II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1841

To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit discrimination, on the

basis of race, color, or national origin, in programs and activities relating

to occupational and other exposure to hazardous substances.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 9 (legislative day, JANUARY 25), 1994

Mr. WELLSTONE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit discrimination, on the basis of race, color, or national origin,

in programs and activities relating to occupational and

other exposure to hazardous substances.

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 ‘‘Public Health Equity

5 Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) all communities and individuals are entitled

2 to protection from occupational and other exposure

3 to substances that are hazardous to the public

4 health;

5 (2) hazardous substances have had a dispropor6 tionate impact on the public health of poor and eth7 nic minority communities and individuals, resulting

8 in exclusion from participation in, denial of benefits

9 under, and discrimination under, programs and ac10 tivities receiving Federal financial assistance; and

11 (3) each Federal agency has an obligation to

12 ensure that all federally assisted programs and ac13 tivities that affect human health do not directly or

14 through contractual arrangements use criteria,

15 methods, or practices that cause discrimination on

16 the ground of race, color, or national origin.

17 SEC. 3. PUBLIC HEALTH EQUITY.

18 The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et

19 seq.) is amended by adding at the end thereof the follow20 ing new title:

21 ‘‘TITLE XXVII—PUBLIC HEALTH

22 EQUITY

23 ‘‘SEC. 2701. DEFINITIONS.

24 ‘‘As used in this title:
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1 ‘‘(1) ACTIVITY; PROGRAM.—The term ‘program

2 or activity’ means any operation of—

3 ‘‘(A)(i) a department, agency, special pur4 pose district, or other instrumentality of a State

5 or of a local government; or

6 ‘‘(ii) the entity of such State or local gov7 ernment that distributes such assistance and

8 each such department or agency (and each

9 other State or local government entity) to which

10 the assistance is extended, in the case of assist11 ance to a State or local government;

12 ‘‘(B)(i) a college, university, or other post13 secondary institution, or a public system of

14 higher education; or

15 ‘‘(ii) a local educational agency (as defined

16 in section 198(a)(10) of the Elementary and

17 Secondary Education Act of 1965), system of

18 vocational education, or other school system;

19 ‘‘(C)(i) an entire corporation, partnership,

20 or other private organization, or an entire sole

21 proprietorship—

22 ‘‘(I) if assistance is extended to such

23 corporation, partnership, private organiza24 tion, or sole proprietorship as a whole; or
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1 ‘‘(II) which is principally engaged in

2 the business of providing education, health

3 care, housing, social services, or parks and

4 recreation; or

5 ‘‘(ii) the entire plant or other comparable,

6 geographically separate facility to which Fed7 eral financial assistance is extended, in the case

8 of any other corporation, partnership, private

9 organization, or sole proprietorship; or

10 ‘‘(D) any other entity which is established

11 by two or more of the entities described in sub12 paragraph (A), (B), or (C);

13 any part of which is extended Federal financial as14 sistance relating to a covered substance.

15 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis16 trator’ has the meaning given the term in section

17 511(7) of the Education for Economic Security Act

18 (20 U.S.C. 4020(7)).

19 ‘‘(3) COVERED SUBSTANCE.—The term ‘covered

20 substance’ means—

21 ‘‘(A) any material subject to the require22 ments concerning material safety data sheets

23 for chemicals under the Occupational and Safe24 ty and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 et

25 seq.);
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1 ‘‘(B) any contaminant identified in title

2 XIV;

3 ‘‘(C) any substance described in section

4 201(q) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos5 metic Act (21 U.S.C. 321(q)), and any material

6 registered pursuant to the Act referred to in

7 such section;

8 ‘‘(D) any chemical listed by the National

9 Toxicology Program of the Department of

10 Health and Human Services as a known or

11 probable human carcinogen; and

12 ‘‘(E) any substance defined in section

13 101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental

14 Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of

15 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601(14)) and any chemical

16 subject to section 313 of the Emergency Plan17 ning and Community Right-To-Know Act of

18 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11023).

19 ‘‘SEC. 2702. NONDISCRIMINATION.

20 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION.—The Presi21 dent shall ensure that no person shall be excluded from

22 participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject

23 to discrimination under, any program or activity, on the

24 ground of race, color, or national origin.

25 ‘‘(b) PROMULGATION OF REGULATIONS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) SUBJECT.—Subject to paragraph (2), the

2 Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and

3 Human Services, the Administrator, and any other

4 head of a Federal agency with responsibility for pro5 viding Federal financial assistance to a program or

6 activity shall issue regulations implementing the

7 nondiscrimination requirements described in sub8 section (a) in accordance with any applicable law.

9 The regulations shall bar acts with discriminatory

10 effects as well as intentionally discriminatory acts.

11 The regulations shall address actions of programs or

12 activities that result in disproportionate exposure to

13 a covered substance on the basis of race, color, or

14 national origin.

15 ‘‘(2) TIMETABLE.—In issuing regulations under

16 paragraph (1)—

17 ‘‘(A) not later than 180 days after the date

18 of enactment of this Act, each individual de19 scribed in paragraph (1) shall publish a notice

20 of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register;

21 ‘‘(B) each individual described in para22 graph (1) shall provide a public comment pe23 riod, subject to section 553 of title 5, United

24 States Code, of 60 days after the publication of
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1 the notice of proposed rulemaking required

2 under subparagraph (A); and

3 ‘‘(C) not later than 45 days after the close

4 of the public comment period required under

5 subparagraph (B), each individual described in

6 paragraph (1) shall publish final regulations.’’.

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