S. 710 

One Hundred Twelfth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twelve 

An Act 

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

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hazardous Waste Electronic 

Manifest Establishment Act’’. 

SEC. 2. HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST SYSTEM. 

(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of the Solid Waste Disposal Act 

(42 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

following: 

‘‘SEC. 3024. HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST SYSTEM. 

‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board established under 

subsection (f). 

‘‘(2) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the Hazardous Waste 

Electronic Manifest System Fund established by subsection 

(d). 

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

corporation (including a Government corporation), company, 

association, firm, partnership, society, joint stock company, 

trust, municipality, commission, Federal agency, State, political 

subdivision of a State, or interstate body. 

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

waste electronic manifest system established under subsection 

(b). 

‘‘(5) USER.—The term ‘user’ means a hazardous waste 

generator, a hazardous waste transporter, an owner or operator 

of a hazardous waste treatment, storage, recycling, or disposal 

facility, or any other person that— 

‘‘(A) is required to use a manifest to comply with any 

Federal or State requirement to track the shipment, 

transportation, and receipt of hazardous waste or other 

material that is shipped from the site of generation to 

an off-site facility for treatment, storage, disposal, or 

recycling; and 

‘‘(B)(i) elects to use the system to complete and 

transmit an electronic manifest format; or 

‘‘(ii) submits to the system for data processing purposes 

a paper copy of the manifest (or data from such a paper 
S. 710—2 

copy), in accordance with such regulations as the Administrator may promulgate to require such a submission. 

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

of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall establish a 

hazardous waste electronic manifest system that may be used by 

any user. 

‘‘(c) USER FEES.— 

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with paragraph (4), the 

Administrator may impose on users such reasonable service 

fees as the Administrator determines to be necessary to pay 

costs incurred in developing, operating, maintaining, and 

upgrading the system, including any costs incurred in collecting 

and processing data from any paper manifest submitted to 

the system after the date on which the system enters operation. 

‘‘(2) COLLECTION OF FEES.—The Administrator shall— 

‘‘(A) collect the fees described in paragraph (1) from 

the users in advance of, or as reimbursement for, the 

provision by the Administrator of system-related services; 

and 

‘‘(B) deposit the fees in the Fund. 

‘‘(3) FEE STRUCTURE.— 

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

with information technology vendors, shall determine 

through the contract award process described in subsection 

(e) the fee structure that is necessary to recover the full 

cost to the Administrator of providing system-related services, including— 

‘‘(i) contractor costs relating to— 

‘‘(I) materials and supplies; 

‘‘(II) contracting and consulting; 

‘‘(III) overhead; 

‘‘(IV) information technology (including costs 

of hardware, software, and related services); 

‘‘(V) information management; 

‘‘(VI) collection of service fees; 

‘‘(VII) reporting and accounting; and 

‘‘(VIII) project management; and 

‘‘(ii) costs of employment of direct and indirect 

Government personnel dedicated to establishing, managing, and maintaining the system. 

‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENTS IN FEE AMOUNT.— 

‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in consultation with the Board, shall increase or decrease the 

amount of a service fee determined under the fee structure described in subparagraph (A) to a level that 

will— 

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

amount for deposit in the Fund that is sufficient 

and not more than reasonably necessary to cover 

current and projected system-related costs 

(including any necessary system upgrades); and 

‘‘(II) minimize, to the maximum extent practicable, the accumulation of unused amounts in 

the Fund. 

‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION FOR INITIAL PERIOD OF OPERATION.—The requirement described in clause (i)(II) 

shall not apply to any additional fees that accumulate 
S. 710—3 

in the Fund, in an amount that does not exceed 

$2,000,000, during the 3-year period beginning on the 

date on which the system enters operation. 

‘‘(iii) TIMING OF ADJUSTMENTS.—Adjustments to 

service fees described in clause (i) shall be made— 

‘‘(I) initially, at the time at which initial 

development costs of the system have been recovered by the Administrator such that the service 

fee may be reduced to reflect the elimination of 

the system development component of the fee; and 

‘‘(II) periodically thereafter, upon receipt and 

acceptance of the findings of any annual 

accounting or auditing report under subsection 

(d)(3), if the report discloses a significant disparity 

for a fiscal year between the funds collected from 

service fees under this subsection for the fiscal 

year and expenditures made for the fiscal year 

to provide system-related services. 

