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Calendar No. 223 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1771 

To express the sense of Congress and to improve reporting with respect 

to the safety of workers in the response and recovery activities related 

to Hurricane Katrina, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2005 

Mr. ENZI (for himself and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; which 

was read the first time 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2005 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

A BILL 

To express the sense of Congress and to improve reporting 

with respect to the safety of workers in the response 

and recovery activities related to Hurricane Katrina, 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 ‘‘Katrina Worker Safety 

5 and Filing Flexibility Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS CONCERNING THE SAFETY 

2 AND HEALTH OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE, RE3 COVERY, AND RECONSTRUCTION WORKERS. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

5 (1) individuals working in emergency response, 

6 recovery, and reconstruction in the disaster areas in 

7 Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in the wake of 

8 Hurricane Katrina face numerous and uncommon 

9 worksite and environmental hazards; 

10 (2) workers may be facing hazards with which 

11 they have little prior experience or training, and typ12 ical communication channels may not be as effective 

13 as they are under normal circumstances; 

14 (3) the Occupational Safety and Health Admin15 istration (referred to in this section as ‘‘OSHA’’) 

16 has deployed safety and health professionals to Lou17 isiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to provide technical 

18 assistance to emergency response, recovery, and re19 construction workers in their ongoing cleanup efforts 

20 along the Gulf Coast of the United States; and 

21 (4) OSHA’s efforts to protect first responders 

22 and emergency response, recovery and reconstruction 

23 workers are being guided by the Worker Health and 

24 Safety Annex plan, as established in the National 

25 Response Plan that was recently adopted by the De26 partment of Homeland Security. 
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1 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that— 

3 (1) as soon as practicable after the date of en4 actment of this Act OSHA should— 

5 (A) implement all of the relevant provi6 sions of the Worker Health and Safety Annex 

7 plan; 

8 (B) in addition to making public service 

9 announcements, develop additional methods to 

10 provide workers and employers with the infor11 mation they need to maintain a safe workplace, 

12 including their rights and obligations under 

13 health and safety laws, such as working 

14 through OSHA’s Strategic Partnerships, and 

15 working with contractors and labor organiza16 tions to reach all employers and workers in17 volved in the emergency response, recovery, and 

18 reconstruction; 

19 (C) work to communicate with immigrant 

20 and non-English speaking workers and employ21 ers about safety rights, resources, and require22 ments; 

23 (D) deploy sufficient personnel to the re24 gion to successfully carry out their mission, in-
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1 cluding enforcement of and education about 

2 safety standards and rights; 

3 (E) work with State, local, and tribal gov4 ernments to ensure the availability and manage5 ment of all available safety resources for emer6 gency response, recovery, and reconstruction 

7 workers; 

8 (F) work with other Federal agencies such 

9 as Federal Emergency Management Agency, 

10 the National Institute of Occupational Safety 

11 and Health, the Environmental Protection 

12 Agency, the Chemical Safety Hazard Board, the 

13 National Institute of Environmental Health 

14 Sciences, the Department of Energy, the De15 partment of Health and Human Services, and 

16 the Department of Transportation to identify 

17 hazards, determine the optimum hazard abate18 ment solutions and communicate those solutions 

19 to potentially endangered workers and employ20 ers, and to identify the need for personal pro21 tective equipment for employees engaged in 

22 clean-up of hazardous materials and, when pos23 sible, coordinate and facilitate distribution of 

24 such equipment; and 
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1 (G) work with the Environmental Protec2 tion Agency and the National Institute of Envi3 ronmental Health Sciences to provide technical 

4 assistance and training for workers covered by 

5 Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency 

6 Response Standards; and 

7 (2) records of the identity of individuals in8 volved in the recovery and rebuilding efforts should 

9 be maintained, and therefore all entities engaged in 

10 these efforts are encouraged to maintain such 

11 records, and, if maintained, to forward such records 

12 and rosters to OSHA or the appropriate agency for 

13 collection and central storage. 

14 SEC. 3. COMMUNICATIONS, ENFORCEMENT, AND TRAINING. 

15 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

16 as may be necessary to enable the Department of Labor 

17 and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration 

18 to pay for needed communications, including public service 

19 announcements on radio and television, to provide for ad20 ditional personnel, to enforce safety standards, and to pro21 vide needed health and safety training and resources to 

22 affected workers and employers. 

23 SEC. 4. REPORTING. 

24 Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 

25 of this Act, the Secretary of Labor jointly with the Admin-
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1 istrator of the Occupational Safety and Health Adminis2 tration, shall provide a briefing to the members of the 

3 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

4 and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and 

5 the members of the Committee on Education and the 

6 Workforce and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

7 House of Representatives concerning the progress made 

8 toward providing necessary personnel to enforce safety 

9 standards providing needed health and safety training and 

10 resources to affected workers and employers relating to 

11 Hurricane Katrina reconstruction and coordinating efforts 

12 with other agencies including Federal Emergency Manage13 ment Agency, the National Institute of Occupational Safe14 ty and Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, and 

15 the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. 

16 Such briefing shall include a report on the resources ex17 pended or needed to implement such measures. Not later 

18 than 9 months after such date of enactment, the Secretary 

19 of Labor and the Administrator of the Occupational Safe20 ty and Health Administration shall deliver a written report 

21 to Congress summarizing the success in achieving such 

22 goals. 

23 SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF DEADLINES FOR LMRDA. 

24 With respect to— 
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1 (1) any labor organization or employer, the 

2 principal place of business of which is located in an 

3 area declared a disaster area by the President under 

4 section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

5 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170), 

6 related to Hurricane Katrina, or whose financial 

7 records, or any potion thereof, are located in such an 

8 area; or 

9 (2) any officer or employee of a labor organiza10 tion who resides in such an area or whose financial 

11 records, or any potion thereof, are located in such an 

12 area; and 

13 that is required to file an annual financial report pursuant 

14 to Title II of the Labor-Management Reporting and Dis15 closure Act (29 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) by September 30, 

16 2005, the Secretary of Labor shall extend the deadline for 

17 filing such reports as appropriate, but in no case to a date 

18 that is earlier than March 31, 2006. 

19 SEC. 6. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR INSPECTOR GENERAL 

20 AUDIT AND REPORT. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General of the De22 partment of Labor (referred to in this section as the ‘‘In23 spector General’’) shall conduct an audit and investigation 

24 of each program carried out by the Department of Labor 
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1 that includes response and recovery activities related to 

2 Hurricane Katrina. 

3 (b) WEEKLY REPORT.—Not less frequently than once 

4 a week, the Inspector General shall provide a report to 

5 the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen6 sions of the Senate and the Committee on Education and 

7 the Workforce of the House of Representatives listing the 

8 audits and investigations initiated pursuant to subsection 

9 (a). 

10 (c) STATUS REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 

11 the date of enactment of this section, and biannually 

12 thereafter until the audits and investigations described in 

13 subsection (a) are complete, the Inspector General shall 

14 report to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

15 Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Education 

16 and the Workforce of the House of Representatives on the 

17 full status of the activities of the Inspector General under 

18 this section. 

19 (d) COOPERATIVE VENTURES.—In carrying out this 

20 section, the Inspector General is encouraged to enter into 

21 cooperative ventures with Inspectors General of other Fed22 eral agencies. 

Calendar No. 223 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1771 

A BILL 

To express the sense of Congress and to improve 

Hurricane Katrina, and for other purposes. the response and recovery activities related to reporting with respect to the safety of workers in 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2005 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar