other mine is located satisfies the requirement of 
subsection (a) if the State’s program of certification, 
registration, qualification, or other approval is no 
less stringent than the standards established by the 
Secretary under paragraph (1). 
‘‘(c) OPERATOR FEES FOR CERTIFICATION.— 
‘‘(1) ASSESSMENT
AND
COLLECTION.—Begin-
ning 180 days after the date of enactment of the 
Mine Safety Accountability and Improved Protection 
Act, the Secretary shall assess and collect fees, in 
accordance with this subsection, from each operator 
for each person certified under this section. Fees 
shall be assessed and collected in amounts deter-
mined by the Secretary as necessary to fund the cer-
tification programs established under this section. 
‘‘(2) MINE
SAFETY
AND
HEALTH
CERTIFI-
CATION FUND.—There is established in the Treasury 
of the United States a separate account for the de-
posit of fees collected under this subsection to be 
known as the Mine Safety and Health Certification 
Fund. The Secretary shall deposit any fees collected 
pursuant to paragraph (1) into the fund. 
‘‘(3) USE.—Amounts in the Mine Safety and 
Health Certification Fund shall be available to the 
Secretary, as provided in paragraph (4), for making 
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expenditures to carry out the certification programs 
established under this subsection. 
‘‘(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In 
addition to funds appropriated under section 114, 
there is authorized to be appropriated from the Mine 
Safety and Health Certification Fund to the Assist-
ant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health for each 
fiscal year in which fees are collected under para-
graph (1) an amount equal to the total amount col-
lected during the previous fiscal year from fees as-
sessed pursuant to this subsection. Such amounts 
are authorized to remain available until expended. 
‘‘(5) CREDITING AND AVAILABILITY OF FEES.— 
Fees authorized and collected under this subsection 
shall be available for obligation only to the extent 
and in the amount provided in advance in appropria-
tions Acts. 
‘‘(d) CITATION; WITHDRAWAL ORDER.—Any oper-
ator who permits a person to perform any of the health 
or safety related functions described in subsection (a) 
without a current certification which meets the require-
ments of this section shall be considered to have com-
mitted an unwarrantable failure under section 104(d)(1), 
and the Secretary shall issue an order requiring that the 
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miner be withdrawn or reassigned to duties that do not 
require such certification.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 318 (30 
U.S.C. 878) is amended— 
(1) by striking subsections (a) and (b); 
(2) in subsection (c), by redesignating para-
graphs (1) through (3) as subparagraphs (A) 
through (C), respectively; 
(3) in subsection (g), by redesignating para-
graphs (1) through (4) as subparagraphs (A) 
through (D), respectively; and 
(4) by redesignating subsections (c) through (j) 
as paragraphs (1) through (8), respectively. 
TITLE VI—ADDITIONAL MINE 
SAFETY PROVISIONS 
SEC. 601. DEFINITIONS. 
(a) DEFINITION
OF OPERATOR.—Section 3(d) is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(d) ‘operator’ means— 
‘‘(1) any owner, lessee, or other person that— 
‘‘(A) operates or supervises a coal or other 
mine; or 
‘‘(B) controls such mine by making or hav-
ing the authority to make management or oper-
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ational decisions that affect, directly or indi-
rectly, the health or safety at such mine; or 
‘‘(2) any independent contractor performing 
services or construction at such mine;’’. 
(b) DEFINITION OF AGENT.—Section 3(e) (30 U.S.C. 
802(e)) is amended by striking ‘‘the miners’’ and inserting 
‘‘any miner’’. 
(c) DEFINITION OF MINER.—Section 3(g) (30 U.S.C. 
802(g)) is amended by inserting after ‘‘or other mine’’ the 
following: ‘‘, and includes any individual who is not cur-
rently working in a coal or other mine but would be cur-
rently working in such mine, but for an accident in such 
mine’’. 
(d) DEFINITION OF SIGNIFICANT AND SUBSTANTIAL 
VIOLATIONS.—Section 3 (30 U.S.C. 802) is further 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (m), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 
the semicolon; 
(2) in subsection (n), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting a semicolon; 
(3) in subsection (o), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(p) ‘significant and substantial violation’ means a 
violation of this Act, including any mandatory health or 
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safety standard or regulation promulgated under this Act, 
that is of such nature as could significantly and substan-
tially contribute to the cause and effect of a coal or other 
mine safety or health hazard as described in section 
104(d) and there is a substantial probability that such a 
violation could result in death.’’. 
SEC. 602. ASSISTANCE TO STATES. 
Section 503 (30 U.S.C. 953(a)) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 
by striking ‘‘, in coordination with the Sec-
retary of Health, Education, and Welfare and 
the Secretary of the Interior,’’; 
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ 
after the semicolon; 
(C) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe-
riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(D) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(4) to assist such State in developing and im-
plementing any certification program for coal or 
other mines required for compliance with section 
118.’’; and 
(2) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘$3,000,000 
for fiscal year 1970, and $10,000,000 in each suc-
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ceeding fiscal year’’ and inserting ‘‘$20,000,000 for 
each fiscal year’’. 
SEC. 603. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO ELIGIBILITY FOR 
SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. 
Section 515 (30 U.S.C. 964) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b)(3), by striking subpara-
graph (B) and redesignating subparagraphs (C) and 
(D) as subparagraphs (B) and (C), respectively; 
(2) in subsection (c)(3), by striking subpara-
graph (B) and redesignating subparagraphs (C) and 
(D) as subparagraphs (B) and (C), respectively; and 
(3) in subsection (d)(3)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 
‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 
(B) by striking subparagraph (B) and re-
designating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph 
(B). 
SEC. 604. ADDITIONAL TRAINING OF MINE INSPECTORS. 
Beginning during the 1 year period after the date of 
enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter, the Sec-
retary of Labor shall require that each mine inspector con-
ducting inspections under the Federal Mines Safety and 
Health Act of 1977 receive a full additional week of train-
ing, in addition to the training that was provided to or 
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required of such inspectors prior to the date of enactment 
of this Act. 
SEC. 605. REPORT ON STAFFING NEEDS OF THE MINE SAFE-
TY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION. 
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall transmit 
a report to Congress detailing any specific need for addi-
tional inspectors or other employees of the Mine Safety 
and Health Administration in order for the Administra-
tion to carry out and fulfill the purposes of this Act. Such 
report shall include specific requests for additional appro-
priations, if so determined by the Secretary. 
SEC. 606. BUDGET NEUTRALITY; OFFSET. 
(a) OFFSET.—Prior to being appropriated, additional 
amounts authorized by the amendments made by this Act 
shall be fully offset by a reduction to another appropria-
tion, as the House and Senate Committees on Appropria-
tions consider appropriate. 
(b) BUDGET CONTROL ACT.—Nothing in this Act or 
the amendments made by this Act shall be interpreted to 
violate the budgetary caps enacted in the Budget Control 
Act of 2011 (Public Law 112–25). 
Æ 
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