II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3502 

To provide for the establishment of a task force to address the environmental 

health and safety risks posed to children, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 

Mrs. CLINTON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide for the establishment of a task force to address 

the environmental health and safety risks posed to children, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Children’s Environ5 mental Health and Safety Risk Reduction Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) a growing body of scientific knowledge dem9 onstrates that children may suffer disproportionately 

10 from environmental health risks and safety risks; 


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1 (2) those risks arise because— 

2 (A) the neurological, immunological, diges3 tive, and other bodily systems of children are 

4 still developing; 

5 (B) children eat more food, drink more 

6 fluids, and breathe more air in proportion to 

7 their body weight than adults; 

8 (C) the size and weight of children may di9 minish their protection from standard safety 

10 features; and 

11 (D) the behavior patterns of children may 

12 make children more susceptible to accidents be13 cause children are less able to protect them14 selves; and 

15 (3) each Federal agency, to the extent per16 mitted by law and appropriate, and consistent with 

17 the mission of each Federal agency, should— 

18 (A) place a high priority on the identifica19 tion and assessment of environmental health 

20 risks and safety risks that may disproportion21 ately affect children; 

22 (B) ensure that the policies, programs, ac23 tivities, and standards of the Federal agency 

24 address disproportionate risks to children that 


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1 result from environmental health risks or safety 

2 risks; and 

3 (C) participate in the implementation of, 

4 and comply with, this Act. 

5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) COVERED REGULATORY ACTION.—The term 

8 ‘‘covered regulatory action’’ means any substantive 

9 action in a rulemaking that is initiated after the 

10 date of enactment of this Act or for which a notice 

11 of proposed rulemaking is published not later than 

12 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, that 

13 is likely to result in a regulation that may concern 

14 an environmental health risk or safety risk that an 

15 agency has reason to believe may disproportionately 

16 affect children. 

17 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

18 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg19 et. 

20 (3) ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

21 RISK.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘environ23 mental health and safety risk’’ means a risk to 

24 the health or safety of a child that is posed by 


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1 or otherwise attributable to a product or sub2 stance— 

3 (i) that the child is likely to ingest; or 

4 (ii) to which the child may otherwise 

5 be exposed. 

6 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘environ7 mental health and safety risk’’ includes a risk 

8 that is posed by or otherwise attributable to— 

9 (i) air that is inhaled by, or that oth10 erwise comes into contact with, a child; 

11 (ii) food; 

12 (iii) water used by a child for drinking 

13 or recreation; 

14 (iv) soil; and 

15 (v) any product used by a child or 

16 with which a child has contact. 

17 (4) FEDERAL AGENCY.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Federal 

19 agency’’ means any agency or authority of the 

20 United States that is considered to be an agen21 cy under section 3502(1) of title 44, United 

22 States Code. 

23 (B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Federal 

24 agency’’ does not include— 


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1 (i) any independent regulatory agency 

2 described in section 3502(5) of title 44, 

3 United States Code (other than the Con4 sumer Product Safety Commission); or 

5 (ii) any military department (as de6 fined in section 102 of title 5, United 

7 States Code). 

8 (5) FORUM.—The term ‘‘Forum’’ means the 

9 Forum on Child and Family Statistics convened 

10 under section 6(a). 

11 (6) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘‘Task Force’’ 

12 means the Task Force on Environmental Health and 

13 Safety Risks to Children established by section 4(a). 

14 SEC. 4. TASK FORCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RISKS 

15 AND SAFETY RISKS TO CHILDREN. 

16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

17 Executive branch a task force to be known as the ‘‘Task 

18 Force on Environmental Health and Safety Risks to Chil19 dren’’. 

20 (b) AUTHORITY.—The Task Force shall report to the 

21 President, in consultation with— 

22 (1) the Domestic Policy Council; 

23 (2) the National Science and Technology Coun24 cil; 

25 (3) the Council on Environmental Quality; and 


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1 (4) the Office of Management and Budget. 

2 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—The Task Force shall be com3 posed of— 

4 (1) the Secretary of Health and Human Serv5 ices, who shall serve as Co-Chairperson of the Task 

6 Force; 

7 (2) the Administrator of the Environmental 

8 Protection Agency, who shall serve as a Co-Chair9 person of the Task Force; 

10 (3) the Secretary of Education; 

11 (4) the Secretary of Labor; 

12 (5) the Attorney General; 

13 (6) the Secretary of Energy; 

14 (7) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Devel15 opment; 

16 (8) the Secretary of Agriculture; 

17 (9) the Secretary of Transportation; 

18 (10) the Secretary of Homeland Security; 

19 (11) the Director; 

20 (12) the Chairperson of the Council on Envi21 ronmental Quality; 

22 (13) the Chairperson of the Consumer Product 

23 Safety Commission; 

24 (14) the Assistant to the President for Eco25 nomic Policy; 


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1 (15) the Assistant to the President for Domes2 tic Policy; 

3 (16) the Assistant to the President for, and Di4 rector of the Office of, Science and Technology Pol5 icy; 

6 (17) the Chairperson of the Council of Eco7 nomic Advisers; and 

8 (18) such other officials of Executive depart9 ments and agencies as the President may, from time 

10 to time, designate. 

11 (d) DELEGATION.—A member of the Task Force may 

12 delegate the responsibilities of the member under this Act 

13 to 1 or more subordinates. 

