) through their contributions to the national

8 security in the production of nuclear and conven9 tional weapons, the departmental laboratories have

10 helped deter the repetition of the global conflicts of

11 the past, and have helped maintain the relative

12 peace which the United States enjoys;

13 (4) the departmental laboratories collectively

14 represent an extensive science and technology re15 source of people, facilities, and equipment that con16 tribute to the achievement of national technology

17 goals;

18 (5) in carrying out their Department of Energy

19 mission responsibilities, the departmental labora20 tories have established successful collaborative rela21 tionships with other Federal agencies, universities,

22 and other federally funded laboratories that allow

23 each of the partners to share and leverage their

24 unique capabilities;
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1 (6) collaboration in partnerships among the de2 partmental laboratories, other Federal agencies, uni3 versities, and private industry, especially through co4 operative research and development agreements,

5 should be encouraged to enable the departmental

6 laboratories to ensure the maximum return on the

7 taxpayer’s investment; and

8 (7) the departmental laboratories need well de9 fined and assigned missions to continue to success10 fully contribute to the scientific, technological, and

11 national security interests of the United States.

12 SEC. 102. MISSIONS.

13 The Department of Energy may maintain depart14 mental laboratories for the purpose of advancing, and

15 shall carry out research and development activities which

16 are essential to support and perform, the following core

17 missions:

18 (1) To maintain national security, as follows:

19 (A) To provide for the Nation’s nuclear

20 weapons requirements, to be stewards of the

21 Nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, and to meet

22 other national security requirements as deter23 mined by the President.

24 (B) To reduce the threat of nuclear war,

25 by assisting with the dismantlement of nuclear
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1 weapons, working to curb the proliferation of

2 weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear,

3 chemical, and biological weapons, supporting ef4 forts to counter the proliferation of weapons of

5 mass destruction, including nuclear, chemical,

6 and biological weapons, and their delivery sys7 tems, and conducting research on and the de8 velopment of technologies needed for the effec9 tive verification of international arms control

10 agreements, including prospective international

11 arms control agreements, which may include

12 the production and dissemination of foreign in13 telligence pertinent to the Department’s mis14 sions.

15 (C) To provide for the advancement of

16 science and technology in the development of

17 nuclear and conventional weaponry for national

18 security purposes.

19 (2) To ensure the Nation’s energy supply and

20 to reduce the Nation’s reliance on imported energy

21 sources through research and development on ge22 neric, precompetitive technologies that enhance en23 ergy supply and improve the efficiency of energy end

24 uses, with an emphasis on long-term, high-risk re25 search.
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1 (3) To conduct basic research in energy-related

2 science and technology, in the fundamental under3 standing of matter, and in emerging scientific fields,

4 including construction and operation of unique sci5 entific instruments and facilities for use by the Fed6 eral Government, academia, industry, and other ap7 propriate non-Federal institutions.

8 (4) To carry out research and development for

9 the purpose of minimizing the environmental im10 pacts of the production and use of energy, nuclear

11 weapons, and materials, including the development

12 of technologies for the safe disposal and cleanup of

13 hazardous and radioactive wastes.

14 (5) To carry out such additional missions as

15 are assigned to the Department of Energy by the

16 President.

17 In furthering the core missions of the departmental lab18 oratories, the Secretary and the departmental laboratories

19 may establish mutually beneficial collaborative, mission20 oriented research and development relationships with

21 other agencies of the Federal Government, academia, and

22 other appropriate non-Federal institutions, providing for

23 the mutual sharing of nonproprietary and unclassified in24 formation.
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1 SEC. 103. PROCEDURE FOR MAKING PROPOSALS FOR LAB2 ORATORY MISSION ASSIGNMENTS AND

3 STREAMLINING.

4 (a) MISSION ASSIGNMENT AND STREAMLINING CRI5 TERIA.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 months

7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec8 retary shall publish in the Federal Register and

9 transmit to the relevant congressional committees

10 the criteria proposed to be used by the Secretary in

11 making proposals for the assignment of a mission or

12 missions to, and the streamlining, if necessary, of,

13 departmental laboratories. The Secretary shall pro14 vide an opportunity for public comment on the pro15 posed criteria for a period of at least 30 days and

16 shall include notice of that opportunity in the publi17 cation required under this paragraph. In developing

18 the criteria, the Secretary shall consider—

19 (A) the unique technical and experimental

20 capabilities which exist at each of the depart21 mental laboratories, including the critical infra22 structure needed for nuclear weapons systems

23 development, production, and maintenance;

24 (B) unnecessary duplication of effort by

25 departmental laboratories and overhead costs as
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1 a proportion of program benefits distributed

2 through a departmental laboratory;

3 (C) cost savings and increases that would

4 accrue through the streamlining of depart5 mental laboratories;

6 (D) the potential and appropriateness of

7 the performance of research and other missions

8 of the departmental laboratories by other enti9 ties such as academic, private industry, and

10 other Federal facilities; and

11 (E) expert advice from appropriate outside

12 individuals.

