I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2247

To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and

Liability Act of 1980 (‘‘Superfund’’) to exempt small business concerns

from certain liability under that Act.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 16, 1999

Mr. SHIMKUS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 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 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (‘‘Superfund’’) to

exempt small business concerns from certain liability

under that Act.

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 ‘‘Small Business Super5 fund Fairness Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. LIABILITY RELIEF FOR SMALL BUSINESS.

2 (a) LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR SMALL BUSI3 NESSES.—Section 107 of the Comprehensive Environ4 mental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of

5 1980 (commonly known as ‘‘Superfund’’) (42 U.S.C. 9601

6 and following) is amended by adding the following new

7 subsection at the end thereof:

8 ‘‘(o) LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR SMALL BUSI9 NESSES.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No small business concern

11 shall be liable under this section for response costs

12 or damages at a facility or vessel on the National

13 Priorities List under subsection (a)(3) or (a)(4) to

14 the extent that the materials that the concern ar15 ranged or transported for disposal at the facility or

16 vessel consist of (A) municipal solid waste or (B)

17 other materials that do not or would not contribute

18 significantly to the cost of the response action with

19 respect to the vessel or facility concerned.

20 ‘‘(2) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN DEFINED.—In

21 this subsection, the term ‘small business concern’

22 means a business entity that on average over the

23 previous 3 years has no more than 100 full-time em24 ployees or the equivalent thereof.’’.

25 ‘‘(3) MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE DEFINED.—The

26 term ‘municipal solid waste’ means all waste mate-
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1 rials generated by households, including single and

2 multi-family residences, and hotels and motels. The

3 term also includes waste materials generated by

4 commercial, institutional, and industrial sources, to

5 the extent such wastes (i) are essentially the same

6 as waste normally generated by households, or (ii)

7 are collected and disposed of with other municipal

8 solid waste or sewage sludge as part of normal mu9 nicipal solid waste collection services, and, regardless

10 of when generated, would be considered conditionally

11 exempt small quantity generator waste under regula12 tion issued pursuant to section 3001(d) of the Solid

13 Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921(d)).’’.

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

15 subsection (a) shall apply to all actions brought under the

16 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,

17 and Liability Act of 1980 after the date of the enactment

18 of this Act and to all such actions brought on or before

19 such date of enactment in which there was no final judg20 ment before such date of enactment.

21 SEC. 2. EXPEDITED FINAL SETTLEMENTS.

22 Section 122(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental

23 Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42

24 U.S.C. 9622) is amended by adding the following new

25 paragraph at the end thereof:
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1 ‘‘(7)(A) The President shall, as promptly as possible,

2 offer to reach a final administrative or judicial settlement

3 with potentially responsible parties who are small business

4 concerns as defined in section 107(o) that can dem5 onstrate that the concern does not have the ability to pay

6 response costs.

7 ‘‘(B) In the case of a small business, the term ‘ability

8 to pay’ means the President’s reasonable expectation of

9 the ability of the small business to pay its total settlement

10 amount and still maintain its basic business operations.

11 Such consideration shall include the business’s overall fi12 nancial condition and demonstrable constraints on its abil13 ity to raise revenues. Any business requesting such consid14 eration shall promptly provide the President with all rel15 evant information needed to determine the business’s abil16 ity to pay. The business shall demonstrate the amount of

17 its ability to pay.

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