14 (e) DUTIES.—The Task Force shall, after providing 

15 notice and an opportunity for public participation and 

16 comment— 

17 (1) recommend to the President Federal strate18 gies for children’s environmental health and safety, 

19 including— 

20 (A) statements of principles, general pol21 icy, and targeted annual priorities to guide the 

22 Federal approach to achieving the goals of this 

23 Act; 

24 (B) a coordinated research agenda for the 

25 Federal Government, including steps to impleVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:50 Sep 17, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3502.IS S3502

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1 ment the review of research databases described 

2 in paragraph (2)(A); 

3 (C) recommendations for appropriate part4 nerships among the Federal Government, State, 

5 local, and tribal governments, and the private, 

6 academic, and nonprofit sectors; 

7 (D) proposals to enhance public outreach 

8 and communication to assist families in evalu9 ating risks to children and in making informed 

10 consumer choices; 

11 (E) an identification of high-priority initia12 tives that the Federal Government has under13 taken or will undertake in advancing the protec14 tion of children’s environmental health and 

15 safety; and 

16 (F) a statement regarding the desirability 

17 of new legislation to fulfill or promote the pur18 poses of this Act; 

19 (2) not later than 180 days after the date of 

20 enactment of this Act, develop or direct to be devel21 oped— 

22 (A) a review of existing and planned data 

23 resources; and 


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1 (B) a proposed plan, which shall be re2 viewed by the National Science and Technology 

3 Council— 

4 (i) for use in ensuring that research5 ers and Federal research agencies have ac6 cess to information on all research con7 ducted or funded by the Federal Govern8 ment that relates to adverse health risks in 

9 children resulting from exposure to envi10 ronmental health and safety risks; and 

11 (ii) that— 

12 (I) promotes the sharing of infor13 mation on academic and private re14 search; and 

15 (II) includes recommendations to 

16 encourage that such data, to the ex17 tent permitted by law, is available to 

18 the public, the scientific and academic 

19 communities, and all Federal agen20 cies; and 

21 (3) submit to Congress and the President, make 

22 available to the public, and provide to the Office of 

23 Science and Technology Policy and the National 

24 Science and Technology Council for use in estab25 lishing research priorities, a biennial report on reVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:50 Sep 17, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3502.IS S3502

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1 search, data, or other information that would en2 hance understanding and analysis of, and response 

3 to, environmental health and safety risks, including 

4 a description provided by Federal agencies and other 

5 agencies identified by the Task Force of key data 

6 needs relating to environmental health and safety 

7 risks that have arisen in the course of carrying out 

8 projects and activities of the agencies. 

9 SEC. 5. FEDERAL AGENCY ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND 

10 SAFETY RISK RULEMAKING. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Unless otherwise prohibited by 

12 law, for each covered regulatory action submitted to the 

13 Office of Management and Budget for review, the issuing 

14 Federal agency shall provide to that Office, as developed 

15 during the decisionmaking process of the issuing Federal 

16 agency— 

17 (1) an evaluation of the environmental health 

18 and safety effects of the planned regulation; and 

19 (2) an explanation of why the planned regula20 tion is preferable to other potentially effective and 

21 reasonably feasible alternatives considered by the 

22 issuing Federal agency. 

23 (b) EMERGENCY SITUATIONS.—In an emergency sit24 uation, or if an issuing Federal agency is required to act 

25 more quickly than normal review procedures permit, the 


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1 issuing Federal agency shall comply with this section to 

2 the maximum extent practicable. 

3 (c) MANDATORY DEADLINES.—For a regulatory ac4 tion that is covered by a court-imposed or statutory dead5 line, the issuing Federal agency shall, to the maximum 

6 extent practicable, schedule any rulemaking proceedings 

7 so as to permit sufficient time for compliance with this 

8 section. 

9 (d) FORM AND AVAILABILITY OF ANALYSIS.—The 

10 analysis required by this section— 

11 (1) may be included as part of any other re12 quired analysis; and 

13 (2) shall be made part of the administrative 

14 record for the applicable regulatory action or other15 wise made available to the public, to the extent per16 mitted by law. 

17 SEC. 6. INTERAGENCY FORUM ON CHILD AND FAMILY STA18 TISTICS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall convene an 

20 interagency forum, to be known as the ‘‘Forum on Child 

21 and Family Statistics’’, that includes representatives from 

22 the appropriate Federal statistics and research agencies. 

23 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Forum shall— 

24 (1) not later than 1 year after the date of en25 actment of this Act, and annually thereafter, publish 


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1 and submit in accordance with subsection (c) an an2 nual report using the most recent available data that 

3 describes the most important indicators of the well4 being of the children of the United States; 

5 (2) determine the indicators to be included in 

6 each such report, including an identification of the 

7 sources of data to be used for each indicator; 

8 (3) provide an ongoing review of Federal collec9 tion and dissemination of data on children and fami10 lies; and 

11 (4) make recommendations to improve the cov12 erage and coordination of data collection and to re13 duce duplication and overlap. 

14 (c) PUBLICATION AND SUBMISSION.—Each report 

15 under subsection (b) shall be— 

16 (1) published by the Forum in collaboration 

17 with the National Institute of Child Health and 

18 Human Development; and 

19 (2) submitted to the President (through the Di20 rector) and Congress. 

21 SEC. 7. ADMINISTRATION. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act applies only to the Exec23 utive branch. 

24 (b) EFFECT OF ACT.—This Act does not create or 

25 establish any substantive or procedural right, benefit, or 


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1 trust responsibility, enforceable at law or equity, by a 

2 party against the United States (including any agency, of3 ficer, or employee of the United States). 

4 (c) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—This Act does not create or 

5 establish any right to judicial review involving the compli6 ance or noncompliance with this Act by— 

7 (1) the United States (including any agency, of8 ficer, or employee of the United States); or 

9 (2) any other person. 

Æ 


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