I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 710 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 24, 2012 

Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Electronic Manifest Establishment Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST SYS5 TEM. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of the Solid Waste Dis7 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.) is amended by adding 

8 at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 3024. HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST 

10 SYSTEM. 

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

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

13 Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advi14 sory Board established under subsection (f). 

15 ‘‘(2) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the Haz16 ardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Fund es17 tablished by subsection (d). 

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

19 individual, corporation (including a Government cor20 poration), company, association, firm, partnership, 

21 society, joint stock company, trust, municipality, 

22 commission, Federal agency, State, political subdivi23 sion of a State, or interstate body. 

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

25 hazardous waste electronic manifest system estab26 lished under subsection (b). 


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1 ‘‘(5) USER.—The term ‘user’ means a haz2 ardous waste generator, a hazardous waste trans3 porter, an owner or operator of a hazardous waste 

4 treatment, storage, recycling, or disposal facility, or 

5 any other person that— 

6 ‘‘(A) is required to use a manifest to com7 ply with any Federal or State requirement to 

8 track the shipment, transportation, and receipt 

9 of hazardous waste or other material that is 

10 shipped from the site of generation to an off11 site facility for treatment, storage, disposal, or 

12 recycling; and 

13 ‘‘(B)(i) elects to use the system to com14 plete and transmit an electronic manifest for15 mat; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) submits to the system for data proc17 essing purposes a paper copy of the manifest 

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

19 with such regulations as the Administrator may 

20 promulgate to require such a submission. 

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

22 the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator 

23 shall establish a hazardous waste electronic manifest sys24 tem that may be used by any user. 

25 ‘‘(c) USER FEES.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may im2 pose on users such reasonable service fees as the Ad3 ministrator determines to be necessary to pay costs 

4 incurred in developing, operating, maintaining, and 

5 upgrading the system, including any costs incurred 

6 in collecting and processing data from any paper 

7 manifest submitted to the system after the date on 

8 which the system enters operation. 

9 ‘‘(2) COLLECTION OF FEES.—The Adminis10 trator shall— 

11 ‘‘(A) collect the fees described in para12 graph (1) from the users in advance of, or as 

13 reimbursement for, the provision by the Admin14 istrator of system-related services; and 

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

16 in accordance with this subsection. 

17 ‘‘(3) FEE STRUCTURE.— 

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

19 consultation with information technology ven20 dors, shall determine through the contract 

21 award process described in subsection (e) the 

22 fee structure that is necessary to recover the 

23 full cost to the Administrator of providing sys24 tem-related services, including costs relating 

25 to— 


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1 ‘‘(i) materials and supplies; 

2 ‘‘(ii) contracting and consulting; 

3 ‘‘(iii) overhead; 

4 ‘‘(iv) information technology (includ5 ing costs of hardware, software, and re6 lated services); 

7 ‘‘(v) information management; 

8 ‘‘(vi) collection of service fees; 

9 ‘‘(vii) investment of any unused serv10 ice fees; 

11 ‘‘(viii) reporting and accounting; 

12 ‘‘(ix) employment of direct and indi13 rect Government personnel dedicated to es14 tablishing and maintaining the system; and 

15 ‘‘(x) project management. 

16 ‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENTS IN FEE AMOUNT.— 

17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Adminis18 trator, in consultation with the Board, 

19 shall increase or decrease amount of a 

20 service fee determined under the fee struc21 ture described in subparagraph (A) to a 

22 level that will— 

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

24 aggregate amount for deposit in the 

25 Fund that is sufficient to cover curVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:22 Jul 24, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S710.RFH S710

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1 rent and projected system-related 

2 costs (including any necessary system 

3 upgrades); and 

4 ‘‘(II) minimize, to the maximum 

5 extent practicable, the accumulation 

6 of unused amounts in the Fund. 

7 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION FOR INITIAL PERIOD

8 OF OPERATION.—The requirement de9 scribed in clause (i)(II) shall not apply to 

10 any additional fees that accumulate in the 

11 Fund, in an amount that does not exceed 

12 $2,000,000, during the 3-year period be13 ginning on the date on which the system 

14 enters operation. 

