II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 700 

To amend the Asbestos Information Act of 1988 to establish a public database 

of asbestos-containing products, to require public disclosure of information pertaining to the manufacture, processing, distribution, and use 

of asbestos-containing products in the United States, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 10, 2015 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Asbestos Information Act of 1988 to establish 

a public database of asbestos-containing products, to require public disclosure of information pertaining to the 

manufacture, processing, distribution, and use of asbestos-containing products in the United States, 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 ‘‘Reducing Exposure 

5 to Asbestos Database Act of 2015’’ or the ‘‘READ Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the Administrator of the Environmental 

4 Protection Agency has classified asbestos as a cat5 egory A human carcinogen, the highest cancer haz6 ard classification for a substance; 

7 (2) the International Agency for Research on 

8 Cancer has classified asbestos as a class 1 human 

9 carcinogen; 

10 (3) despite the enactment of the Asbestos Infor11 mation Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 2607 note; Public 

12 Law 100–577), which sought to improve trans13 parency and public awareness of the presence of as14 bestos in commercial materials and products, many 

15 people in the United States still incorrectly believe 

16 that— 

17 (A) asbestos has been banned in the 

18 United States; and 

19 (B) there is no risk of exposure to asbestos 

20 through the use of new commercial products; 

21 (4) asbestos is still being imported and used, 

22 and is otherwise present as a contaminant, in some 

23 consumer and industrial products in the United 

24 States; 

25 (5) according to the Environmental Protection 

26 Agency, the manufacture, importation, processing, 


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1 and distribution in commerce of many asbestos-con2 taining products are not banned in the United 

3 States, including— 

4 (A) cement corrugated sheet; 

5 (B) cement flat sheet; 

6 (C) clothing; 

7 (D) pipeline wrap; 

8 (E) roofing felt; 

9 (F) vinyl floor tile; 

10 (G) cement shingle; 

11 (H) millboard; 

12 (I) cement pipe; 

13 (J) automatic transmission components; 

14 (K) clutch facings; 

15 (L) friction materials; 

16 (M) disc brake pads; 

17 (N) drum brake linings; 

18 (O) brake blocks; 

19 (P) gaskets; 

20 (Q) non-roofing coatings; and 

21 (R) roof coatings; 

22 (6) consumers and workers are at risk of asbes23 tos exposure, and families of workers are also put at 

24 risk because of asbestos brought home by the workVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:06 Mar 14, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S700.IS S700

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1 ers on the shoes, clothes, skin, and hair of the work2 ers; 

3 (7) the Environmental Working Group esti4 mates that as many as 10,000 citizens of the United 

5 States die each year from mesothelioma and other 

6 asbestos-related diseases; 

7 (8) the National Institutes of Health reported 

8 to Congress that mesothelioma is a difficult disease 

9 to detect, diagnose, and treat; 

10 (9) mesothelioma responds poorly to conven11 tional chemotherapy, and although new combination 

12 treatments for mesothelioma have demonstrated 

13 some benefits— 

14 (A) the median survival period for meso15 thelioma is only 1 year after diagnosis of the 

16 disease; and 

17 (B) the majority of mesothelioma patients 

18 die within 2 years of diagnosis of the disease; 

19 and 

20 (10) until asbestos is completely banned from 

21 being used in or imported into the United States, 

22 transparent and accessible information about the lo23 cation and identity of asbestos and asbestos-con24 taining products in the United States is necessary to 


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1 better protect consumers, workers, families, and the 

2 people of the United States. 

3 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF ASBESTOS-CONTAINING PROD4 UCT DATABASE. 

5 The Asbestos Information Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 

6 2607 note; Public Law 100–577) is amended— 

7 (1) in section 4— 

8 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (3) 

9 through (7) as paragraphs (4) through (8), re10 spectively; and 

11 (B) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(3) ASBESTOS-CONTAINING PRODUCT.—The 

14 term ‘asbestos-containing product’ means any prod15 uct (including any part) to which asbestos is delib16 erately or knowingly added or in which asbestos is 

17 deliberately used or knowingly present in any con18 centration.’’; 

19 (2) in section 2, by inserting ‘‘(referred to in 

20 this Act as the ‘Administrator’)’’ after ‘‘Adminis21 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency’’; 

22 and 

23 (3) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 5. ASBESTOS-CONTAINING PRODUCT DATABASE. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Using funds otherwise made 

3 available to the Administrator, the Administrator shall, in 

4 accordance with this section, establish and maintain a 

5 database of asbestos-containing products (referred to in 

6 this Act as the ‘database’) that is— 

7 ‘‘(1) publicly available; 

8 ‘‘(2) searchable; and 

9 ‘‘(3) accessible through the website of the Ad10 ministrator. 

