II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1423 

To amend the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program 

Act of 2000 to strengthen the quality control measures in place for 

part B lung disease claims and to establish the Advisory Board on 

Toxic Substances and Worker Health for the contractor employee compensation program under subtitle E of such Act. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2013 

Mr. UDALL of Colorado (for himself, Mr. ALEXANDER, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. 

UDALL of New Mexico, and Mr. HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to strengthen the quality 

control measures in place for part B lung disease claims 

and to establish the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances 

and Worker Health for the contractor employee compensation program under subtitle E of such Act. 

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 ‘‘Toxic Substances and 

5 Worker Health Advisory Board Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ADVISORY BOARD ON 

2 TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND WORKER HEALTH. 

3 (a) ADVISORY BOARD ON TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND

4 WORKER HEALTH.—Subtitle B of the Energy Employees 

5 Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 

6 (42 U.S.C. 7384l et seq.) is amended by adding at the 

7 end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 3632. ADVISORY BOARD ON TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND 

9 WORKER HEALTH. 

10 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

12 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

13 President shall establish and appoint an Advisory 

14 Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health (re15 ferred to in this section as the ‘Board’). 

16 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION ON APPOINTMENTS.—The 

17 President shall make appointments to the Board in 

18 consultation with organizations with expertise on 

19 worker health issues in order to ensure that the 

20 membership of the Board reflects a proper balance 

21 of perspectives from the scientific, medical, legal, 

22 worker, worker families, and worker advocate com23 munities. 

24 ‘‘(3) CHAIRPERSON.—The President shall des25 ignate a Chair of the Board from among its mem26 bers. 


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1 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Board shall— 

2 ‘‘(1) advise the President concerning the review 

3 and approval of the Department of Labor site expo4 sure matrix; 

5 ‘‘(2) conduct periodic peer reviews of, and ap6 prove, medical guidance for part E claims examiners 

7 with respect to the weighing of a claimant’s medical 

8 evidence; 

9 ‘‘(3) obtain periodic expert review of evidentiary 

10 requirements for part B claims related to lung dis11 ease regardless of approval; 

12 ‘‘(4) provide oversight over industrial hygien13 ists, Department of Labor staff physicians, and De14 partment of Labor’s consulting physicians and their 

15 reports to ensure quality, objectivity, and consist16 ency; and 

17 ‘‘(5) coordinate exchanges of data and findings 

18 with the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker 

19 Health to the extent necessary (under section 3624). 

20 ‘‘(c) STAFF AND POWERS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall ap22 point a staff to facilitate the work of the Board. The 

23 staff of the Board shall be headed by a Director who 

24 shall be appointed under subchapter VIII of chapter 

25 33 of title 5, United States Code. 


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1 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL AGENCY PERSONNEL.—The 

2 President may authorize the detail of employees of 

3 Federal agencies to the Board as necessary to enable 

4 the Board to carry out its duties under this section. 

5 The detail of such personnel may be on a non-reim6 bursable basis. 

7 ‘‘(3) POWERS.—The Board shall have same 

8 powers that the Advisory Board has under section 

9 3624. 

10 ‘‘(4) CONTRACTORS.—The Secretary shall em11 ploy outside contractors and specialists selected by 

12 the Board to support the work of the Board. 

13 ‘‘(d) EXPENSES.—Members of the Board, other than 

14 full-time employees of the United States, while attending 

15 meetings of the Board or while otherwise serving at the 

16 request of the President, and while serving away from 

17 their homes or regular place of business, shall be allowed 

18 travel and meal expenses, including per diem in lieu of 

19 subsistence (as authorized by section 5703 of title 5, 

20 United States Code) for individuals in the Federal Govern21 ment serving without pay. 

22 ‘‘(e) SECURITY CLEARANCES.— 

23 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION.—The Secretary of Energy 

24 shall ensure that the members and staff of the 

25 Board, and the contractors performing work in supVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:15 Aug 07, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1423.IS S1423

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1 port of the Board, are afforded the opportunity to 

2 apply for a security clearance for any matter for 

3 which such a clearance is appropriate. 

4 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION.—The Secretary of En5 ergy should, not later than 180 days after receiving 

6 a completed application for a security clearance 

7 under this subsection, make a determination whether 

8 or not the individual concerned is eligible for the 

9 clearance. 

10 ‘‘(3) REPORT.—For fiscal year 2015, and each 

11 fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary of Energy shall 

12 include in the budget justification materials sub13 mitted to Congress in support of the Department of 

14 Energy budget for that fiscal year (as submitted 

15 with the budget of the President under section 

16 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code) a report 

17 specifying the number of applications for security 

18 clearances under this subsection, the number of such 

19 applications granted, and the number of such appli20 cations denied. 

21 ‘‘(f) INFORMATION.—The Secretary of Energy shall, 

22 in accordance with law, provide to the Board and the con23 tractors of the Board, access to any information that the 

24 Board considers relevant to carry out its responsibilities 

25 under this section, including information such as reVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:15 Aug 07, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1423.IS S1423

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1 stricted data (as defined in section 11(y) of the Atomic 

2 Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2014(y))) and information 

3 covered by the Privacy Act.’’. 

4 (b) DEPARTMENT OF LABOR RESPONSE TO THE OF5 FICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN ANNUAL REPORT.—Section 

6 3686 of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Com7 pensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7385s–15) is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (e)(1), by striking ‘‘February 

10 15’’ and inserting ‘‘July 30’’; and 

11 (2) by striking subsection (h) and inserting the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(h) RESPONSE TO REPORT.—Not later than 180 

14 days after the publication of the annual report under sub15 section (e), the Department of Labor shall submit an an16 swer in writing on whether the Department agrees or dis17 agrees with the specific issues raised by the Ombudsman, 

18 if the Department agrees, on the actions to be taken to 

19 correct the problems identified by the Ombudsman, and 

20 if the Department does not agree, on the reasons there21 fore. The Department of Labor shall post such answer on 

22 the public Internet website of the Department.’’. 

Æ 


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