15 ‘‘(iii) TIMING OF ADJUSTMENTS.—Ad16 justments to service fees described in 

17 clause (i) shall be made— 

18 ‘‘(I) initially, at the time at 

19 which initial development costs of the 

20 system have been recovered by the 

21 Administrator such that the service 

22 fee may be reduced to reflect the 

23 elimination of the system development 

24 component of the fee; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) periodically thereafter, upon 

2 receipt and acceptance of the findings 

3 of any annual accounting or auditing 

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

5 report discloses a significant disparity 

6 for a fiscal year between the funds 

7 collected from service fees under this 

8 subsection for the fiscal year and ex9 penditures made for the fiscal year to 

10 provide system-related services. 

11 ‘‘(d) HAZARDOUS WASTE ELECTRONIC MANIFEST

12 SYSTEM FUND.— 

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

14 the Treasury of the United States a revolving fund, 

15 to be known as the ‘Hazardous Waste Electronic 

16 Manifest System Fund’, consisting of— 

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

18 the Fund under paragraph (2); and 

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

20 amounts in the Fund under paragraph (4). 

21 ‘‘(2) TRANSFERS TO FUND.—There are appro22 priated to the Fund amounts equivalent to amounts 

23 collected as fees and received by the Administrator 

24 under subsection (c). 

25 ‘‘(3) EXPENDITURES FROM FUND.— 


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

2 (2), on request by the Administrator, the Sec3 retary of the Treasury shall transfer from the 

4 Fund to the Administrator such amounts as the 

5 Administrator determines to be necessary to 

6 pay costs incurred in developing, operating, 

7 maintaining, and upgrading the system under 

8 subsection (c). 

9 ‘‘(B) USE OF FUNDS.— 

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

11 the Administrator and deposited in the 

12 Fund under this section shall be available 

13 to the Administrator for use in accordance 

14 with this section without fiscal year limita15 tion and without further appropriation. 

16 ‘‘(ii) OVERSIGHT.—The Administrator 

17 shall carry out all necessary measures to 

18 ensure that amounts in the Fund are used 

19 only to carry out the goals of establishing, 

20 operating, maintaining, upgrading, man21 aging, supporting, and overseeing the sys22 tem. 

23 ‘‘(4) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS.— 

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

25 Treasury shall invest such portion of the Fund 


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

2 the Treasury and the Administrator, required 

3 to meet current withdrawals. 

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

5 Investments may be made only in— 

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

7 United States; or 

8 ‘‘(ii) obligations, participations, or 

9 other instruments that are lawful invest10 ments for fiduciaries, trusts, or public 

11 funds, as determined by the Secretary of 

12 the Treasury. 

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

14 the purpose of investments under paragraph 

15 (1), obligations may be acquired— 

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

17 price; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) by purchase of outstanding obli19 gations at the market price. 

20 ‘‘(D) SALE OF OBLIGATIONS.—Any obliga21 tion acquired by the Fund may be sold by the 

22 Secretary of the Treasury at the market price. 

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

24 and the proceeds from the sale or redemption 


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1 of, any obligations held in the Fund shall be 

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

3 ‘‘(5) TRANSFERS OF AMOUNTS.— 

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

5 to be transferred to the Fund under this sub6 section shall be transferred at least monthly 

7 from the general fund of the Treasury to the 

8 Fund on the basis of estimates made by the 

9 Secretary of the Treasury. 

10 ‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENTS.—Proper adjustment 

11 shall be made in amounts subsequently trans12 ferred to the extent prior estimates were in ex13 cess of or less than the amounts required to be 

14 transferred. 

