I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1510
To prohibit the Department of Energy from acting as the agency of implemen-
tation, with respect to nondefense Department of Energy laboratories,
for certain environmental, safety, and health regulations, and to require
reduction in personnel at such laboratories.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 7, 1995
Mr. ROEMER (for himself, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. JACOBS, and Mr. KLUG)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science
A BILL
To prohibit the Department of Energy from acting as the
agency of implementation, with respect to nondefense
Department of Energy laboratories, for certain environ-
mental, safety, and health regulations, and to require
reduction in personnel at such laboratories.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Energy
Laboratories Efficiency Improvement Act’’.
SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF SELF-REGULATION.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the De-
partment of Energy shall not be the agency of implemen-
tation, with respect to departmental laboratories, other
than departmental defense laboratories, of Federal, State,
and local environmental, safety, and health rules, regula-
tions, orders, and standards.
SEC. 3. PERSONNEL REDUCTIONS.
(a) REQUIREMENTS.—The aggregate number of indi-
viduals employed at all government-owned, contractor-op-
erated departmental laboratories, other than departmental
defense laboratories, shall be reduced, within 10 years
after the date of the enactment of this Act, by at least
one-third from the number so employed as of such date
of enactment. At least 1 percent of such reduction shall
be accomplished within 1 year, at least 3 percent within
2 years, at least 6 percent within 3 years, at least 10 per-
cent within 4 years, and at least 15 percent within 5 years.
(b) OBJECTIVES.—The Secretary of Energy shall en-
sure that the personnel reductions required by subsection
(a) are made consistent with, to the extent feasible, the
following objectives:
(1) Termination of departmental laboratory re-
search and development facilities that are not the
most advanced and the most relevant to the pro-
grammatic objectives of the Department, when com-
pared with other facilities in the United States.
(2) Termination of facilities that provide re-
search opportunities duplicating those afforded by
other facilities in the United States, or in foreign
countries when United States scientists are provided
access to such facilities to the extent necessary to
accomplish the programmatic objectives of the De-
partment.
(3) Relocation and consolidation of depart-
mental laboratory research and development activi-
ties, consistent with the programmatic objectives of
the Department, within laboratories with major fa-
cilities or demonstrable concentrations of expertise
appropriate for performing such research and devel-
opment activities.
(4) Reduction of management inefficiencies
within the Department and the departmental labora-
tories.
(5) Reduction of physical infrastructure needs.
(6) Utilization of other resources for performing
Department of Energy funded research and develop-
ment activities, including universities, industrial lab-
oratories, and others.
SEC. 4. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.
(a) INITIAL REPORT.—Within 1 year after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall
transmit a report to the Congress that—
(1) identifies the extent to which Department of
Energy and departmental laboratory staffs have
been reduced as a result of the implementation of
section 2 of this Act; and
(2) explains the extent to which reductions re-
quired by section 3(a) have been made consistent
with the objectives set forth in section 3(b).
(b) ANNUAL REPORTS.—The Secretary of Energy
shall transmit to the Congress, along with each of the
President’s annual budget submissions occurring—
(1) after the report under subsection (a) is
transmitted; and
(2) before the full personnel reduction require-
ment under section 3 is accomplished,
a report containing the explanation described in subsection
(a)(2) of this section.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘departmental laboratory’’ means
a Federal laboratory, or any other laboratory or fa-
cility designated by the Secretary of Energy, oper-
ated by or on behalf of the Department of Energy;
(2) the term ‘‘departmental defense labora-
tories’’ means the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, the Los Alamos National Laboratory,
and the Sandia National Laboratories;
(3) the term ‘‘Federal laboratory’’ has the
meaning given the term ‘‘laboratory’’ in section
12(d)(2) of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Inno-
vation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3710a(d)(2)); and
(4) the term ‘‘programmatic objectives of the
Department’’ means the goals and milestones of the
Department of Energy, as set forth in departmental
strategic planning documents and the President’s
annual budget requests.
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