II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 710 

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the Administrator of 

the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a hazardous waste 

electronic manifest system. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 31, 2011 

Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. INHOFE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a hazardous waste electronic manifest system. 

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 ‘‘Hazardous Waste 

5 Electronic Manifest Establishment Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST SYS2 TEM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of the Solid Waste Dis4 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.) is amended by adding 

5 at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 3024. HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST 

7 SYSTEM. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) BOARD.—The term ‘Board’ means the 

10 Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advi11 sory Board established under subsection (f). 

12 ‘‘(2) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the Haz13 ardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Fund es14 tablished by subsection (d). 

15 ‘‘(3) PERSON.—The term ‘person’ includes an 

16 individual, corporation (including a Government cor17 poration), company, association, firm, partnership, 

18 society, joint stock company, trust, municipality, 

19 commission, Federal agency, State, political subdivi20 sion of a State, or interstate body. 

21 ‘‘(4) SYSTEM.—The term ‘system’ means the 

22 hazardous waste electronic manifest system estab23 lished under subsection (b). 

24 ‘‘(5) USER.—The term ‘user’ means a haz25 ardous waste generator, a hazardous waste trans26 porter, an owner or operator of a hazardous waste 


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1 treatment, storage, recycling, or disposal facility, or 

2 any other person that— 

3 ‘‘(A) is required to use a manifest to com4 ply with any Federal or State requirement to 

5 track the shipment, transportation, and receipt 

6 of hazardous waste or other material that is 

7 shipped from the site of generation to an off8 site facility for treatment, storage, disposal, or 

9 recycling; and 

10 ‘‘(B)(i) elects to use the system to com11 plete and transmit an electronic manifest for12 mat; or 

13 ‘‘(ii) submits to the system for data proc14 essing purposes a paper copy of the manifest 

15 (or data from such a paper copy), in accordance 

16 with such regulations as the Administrator may 

17 promulgate to require such a submission. 

18 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 3 years after 

19 the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator 

20 shall establish a hazardous waste electronic manifest sys21 tem that may be used by any user. 

22 ‘‘(c) USER FEES.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may im24 pose on users such reasonable service fees as the Ad25 ministrator determines to be necessary to pay costs 


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1 incurred in developing, operating, maintaining, and 

2 upgrading the system, including any costs incurred 

3 in collecting and processing data from any paper 

4 manifest submitted to the system after the date on 

5 which the system enters operation. 

6 ‘‘(2) COLLECTION OF FEES.—The Adminis7 trator shall— 

8 ‘‘(A) collect the fees described in para9 graph (1) from the users in advance of, or as 

10 reimbursement for, the provision by the Admin11 istrator of system-related services; and 

12 ‘‘(B) deposit the fees in the Fund for use 

13 in accordance with this subsection. 

14 ‘‘(3) FEE STRUCTURE.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in 

16 consultation with information technology ven17 dors, shall determine through the contract 

18 award process described in subsection (e) the 

19 fee structure that is necessary to recover the 

20 full cost to the Administrator of providing sys21 tem-related services, including costs relating 

22 to— 

23 ‘‘(i) materials and supplies; 

24 ‘‘(ii) contracting and consulting; 

25 ‘‘(iii) overhead; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) information technology (includ2 ing costs of hardware, software, and re3 lated services); 

4 ‘‘(v) information management; 

5 ‘‘(vi) collection of service fees; 

6 ‘‘(vii) investment of any unused serv7 ice fees; 

8 ‘‘(viii) reporting and accounting; 

9 ‘‘(ix) employment of direct and indi10 rect Government personnel dedicated to es11 tablishing and maintaining the system; and 

12 ‘‘(x) project management. 

13 ‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENTS IN FEE AMOUNT.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Adminis15 trator, in consultation with the Board, 

16 shall increase or decrease amount of a 

17 service fee determined under the fee struc18 ture described in subparagraph (A) to a 

19 level that will— 

20 ‘‘(I) result in the collection of an 

21 aggregate amount for deposit in the 

22 Fund that is sufficient to cover cur23 rent and projected system-related 

24 costs (including any necessary system 

25 upgrades); and 


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1 ‘‘(II) minimize, to the maximum 

2 extent practicable, the accumulation 

3 of unused amounts in the Fund. 