15 ‘‘(6) ACCOUNTING AND AUDITING.— 

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

17 period, the Administrator shall prepare and 

18 submit to the Committee on Environment and 

19 Public Works of the Senate and the Committee 

20 on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep21 resentatives a report that includes— 

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

23 the Administrator under subsection (c) and 

24 disbursed from the Fund for the period 

25 covered by the report, as reflected by fiVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:22 Jul 24, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S710.RFH S710

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1 nancial statements provided in accordance 

2 with— 

3 ‘‘(I) the Chief Financial Officers 

4 Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–576; 

5 104 Stat. 2838) and amendments 

6 made by that Act; and 

7 ‘‘(II) the Government Manage8 ment Reform Act of 1994 (Public 

9 Law 103–356; 108 Stat. 3410) and 

10 amendments made by that Act; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) an accounting describing actual 

12 expenditures from the Fund for the period 

13 covered by the report for costs described in 

14 subsection (c)(1). 

15 ‘‘(B) AUDITING.— 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose 

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

18 States Code, the Fund shall be considered 

19 a component of an Executive agency. 

20 ‘‘(ii) COMPONENTS OF AUDIT.—The 

21 annual audit required in accordance with 

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

23 United States Code, of the financial state24 ments of activities carried out using 


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1 amounts from the Fund shall include an 

2 analysis of— 

3 ‘‘(I) the fees collected and dis4 bursed under this section; 

5 ‘‘(II) the reasonableness of the 

6 fee structure in place as of the date of 

7 the audit to meet current and pro8 jected costs of the system; 

9 ‘‘(III) the level of use of the sys10 tem by users; and 

11 ‘‘(IV) the success to date of the 

12 system in operating on a self-sus13 taining basis and improving the effi14 ciency of tracking waste shipments 

15 and transmitting waste shipment 

16 data. 

17 ‘‘(iii) FEDERAL RESPONSIBILITY.— 

18 The Inspector General of the Environ19 mental Protection Agency shall— 

20 ‘‘(I) conduct the annual audit de21 scribed in clause (ii); and 

22 ‘‘(II) submit to the Administrator 

23 a report that describes the findings 

24 and recommendations of the Inspector 

25 General resulting from the audit. 


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1 ‘‘(e) CONTRACTS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO CONTRACTS

3 FUNDED BY SERVICE FEES.—The Administrator 

4 may enter into 1 or more information technology 

5 contracts with entities determined to be appropriate 

6 by the Administrator (referred to in this subsection 

7 as ‘contractors’) under which— 

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

9 contract for the provision of system-related 

10 services; and 

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

12 initial risk of the information technology invest13 ment, and to obtain reimbursement for invest14 ment costs, operating costs, and other fees, by 

15 receiving as payment an agreed-upon share of 

16 the amounts collected as fees by the Adminis17 trator under subsection (c). 

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

19 under this subsection shall have a term of not more 

20 than 10 years. 

21 ‘‘(3) ACHIEVEMENT OF GOALS.—The Adminis22 trator shall ensure, to the maximum extent prac23 ticable, that a contract awarded under this sub24 section— 

25 ‘‘(A) is performance-based; 


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1 ‘‘(B) identifies objective outcomes; and 

2 ‘‘(C) contains performance standards that 

3 may be used to measure achievement and goals 

4 to evaluate the success of a contractor in per5 forming under the contract and the right of the 

6 contractor to payment for services under the 

7 contract, taking into consideration that a pri8 mary measure of successful performance shall 

9 be the development of a hazardous waste elec10 tronic manifest system that— 

11 ‘‘(i) meets the needs of the user com12 munity (including States that rely on data 

13 contained in manifests); 

14 ‘‘(ii) attracts sufficient user participa15 tion and service fee revenues to ensure the 

16 viability of the system; 

17 ‘‘(iii) decreases the administrative 

18 burden on the user community; and 

19 ‘‘(iv) provides the waste receipt data 

20 applicable to the biennial reports required 

21 by section 3002(a)(6). 

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

23 awarded under this subsection shall include a provi24 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 

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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) 


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

2 to subtitle C the following: 

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

Passed the Senate August 2, 2011. 

Attest: NANCY ERICKSON, 

Secretary. 


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