‘‘(4) CREDITING AND AVAILABILITY OF FEES.—Fees authorized under this section shall be collected and available for 

obligation only to the extent and in the amount provided in 

advance in appropriations Acts. 

‘‘(d) HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST SYSTEM FUND.— 

‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the Treasury 

of the United States a revolving fund, to be known as the 

‘Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Fund’, consisting 

of such amounts as are deposited in the Fund under subsection 

(c)(2)(B). 

‘‘(2) EXPENDITURES FROM FUND.— 

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Only to the extent provided in 

advance in appropriations Acts, on request by the Administrator, the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer from 

the Fund to the Administrator amounts appropriated to 

pay costs incurred in developing, operating, maintaining, 

and upgrading the system under subsection (c). 

‘‘(B) USE OF FUNDS BY ADMINISTRATOR.—Fees collected 

by the Administrator and deposited in the Fund under 

this section shall be available to the Administrator subject 

to appropriations Acts for use in accordance with this section without fiscal year limitation. 

‘‘(C) OVERSIGHT OF FUNDS.—The Administrator shall 

carry out all necessary measures to ensure that amounts 

in the Fund are used only to carry out the goals of establishing, operating, maintaining, upgrading, managing, supporting, and overseeing the system. 

‘‘(3) ACCOUNTING AND AUDITING.— 

‘‘(A) ACCOUNTING.—For each 2-fiscal-year period, the 

Administrator shall prepare and submit to the Committee 

on Environment and Public Works and the Committee 

on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on 

Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives a report that 

includes— 

‘‘(i) an accounting of the fees paid to the Administrator under subsection (c) and disbursed from the 

Fund for the period covered by the report, as reflected 

by financial statements provided in accordance with— 
S. 710—4 

‘‘(I) the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 

(Public Law 101–576; 104 Stat. 2838) and amendments made by that Act; and 

‘‘(II) the Government Management Reform Act 

of 1994 (Public Law 103–356; 108 Stat. 3410) and 

amendments made by that Act; and 

‘‘(ii) an accounting describing actual expenditures 

from the Fund for the period covered by the report 

for costs described in subsection (c)(1). 

‘‘(B) AUDITING.— ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of section 

3515(c) of title 31, United States Code, the Fund shall 

be considered a component of an Executive agency. 

‘‘(ii) COMPONENTS OF AUDIT.—The annual audit 

required in accordance with sections 3515(b) and 3521 

of title 31, United States Code, of the financial statements of activities carried out using amounts from 

the Fund shall include an analysis of— 

‘‘(I) the fees collected and disbursed under this 

section; 

‘‘(II) the reasonableness of the fee structure 

in place as of the date of the audit to meet current 

and projected costs of the system; 

‘‘(III) the level of use of the system by users; 

and 

‘‘(IV) the success to date of the system in operating on a self-sustaining basis and improving the 

efficiency of tracking waste shipments and 

transmitting waste shipment data. 

‘‘(iii) FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITY.—The Inspector 

General of the Environmental Protection Agency 

shall— 

‘‘(I) conduct the annual audit described in 

clause (ii); and 

‘‘(II) submit to the Administrator a report that 

describes the findings and recommendations of the 

Inspector General resulting from the audit. 

‘‘(e) CONTRACTS.— 

‘‘(1) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO CONTRACTS FUNDED BY

SERVICE FEES.—After consultation with the Secretary of 

Transportation, the Administrator may enter into 1 or more 

information technology contracts with entities determined to 

be appropriate by the Administrator (referred to in this subsection as ‘contractors’) for the provision of system-related services. 

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

subsection shall have a term of not more than 10 years. 

‘‘(3) ACHIEVEMENT OF GOALS.—The Administrator shall 

ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that a contract 

awarded under this subsection— 

‘‘(A) is performance-based; 

‘‘(B) identifies objective outcomes; and 

‘‘(C) contains performance standards that may be used 

to measure achievement and goals to evaluate the success 

of a contractor in performing under the contract and the 

right of the contractor to payment for services under the 

contract, taking into consideration that a primary measure 
S. 710—5 

of successful performance shall be the development of a 

hazardous waste electronic manifest system that— 

‘‘(i) meets the needs of the user community 

(including States that rely on data contained in manifests); 

‘‘(ii) attracts sufficient user participation and 

service fee revenues to ensure the viability of the 

system; 

‘‘(iii) decreases the administrative burden on the 

user community; and 

‘‘(iv) provides the waste receipt data applicable 

to the biennial reports required by section 3002(a)(6). 