4 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION FOR INITIAL PERIOD

5 OF OPERATION.—The requirement de6 scribed in clause (i)(II) shall not apply to 

7 any additional fees that accumulate in the 

8 Fund, in an amount that does not exceed 

9 $2,000,000, during the 3-year period be10 ginning on the date on which the system 

11 enters operation. 

12 ‘‘(iii) TIMING OF ADJUSTMENTS.—Ad13 justments to service fees described in 

14 clause (i) shall be made— 

15 ‘‘(I) initially, at the time at 

16 which initial development costs of the 

17 system have been recovered by the 

18 Administrator such that the service 

19 fee may be reduced to reflect the 

20 elimination of the system development 

21 component of the fee; and 

22 ‘‘(II) periodically thereafter, upon 

23 receipt and acceptance of the findings 

24 of any annual accounting or auditing 

25 report under subsection (d)(6), if the 


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1 report discloses a significant disparity 

2 for a fiscal year between the funds 

3 collected from service fees under this 

4 subsection for the fiscal year and ex5 penditures made for the fiscal year to 

6 provide system-related services. 

7 ‘‘(d) HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST

8 SYSTEM FUND.— 

9 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 

10 the Treasury of the United States a revolving fund, 

11 to be known as the ‘Hazardous Waste Electronic 

12 Manifest System Fund’, consisting of— 

13 ‘‘(A) such amounts as are appropriated to 

14 the Fund under paragraph (2); and 

15 ‘‘(B) any interest earned on investment of 

16 amounts in the Fund under paragraph (4). 

17 ‘‘(2) TRANSFERS TO FUND.—There are appro18 priated to the Fund amounts equivalent to amounts 

19 collected as fees and received by the Administrator 

20 under subsection (c). 

21 ‘‘(3) EXPENDITURES FROM FUND.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph 

23 (2), on request by the Administrator, the Sec24 retary of the Treasury shall transfer from the 

25 Fund to the Administrator such amounts as the 


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1 Administrator determines to be necessary to 

2 pay costs incurred in developing, operating, 

3 maintaining, and upgrading the system under 

4 subsection (c). 

5 ‘‘(B) USE OF FUNDS.— 

6 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Fees collected by 

7 the Administrator and deposited in the 

8 Fund under this section shall be available 

9 to the Administrator for use in accordance 

10 with this section without fiscal year limita11 tion and without further appropriation. 

12 ‘‘(ii) OVERSIGHT.—The Administrator 

13 shall carry out all necessary measures to 

14 ensure that amounts in the Fund are used 

15 only to carry out the goals of establishing, 

16 operating, maintaining, upgrading, man17 aging, supporting, and overseeing the sys18 tem. 

19 ‘‘(4) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 

21 Treasury shall invest such portion of the Fund 

22 as is not, in the judgment of the Secretary of 

23 the Treasury and the Administrator, required 

24 to meet current withdrawals. 


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1 ‘‘(B) INTEREST-BEARING OBLIGATIONS.— 

2 Investments may be made only in— 

3 ‘‘(i) interest-bearing obligations of the 

4 United States; or 

5 ‘‘(ii) obligations, participations, or 

6 other instruments that are lawful invest7 ments for fiduciaries, trusts, or public 

8 funds, as determined by the Secretary of 

9 the Treasury. 

10 ‘‘(C) ACQUISITION OF OBLIGATIONS.—For 

11 the purpose of investments under paragraph 

12 (1), obligations may be acquired— 

13 ‘‘(i) on original issue at the issue 

14 price; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) by purchase of outstanding obli16 gations at the market price. 

17 ‘‘(D) SALE OF OBLIGATIONS.—Any obliga18 tion acquired by the Fund may be sold by the 

19 Secretary of the Treasury at the market price. 

20 ‘‘(E) CREDITS TO FUND.—The interest on, 

21 and the proceeds from the sale or redemption 

22 of, any obligations held in the Fund shall be 

23 credited to, and form a part of, the Fund. 

