I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 652 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a comprehensive national 

system for skilled construction workers to assist first responders in disasters. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 22, 2009 

Mr. KING of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a comprehensive national system for skilled construction workers to assist first responders in disasters. 

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 ‘‘Skilled Trades Second 

5 Responders Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Skilled construction workers are essential to 

2 effectively providing rescue and recovery following 

3 manmade and natural disasters, and are vital to the 

4 cleanup, demolition, rehabilitation, and reconstruc5 tion of disaster sites after recovery operations. 

6 (2) Construction craft workers bring essential 

7 skills in support of first responders, including demo8 lition (such as welding, cutting, burning, and rig9 ging), electrical and pipeline maintenance, hazardous 

10 waste cleanup, equipment operations, and traffic 

11 control. 

12 (3) Construction contractors and employers also 

13 provide essential equipment to disaster response ef14 forts, such as welding machines, backhoes, cranes, 

15 dozers, skilled workers, and essential supplies for 

16 site-specific needs. 

17 (4) Historically, construction craft workers have 

18 provided support skills to first response operations 

19 after natural disasters, such as Hurricanes Katrina 

20 and Rita; terrorist attacks, such as Oklahoma City, 

21 the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon; and 

22 manmade disasters, such as the Minneapolis bridge 

23 collapse. However, there are no systems in place to 

24 mobilize this workforce or ensure the effective inteVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:30 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H652.IH H652

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1 gration of construction craft workers with first re2 sponder operations. 

3 (5) The experience of earlier disasters reveals 

4 the need for a cohesive national, State, and local 

5 system of construction craft workers ready to serve 

6 their country and assist first responders in response 

7 to a disaster. The system should be designed to 

8 identify, train, certify, register, and integrate skilled 

9 craft workers into disaster preparedness and re10 sponse activities, as well as provide training of con11 struction craft workers in health and safety proce12 dures to assist rescue, recovery, and cleanup activi13 ties. 

14 SEC. 3. SECOND RESPONDER PROGRAM IN THE NATIONAL 

15 INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH 

16 SCIENCES. 

17 Subpart 12 of part C of title IV of the Public Health 

18 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285l et seq.) is amended by adding 

19 at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 463C. SECOND RESPONDER TRAINING AND INTEGRA21 TION PROGRAM. 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Institute 

23 shall establish, as part of the Worker Education and 

24 Training Program of the Institute, a national program for 

25 the training, certification, registration, tracking, and inteVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:30 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H652.IH H652

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1 gration of skilled construction workers to assist first re2 sponders in responding to disasters, including natural and 

3 manmade disasters and terrorist attacks. 

4 ‘‘(b) CONTENT OF PROGRAM.—As part of the na5 tional program established under subsection (a), the Di6 rector shall— 

7 ‘‘(1) develop a national plan for integrating 

8 construction activities into State and local disaster9 response plans; 

10 ‘‘(2) provide training for construction trainers 

11 and workers, foremen, supervisors, and other indus12 try personnel on how to assist first responders and 

13 integrate their efforts with first responders during 

14 emergency response, rescue, recovery, and cleanup 

15 activities; 

16 ‘‘(3) provide specialized safety, health, and 

17 skills training to construction workers on how to 

18 protect themselves, coworkers, and the public from 

19 safety and health hazards inherent in disaster re20 sponse activities; 

21 ‘‘(4)(A) establish community-based registries of 

22 certified skilled workers who are considered on call 

23 and who can be identified and mobilized when need24 ed; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) pilot integration of such community-based 

2 registries into a national registry system; 

3 ‘‘(5) establish a national, State, and local sys4 tem to maintain the readiness of construction per5 sonnel and equipment through regular training, re6 certification, and exercises with first responders; and 

7 ‘‘(6) develop agreements with construction in8 dustry contractors and joint labor-management orga9 nizations that have disaster response capabilities and 

10 with designated first response coordinating agencies 

11 for on-call responses in the event of a disaster. 

12 ‘‘(c) COORDINATION.—In developing the national 

13 program under subsection (a), the Director shall coordi14 nate and consult with the Department of Homeland Secu15 rity, including the Federal Emergency Management Agen16 cy, other relevant agencies, and private organizations, in17 cluding construction industry contractors, joint labor18 management training funds, and building trade unions, 

19 that are experienced in providing rescue and recovery as20 sistance to first responders, and in the cleanup, demoli21 tion, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of disaster sites 

22 after recovery operations. 

23 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

24 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

25 $35,000,000 for fiscal year 2010 and each subsequent fisVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:30 Jan 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H652.IH H652

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1 cal year. Such authorization is in addition to any other 

2 authorization of appropriations that is available for such 

3 purpose.’’. 

Æ 


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