‘‘(4) PAYMENT STRUCTURE.—Each contract awarded under 

this subsection shall include a provision that specifies— 

‘‘(A) the service fee structure of the contractor that 

will form the basis for payments to the contractor; and 

‘‘(B) the fixed-share ratio of monthly service fee revenues from which the Administrator shall reimburse the 

contractor for system-related development, operation, and 

maintenance costs. 

‘‘(5) CANCELLATION AND TERMINATION.— 

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

that sufficient funds are not made available for the continuation in a subsequent fiscal year of a contract entered 

into under this subsection, the Administrator may cancel 

or terminate the contract. 

‘‘(B) NEGOTIATION OF AMOUNTS.—The amount payable 

in the event of cancellation or termination of a contract 

entered into under this subsection shall be negotiated with 

the contractor at the time at which the contract is awarded. 

‘‘(6) NO EFFECT ON OWNERSHIP.—Regardless of whether 

the Administrator enters into a contract under this subsection, 

the system shall be owned by the Federal Government. 

‘‘(f) HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST SYSTEM

ADVISORY BOARD.— ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 3 years after the 

date of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall establish a board to be known as the ‘Hazardous Waste Electronic 

Manifest System Advisory Board’. 

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

‘‘(A) 1 member shall be the Administrator (or a designee), who shall serve as Chairperson of the Board; and 

‘‘(B) 8 members shall be individuals appointed by the 

Administrator— 

‘‘(i) at least 2 of whom shall have expertise in 

information technology; 

‘‘(ii) at least 3 of whom shall have experience in 

using or represent users of the manifest system to 

track the transportation of hazardous waste under this 

subtitle (or an equivalent State program); and 

‘‘(iii) at least 3 of whom shall be a State representative responsible for processing those manifests. 

‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The Board shall meet annually to discuss, 

evaluate the effectiveness of, and provide recommendations to 

the Administrator relating to, the system. 

‘‘(g) REGULATIONS.— 
S. 710—6 

‘‘(1) PROMULGATION.— 

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

date of enactment of this section, after consultation with 

the Secretary of Transportation, the Administrator shall 

promulgate regulations to carry out this section. 

‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The regulations promulgated pursuant to subparagraph (A) may include such requirements 

as the Administrator determines to be necessary to facilitate the transition from the use of paper manifests to 

the use of electronic manifests, or to accommodate the 

processing of data from paper manifests in the electronic 

manifest system, including a requirement that users of 

paper manifests submit to the system copies of the paper 

manifests for data processing purposes. 

‘‘(C) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations promulgated 

pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall ensure that each electronic manifest provides, to the same extent as paper manifests under applicable Federal and State law, for— 

‘‘(i) the ability to track and maintain legal accountability of— 

‘‘(I) the person that certifies that the information provided in the manifest is accurately 

described; and 

‘‘(II) the person that acknowledges receipt of 

the manifest; 

‘‘(ii) if the manifest is electronically submitted, 

State authority to access paper printout copies of the 

manifest from the system; and 

‘‘(iii) access to all publicly available information 

contained in the manifest. 

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

promulgated by the Administrator under paragraph (1) and 

in accordance with section 3003 relating to electronic manifesting of hazardous waste shall take effect in each State as 

of the effective date specified in the regulation. 

‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATION.—The Administrator shall carry out 

regulations promulgated under this subsection in each State 

unless the State program is fully authorized to carry out such 

regulations in lieu of the Administrator. 

‘‘(h) REQUIREMENT OF COMPLIANCE WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN

STATES.—In any case in which the State in which waste is generated, or the State in which waste will be transported to a designated facility, requires that the waste be tracked through a hazardous waste manifest, the designated facility that receives the 

waste shall, regardless of the State in which the facility is located— 

‘‘(1) complete the facility portion of the applicable manifest; 

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

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

for data processing purposes. 

‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION FOR START-UP ACTIVITIES.—There are 

authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

2013 through 2015 for start-up activities to carry out this section, 

to be offset by collection of user fees under subsection (c) such 

that all such appropriated funds are offset by fees as provided 

in subsection (c).’’. 
S. 710—7 

(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of contents of the 

Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901) is amended by inserting 

at the end of the items relating to subtitle C the following: 

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

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.