24 ‘‘(5) TRANSFERS OF AMOUNTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The amounts required 

2 to be transferred to the Fund under this sub3 section shall be transferred at least monthly 

4 from the general fund of the Treasury to the 

5 Fund on the basis of estimates made by the 

6 Secretary of the Treasury. 

7 ‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENTS.—Proper adjustment 

8 shall be made in amounts subsequently trans9 ferred to the extent prior estimates were in ex10 cess of or less than the amounts required to be 

11 transferred. 

12 ‘‘(6) ACCOUNTING AND AUDITING.— 

13 ‘‘(A) ACCOUNTING.—For each 2-fiscal-year 

14 period, the Administrator shall prepare and 

15 submit to the Committee on Environment and 

16 Public Works of the Senate and the Committee 

17 on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep18 resentatives a report that includes— 

19 ‘‘(i) an accounting of the fees paid to 

20 the Administrator under subsection (c) and 

21 disbursed from the Fund for the period 

22 covered by the report, as reflected by fi23 nancial statements provided in accordance 

24 with— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the Chief Financial Officers 

2 Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–576; 

3 104 Stat. 2838) and amendments 

4 made by that Act; and 

5 ‘‘(II) the Government Manage6 ment Reform Act of 1994 (Public 

7 Law 103–356; 108 Stat. 3410) and 

8 amendments made by that Act; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) an accounting describing actual 

10 expenditures from the Fund for the period 

11 covered by the report for costs described in 

12 subsection (c)(1). 

13 ‘‘(B) AUDITING.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose 

15 of section 3515(c) of title 31, United 

16 States Code, the Fund shall be considered 

17 a component of an Executive agency. 

18 ‘‘(ii) COMPONENTS OF AUDIT.—The 

19 annual audit required in accordance with 

20 sections 3515(b) and 3521 of title 31, 

21 United States Code, of the financial state22 ments of activities carried out using 

23 amounts from the Fund shall include an 

24 analysis of— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the fees collected and dis2 bursed under this section; 

3 ‘‘(II) the reasonableness of the 

4 fee structure in place as of the date of 

5 the audit to meet current and pro6 jected costs of the system; 

7 ‘‘(III) the level of use of the sys8 tem by users; and 

9 ‘‘(IV) the success to date of the 

10 system in operating on a self-sus11 taining basis and improving the effi12 ciency of tracking waste shipments 

13 and transmitting waste shipment 

14 data. 

15 ‘‘(iii) FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITY.— 

16 The Inspector General of the Environ17 mental Protection Agency shall— 

18 ‘‘(I) conduct the annual audit de19 scribed in clause (ii); and 

20 ‘‘(II) submit to the Administrator 

21 a report that describes the findings 

22 and recommendations of the Inspector 

23 General resulting from the audit. 

24 ‘‘(e) CONTRACTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO CONTRACTS

2 FUNDED BY SERVICE FEES.—The Administrator 

3 may enter into 1 or more information technology 

4 contracts with entities determined to be appropriate 

5 by the Administrator (referred to in this subsection 

6 as ‘contractors’) under which— 

7 ‘‘(A) the Administrator agrees to award a 

8 contract for the provision of system-related 

9 services; and 

10 ‘‘(B) the contractor agrees to assume the 

11 initial risk of the information technology invest12 ment, and to obtain reimbursement for invest13 ment costs, operating costs, and other fees, by 

14 receiving as payment an agreed-upon share of 

15 the amounts collected as fees by the Adminis16 trator under subsection (c). 

17 ‘‘(2) TERM OF CONTRACT.—A contract awarded 

18 under this subsection shall have a term of not more 

19 than 10 years. 