13 (2) FINAL CRITERIA.—Not later than 5 months

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec15 retary shall publish in the Federal Register and

16 transmit to the relevant congressional committees

17 the final criteria to be used in making proposals for

18 the assignment of a mission or missions to, and the

19 streamlining of, departmental laboratories under this

20 section.

21 (b) SECRETARY’S PROPOSALS.—

22 (1) PUBLICATION IN FEDERAL REGISTER.—Not

23 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of

24 this Act, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal

25 Register and transmit to the relevant congressional
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1 committees the Secretary’s proposals for mission as2 signments and streamlining for the departmental

3 laboratories, on the basis of the final criteria pub4 lished under subsection (a)(2) and the statement of

5 missions contained in section 3. In formulating those

6 proposals, the Secretary shall solicit the advice of

7 appropriate outside expert individuals.

8 (2) SUMMARY OF PROCESS.—The Secretary

9 shall include, with the proposals published and

10 transmitted pursuant to paragraph (1), a summary

11 of the process that resulted in the proposals for each

12 departmental laboratory, including a justification for

13 each proposal.

14 (c) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary

15 shall make available to the Comptroller General of the

16 United States all information used by the Secretary in

17 making proposals under subsection (b).

18 (d) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.—The Comp19 troller General of the United States shall, not later than

20 15 months after the date of the enactment of this Act,

21 transmit to the relevant congressional committees a report

22 containing a detailed analysis of the Secretary’s proposals

23 and procedures.
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1 SEC. 104. ASSIGNMENT OF MISSIONS TO, AND STREAMLIN2 ING OF, DEPARTMENTAL LABORATORIES.

3 The Secretary shall—

4 (1) assign a mission or missions to all depart5 mental laboratories as proposed in the report trans6 mitted to the relevant congressional committees pur7 suant to section 103(b)(1);

8 (2) streamline all such laboratories proposed for

9 streamlining in such report; and

10 (3) complete the mission assignments and

11 streamlining not later than the end of the 4-year pe12 riod beginning on the date on which such report is

13 transmitted.

14 SEC. 105. REPORTS ON IMPLEMENTATION.

15 As part of the budget request for each fiscal year in

16 which the Secretary will carry out activities under this

17 Act, the Secretary shall transmit to the relevant congres18 sional committees—

19 (1) a schedule of the mission assignment and

20 streamlining actions to be carried out under this Act

21 in the fiscal year for which the request is made and

22 an estimate of the total expenditures required and

23 cost savings to be achieved by each such mission as24 signment and streamlining, and of the time period in

25 which these savings are to be achieved in each case;

26 and
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1 (2) a description of the departmental labora2 tories, including those under construction and those

3 planned for construction, to which functions are to

4 be transferred as a result of mission assignments

5 and streamlining.

6 TITLE II—GOVERNANCE

7 SEC. 201. FINDINGS.

8 The Congress finds that—

9 (1) there is an inordinate internal focus at

10 every level of the Department of Energy and the de11 partmental laboratories on compliance issues and

12 questions of management processes, which takes a

13 major toll on research performance;

14 (2) there has been a growing emphasis at the

15 Department on administrative and support organiza16 tions and their oversight and compliance roles;

17 (3) the costs of dealing with review groups sig18 nificantly interferes with research operations at the

19 department laboratories;

20 (4) far too much influence has been ceded by

21 the Department to nonregulatory advisory boards,

22 and such organizations generate recommendations

23 with no apparent cost/benefit analysis, which results

24 in significant unnecessary expenditures and produc25 tivity losses; and
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1 (5) enforcement of environmental, safety, and

2 health rules, regulations, orders, and standards is a

3 function of government agencies other than the De4 partment of Energy.

5 SEC. 202. ELIMINATION OF SELF-REGULATION.

6 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the De7 partment of Energy shall implement, but shall not be the

8 agency of enforcement of, Federal, State, and local envi9 ronmental, safety, and health rules, regulations, orders,

10 and standards at departmental laboratories, unless the

11 Secretary certifies that a particular action is unique to the

12 activities of the Department and is necessary to maintain

13 human health and safety.

14 SEC. 203. EFFECTIVE DATE.

15 This title shall take effect on October 1, 1996.

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