I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1431
To provide additional authority to the Office of Ombudsman of the
Environmental Protection Agency.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 4, 2001
Mr. BILIRAKIS (for himself, Mr. OTTER, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. SAWYER, Mr.
SCARBOROUGH, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mrs. THURMAN, and Mr. TRAFICANT) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce
A BILL
To provide additional authority to the Office of Ombudsman
of the Environmental Protection Agency.
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 ‘‘Ombudsman Reauthor-
ization Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. OFFICE OF OMBUDSMAN.
The Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et
seq.) is amended by striking section 2008 (42 U.S.C.
6917) and inserting the following:
‘‘SEC. 2008. OFFICE OF OMBUDSMAN.
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
‘‘(1) ASSISTANT
ADMINISTRATOR.—The term
‘Assistant Administrator’ means the Assistant Ad-
ministrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Re-
sponse of the Environmental Protection Agency.
‘‘(2) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the Of-
fice of the Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste
and Emergency Response of the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency.
‘‘(3) OMBUDSMAN.—The term ‘Ombudsman’
means the director of the Office of Ombudsman es-
tablished under subsection (b).
‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall es-
tablish within the Office an Office of Ombudsman,
to be directed by an Ombudsman.
‘‘(2) OVERSIGHT.—The Ombudsman shall re-
port directly to the Administrator.
‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The Ombudsman shall—
‘‘(1) receive, and render assistance concerning,
any complaint, grievance, or request for information
submitted by any person relating to any program or
requirement under this Act; and
‘‘(2)(A) identify areas in which citizens have,
and assist citizens in resolving, problems with the
Office;
‘‘(B) propose changes in the administrative
practices of the Environmental Protection Agency to
eliminate or, to the maximum extent practicable,
mitigate those problems; and
‘‘(C) conduct investigations, make findings of
fact, and make nonbinding recommendations con-
cerning those problems.
‘‘(d) POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES.—In carrying
out this section, the Ombudsman—
‘‘(1) may, on receipt of a complaint or at the
discretion of the Ombudsman, investigate any action
of the Assistant Administrator without regard to the
finality of the action;
‘‘(2) may, under the authority of this section or
section 104(e) of the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980
(42 U.S.C. 9604(e)), examine any record or docu-
ment of, and enter and inspect without notice any
property under the administrative jurisdiction of, the
Environmental Protection Agency;
‘‘(3) in a case in which the Ombudsman experi-
ences difficulty in gathering information pertaining
to an investigation conducted by the Ombudsman,
may request the Department of Justice or applicable
United States attorney to subpoena any person to
appear to give sworn testimony concerning, or to
produce documentary or other evidence determined
by the Ombudsman to be reasonably material to, the
investigation;
‘‘(4) may carry out and participate in, and co-
operate with any person or agency involved in, any
conference, inquiry on the record, public hearing on
the record, meeting, or study that, as determined by
the Ombudsman—
‘‘(A) is reasonably material to an inves-
tigation conducted by the Ombudsman; or
‘‘(B) may lead to an improvement in the
performance of the functions of the Office;
‘‘(5) shall maintain as confidential and privi-
leged any and all communications concerning any
matter pending, and the identities of any parties or
witnesses appearing, before the Ombudsman; and
‘‘(6) shall administer a budget for the Office of
Ombudsman.
‘‘(e) ADMINISTRATION.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Ombudsman may—
‘‘(A) appoint an Associate Ombudsman for
each region of the Environmental Protection
Agency; and
‘‘(B) evaluate and carry out personnel ac-
tions (including hiring and dismissal) with re-
spect to any employee of the Office of Ombuds-
man.
‘‘(2) CONTACT
INFORMATION.—The Ombuds-
man shall maintain, in each region of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency, a telephone number, fac-
simile number, electronic mail address, and post of-
fice address for the Ombudsman that are different
from the numbers and addresses of the regional of-
fice of the Environmental Protection Agency located
in that region.
‘‘(3) 
COOPERATION.—All 
Federal 
agencies
shall—
‘‘(A) assist the Ombudsman in carrying
out functions of the Ombudsman under this
section; and
‘‘(B) promptly make available, in such for-
mat as may be determined by the Ombudsman,
all requested information concerning—
‘‘(i) past or present agency waste
management practices; and
‘‘(ii) past or present hazardous waste
facilities owned, leased, or operated by the
agency.
‘‘(4) REPORTS.—The Ombudsman shall, at
least annually, publish in the Federal Register and
submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
of the House of Representatives, the Committee on
Environment and Public Works of the Senate, the
President, and, at the discretion of the Ombudsman,
any other governmental agency, a report on the sta-
tus of health and environmental concerns addressed
in complaints and cases brought before the Ombuds-
man in the period of time covered by the report.
‘‘(f) PENALTIES.—Any person that willfully—
‘‘(1) obstructs or hinders the proper and lawful
exercise of the powers of the Ombudsman; or
‘‘(2) misleads or attempts to mislead the Om-
budsman in the course of an investigation;
shall be subject, at a minimum, to penalties under sections
1001 and 1505 of title 18, United States Code.
‘‘(g) APPLICABILITY.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section—
‘‘(A) shall not limit any remedy or right of
appeal; and
‘‘(B) may be carried out notwithstanding
any provision of law to the contrary that pro-
vides that an agency action is final, not review-
able, or not subject to appeal.
‘‘(2) EFFECT
ON
PROCEDURES
FOR
GRIEV-
ANCES, APPEALS, OR ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS.—
The establishment of the Office of Ombudsman shall
not affect any procedure concerning grievances, ap-
peals, or administrative matters under this Act or
any other law (including regulations).
‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section—
‘‘(A) $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years
2002 and 2003;
‘‘(B) $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years
2004 through 2006; and
‘‘(C) $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years
2007 through 2010.
‘‘(2) SEPARATE LINE ITEM.—In submitting the
annual budget for the Federal Government to Con-
gress, the President shall include a separate line
item for the funding for the Office of Ombudsman.
‘‘(i) TERMINATION.—The Office of Ombudsman shall
cease to exist on the date that is 10 years after the date
of enactment of the Ombudsman Reauthorization Act of
2001.’’.
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