20 ‘‘(3) ACHIEVEMENT OF GOALS.—The Adminis21 trator shall ensure, to the maximum extent prac22 ticable, that a contract awarded under this sub23 section— 

24 ‘‘(A) is performance-based; 

25 ‘‘(B) identifies objective outcomes; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) contains performance standards that 

2 may be used to measure achievement and goals 

3 to evaluate the success of a contractor in per4 forming under the contract and the right of the 

5 contractor to payment for services under the 

6 contract, taking into consideration that a pri7 mary measure of successful performance shall 

8 be the development of a hazardous waste elec9 tronic manifest system that— 

10 ‘‘(i) meets the needs of the user com11 munity (including States that rely on data 

12 contained in manifests); 

13 ‘‘(ii) attracts sufficient user participa14 tion and service fee revenues to ensure the 

15 viability of the system; 

16 ‘‘(iii) decreases the administrative 

17 burden on the user community; and 

18 ‘‘(iv) provides the waste receipt data 

19 applicable to the biennial reports required 

20 by section 3002(a)(6). 

21 ‘‘(4) PAYMENT STRUCTURE.—Each contract 

22 awarded under this subsection shall include a provi23 sion that specifies— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the service fee structure of the con2 tractor that will form the basis for payments to 

3 the contractor; 

4 ‘‘(B) the fixed-share ratio of monthly serv5 ice fee revenues from which the Administrator 

6 shall reimburse the contractor for system-re7 lated development, operation, and maintenance 

8 costs and provide an additional profit or fee 

9 commensurate with the risk undertaken by the 

10 contractor in performing in accordance with the 

11 contract; 

12 ‘‘(C) the amount of additional trans13 actional costs attributed to— 

14 ‘‘(i) the ancillary costs of the Admin15 istrator in implementing and managing the 

16 system, including the costs of integrating 

17 the applications of the contractor with the 

18 central data exchange architecture of the 

19 Environmental Protection Agency; 

20 ‘‘(ii) the direct and indirect personnel 

21 costs incurred by the Administrator to em22 ploy personnel dedicated to the implemen23 tation and management of the system; and 

24 ‘‘(iii) expenses incurred in procuring 

25 any independent contractor services to asVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:12 Apr 02, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S710.IS S710

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1 sist staff of the Administrator in the prep2 aration of financial statements and reports 

3 and the conduct of regular user group and 

4 governance meetings necessary for the 

5 oversight of the system. 

6 ‘‘(5) CANCELLATION AND TERMINATION.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the Administrator 

8 determines that sufficient funds are not made 

9 available for the continuation in a subsequent 

10 fiscal year of a contract entered into under this 

11 subsection, the Administrator shall cancel or 

12 terminate the contract. 

13 ‘‘(B) COSTS.—The costs of cancellation or 

14 termination under subparagraph (A) may be 

15 paid using— 

16 ‘‘(i) appropriations available for per17 formance of the contract; 

18 ‘‘(ii) unobligated appropriations avail19 able for acquisition of the information 

20 technology procured under the contract; or 

21 ‘‘(iii) funds subsequently appropriated 

22 for payment of costs of the cancellation or 

23 termination. 

24 ‘‘(C) NEGOTIATION OF AMOUNTS.—The 

25 amount payable in the event of cancellation or 


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1 termination of a contract entered into under 

2 this subsection shall be negotiated with the con3 tractor at the time at which the contract is 

4 awarded. 

5 ‘‘(D) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO CON6 TRACTS.—The Administrator may enter into a 

7 contract under this subsection for any fiscal 

8 year, regardless of whether funds are made spe9 cifically available for the full costs of cancella10 tion or termination of the contract, if— 

11 ‘‘(i) funds are available at the time at 

12 which the contract is awarded to make 

13 payments with respect to a contingent li14 ability in an amount equal to at least 100 

15 percent of the estimated costs of a can16 cellation or termination during the first 

17 fiscal year of the contract, as determined 

18 by the Administrator; or 

19 ‘‘(ii) funds described in clause (i) are 

20 not available as described in that clause, 

21 but the contractor— 

22 ‘‘(I) is informed of the amount of 

23 any unfunded contingent liability; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) agrees to perform the con2 tract despite the unfunded contingent 

3 liability. 