11 ‘‘(b) SUBMISSION OF DETAILED IMPLEMENTATION

12 PLAN TO CONGRESS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

14 after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad15 ministrator shall submit to the appropriate congres16 sional committees a detailed plan for establishing 

17 and maintaining the database, including plans for 

18 the operation, content, maintenance, and 

19 functionality of the database. 

20 ‘‘(2) INTEGRATION.—The plan described in 

21 paragraph (1) shall detail the integration of the 

22 database into the overall information technology im23 provement objectives and plans of the Administrator. 

24 ‘‘(3) IMPLEMENTATION.—The plan described in 

25 paragraph (1) shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a detailed implementation schedule 

2 for the database; and 

3 ‘‘(B) plans for a public awareness cam4 paign conducted by the Administrator to in5 crease awareness of the database. 

6 ‘‘(c) DATE OF INITIAL AVAILABILITY.—Not later 

7 than 180 days after the date on which the Administrator 

8 submits the plan under subsection (b)(1), the Adminis9 trator shall establish the database. 

10 ‘‘(d) SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION ON ASBESTOS11 CONTAINING PRODUCTS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that 

13 is 270 days after the date of enactment of this sec14 tion, and not less frequently than annually there15 after, any person who manufactured, processed, dis16 tributed, sold, imported, transported, or stored an 

17 asbestos-containing product in the immediately pre18 ceding calendar year shall submit to the Adminis19 trator a written report, in a form to be determined 

20 by the Administrator, containing information suffi21 cient to identify the characteristics and location of 

22 the asbestos-containing products. 

23 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—The report under paragraph 

24 (1) shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the type or class of asbestos-con2 taining product; 

3 ‘‘(B) the manufacturer of the asbestos-con4 taining product; 

5 ‘‘(C) any applicable import history of the 

6 asbestos-containing product; 

7 ‘‘(D) the name and street address of any 

8 location accessible by the public in which the 

9 person has reasonable knowledge that the as10 bestos-containing product has been present 

11 within the immediately preceding calendar year; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(E) any additional information the Ad14 ministrator determines is appropriate to enable 

15 consumers and workers to avoid exposure to as16 bestos-containing products. 

17 ‘‘(e) ORGANIZATION OF DATABASE.—The Adminis18 trator shall— 

19 ‘‘(1) categorize the information available on the 

20 database— 

21 ‘‘(A) in a manner consistent with the pub22 lic interest; and 

23 ‘‘(B) in such manner as the Administrator 

24 determines will facilitate easy use by con25 sumers; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) ensure, to the maximum extent prac2 ticable, that the database is sortable and accessible 

3 by— 

4 ‘‘(A) the date on which information is sub5 mitted for inclusion in the database; 

6 ‘‘(B) the name of the asbestos-containing 

7 product; 

8 ‘‘(C) the model name; 

9 ‘‘(D) the name of the manufacturer; 

10 ‘‘(E) the name of the importer, if applica11 ble; 

12 ‘‘(F) the name of the reporting person; 

13 ‘‘(G) the name and street address of any 

14 location in which an asbestos-containing prod15 uct is reported to have been present; and 

16 ‘‘(H) any other element the Administrator 

17 considers to be in the public interest. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 6. PENALTIES. 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any person who knowingly man20 ufactured, processed, distributed, sold, imported, trans21 ported, or stored an asbestos-containing product in the im22 mediately preceding calendar year and who did not submit 

23 a report to the Administrator under section 5 shall be lia24 ble for a civil penalty of $10,000 for each day after the 


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1 deadline under section 5(d)(1) the report has not been 

2 submitted. 

3 ‘‘(b) FALSE OR INACCURATE INFORMATION.—Any 

4 person who knowingly provides false or inaccurate infor5 mation in a report under section 5 or who knowingly fails 

6 to provide information required in a report under section 

7 5 shall be liable for a civil penalty of $10,000 for each 

8 violation of this paragraph.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT. 

10 Not later than 2 years after the Administrator of the 

11 Environmental Protection Agency establishes the database 

12 of asbestos-containing products under section 5(a) of the 

13 Asbestos Information Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 2607 note; 

14 Public Law 100–577) (referred to in this section as the 

15 ‘‘database’’), the Comptroller General of the United States 

16 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

17 a report that contains— 

18 (1) an analysis of the utility of the database, in19 cluding— 

20 (A) an assessment of the extent of use of 

21 the database by consumers, including— 

22 (i) whether the database is accessed 

23 by a broad range of the public; and 

24 (ii) whether consumers find the data25 base to be useful; and 


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1 (B) efforts by the Administrator to inform 

2 the public about the database; 

3 (2) recommendations for measures to increase 

4 use of the database by consumers; and 

5 (3) recommendations for measures to further 

6 reduce the harm caused by exposure to asbestos, in7 cluding bans on the importation and use of asbestos8 containing products. 

Æ 


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