II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2634

To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and

Liability Act of 1980 to provide liability relief to small businesses.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 25, 2000

Mr. BOND introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on Environment and Public Works

A BILL

To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to provide liability

relief to small businesses.

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 Relief

5 Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) in enacting the Comprehensive Environ9 mental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

10 of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.), Congress intended
2

•S 2634 IS

1 to clean up the most polluted waste sites in the

2 United States;

3 (2) lawsuits to pay for cleanups under that Act

4 threaten thousands of small business owners that in5 curred liability by activities as benign as disposing of

6 garbage;

7 (3) despite improvements by local, State, and

8 Federal officials in the cleanup of the most polluted

9 waste sites in the United States, thousands of inno10 cent small business owners remain unfairly subjected

11 to the liability scheme under that Act;

12 (4) exempting innocent small businesses is the

13 only way to solve the unintended consequences of li14 ability provisions under that Act; and

15 (5) relieving innocent small business owners

16 from liability under that Act will curb litigation,

17 steering money away from excessive legal costs and

18 toward the cleanup of waste sites.

19 SEC. 3. SMALL BUSINESS LIABILITY RELIEF.

20 Section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Re21 sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42

22 U.S.C. 9607) is amended by adding at the end the fol23 lowing:

24 ‘‘(o) SMALL BUSINESS EXEMPTION.—
3

•S 2634 IS

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para2 graph (2), no person shall be liable to the United

3 States or to any person (including liability for con4 tribution) under this section for any response costs

5 at a facility listed on the National Priorities List

6 under paragraph (3) or (4) of subsection (a) if—

7 ‘‘(A) the person is a business that, for the

8 taxable year preceding the date of transmission

9 of notification that the business is a potentially

10 responsible party, employed full- and part-time

11 employees, the aggregate time worked by whom

12 was equivalent to the hours that would be

13 worked by not more than 100 full-time employ14 ees; and

15 ‘‘(B) the person is not affiliated through

16 any familial or corporate relationship with any

17 person that is or was a potentially responsible

18 party responsible for response costs at the facil19 ity.

20 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) shall

22 not apply to the case of a person if the Federal

23 Government or a third party demonstrates

24 that—
4

•S 2634 IS

1 ‘‘(i) a hazardous substance described

2 in paragraph (3) or (4) of subsection (a)

3 contributed significantly, or could con4 tribute significantly, individually or in the

5 aggregate with other hazardous sub6 stances, to the cost of the response action

7 with respect to the facility;

8 ‘‘(ii) liability for costs or damages

9 arises under this subsection as a result of

10 the gross negligence or intentional mis11 conduct of the person; or

12 ‘‘(iii) the person—

13 ‘‘(I) failed to comply with any re14 quest for information or administra15 tive subpoena issued by the President

16 under this Act; or

17 ‘‘(II) impeded the performance of

18 a response action with respect to the

19 facility.

20 ‘‘(B) GROSS NEGLIGENCE.—For the pur21 poses of this subsection, the term ‘gross neg22 ligence’ includes reckless, willful, or wanton

23 misconduct by a person.’’.

Æ