4 ‘‘(6) NO EFFECT ON OWNERSHIP.—Regardless 

5 of whether the Administrator enters into a contract 

6 under this subsection, the system shall be owned by 

7 the Federal Government. 

8 ‘‘(f) HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST

9 SYSTEM ADVISORY BOARD.— 

10 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 3 years 

11 after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad12 ministrator shall establish a board to be known as 

13 the ‘Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System 

14 Advisory Board’. 

15 ‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—The Board shall be com16 posed of 9 members, of which— 

17 ‘‘(A) 1 member shall be the Administrator 

18 (or a designee), who shall serve as Chairperson 

19 of the Board; and 

20 ‘‘(B) 8 members shall be individuals ap21 pointed by the Administrator— 

22 ‘‘(i) at least 2 of whom shall have ex23 pertise in information technology; 

24 ‘‘(ii) at least 3 of whom shall have ex25 perience in using or represent users of the 


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1 manifest system to track the transpor2 tation of hazardous waste under this sub3 title (or an equivalent State program); and 

4 ‘‘(iii) at least 3 of whom shall be a 

5 State representative responsible for proc6 essing those manifests. 

7 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The Board shall meet annually 

8 to discuss, evaluate the effectiveness of, and provide 

9 recommendations to the Administrator relating to, 

10 the system. 

11 ‘‘(g) REGULATIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) PROMULGATION.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

14 after the date of enactment of this section, the 

15 Administrator shall promulgate regulations to 

16 carry out this section. 

17 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The regulations pro18 mulgated pursuant to subparagraph (A) may 

19 include such requirements as the Administrator 

20 determines to be necessary to facilitate the 

21 transition from the use of paper manifests to 

22 the use of electronic manifests, or to accommo23 date the processing of data from paper mani24 fests in the electronic manifest system, includ25 ing a requirement that users of paper manifests 


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1 submit to the system copies of the paper mani2 fests for data processing purposes. 

3 ‘‘(C) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations 

4 promulgated pursuant to subparagraph (A) 

5 shall ensure that each electronic manifest pro6 vides, to the same extent as paper manifests 

7 under applicable Federal and State law, for— 

8 ‘‘(i) the ability to track and maintain 

9 legal accountability of— 

10 ‘‘(I) the person that certifies that 

11 the information provided in the mani12 fest is accurately described; and 

13 ‘‘(II) the person that acknowl14 edges receipt of the manifest; 

15 ‘‘(ii) if the manifest is electronically 

16 submitted, State authority to access paper 

17 printout copies of the manifest from the 

18 system; and 

19 ‘‘(iii) access to all publicly available 

20 information contained in the manifest. 

21 ‘‘(2) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS.—Any 

22 regulation promulgated by the Administrator under 

23 paragraph (1) and in accordance with section 3003 

24 relating to electronic manifesting of hazardous waste 


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1 shall take effect in each State as of the effective 

2 date specified in the regulation. 

3 ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATION.—The Administrator 

4 shall carry out regulations promulgated under this 

5 subsection in each State unless the State program is 

6 fully authorized to carry out those regulations in lieu 

7 of the Administrator. 

8 ‘‘(h) REQUIREMENT OF COMPLIANCE WITH RESPECT

9 TO CERTAIN STATES.—In any case in which the State in 

10 which waste is generated, or the State in which waste will 

11 be transported to a designated facility, requires that the 

12 waste be tracked through a hazardous waste manifest, the 

13 designated facility that receives the waste shall, regardless 

14 of the State in which the facility is located— 

15 ‘‘(1) complete the facility portion of the applica16 ble manifest; 

17 ‘‘(2) sign and date the facility certification; and 

18 ‘‘(3) submit to the system a final copy of the 

19 manifest for data processing purposes.’’. 

20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con21 tents of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901) 

22 is amended by inserting at the end of the items relating 

23 to subtitle C the following: 

‘‘Sec. 3024. Hazardous waste electronic manifest system.’’. 

Æ 


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