I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2247
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act of 1980 (‘‘Superfund’’) to exempt small business concerns
from certain liability under that Act.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 16, 1999
Mr. SHIMKUS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com-
pensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (‘‘Superfund’’) to
exempt small business concerns from certain liability
under that Act.
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 ‘‘Small Business Super-
fund Fairness Act’’.
SEC. 2. LIABILITY RELIEF FOR SMALL BUSINESS.
(a) LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR SMALL BUSI-
NESSES.—Section 107 of the Comprehensive Environ-
mental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of
1980 (commonly known as ‘‘Superfund’’) (42 U.S.C. 9601
and following) is amended by adding the following new
subsection at the end thereof:
‘‘(o) LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR SMALL BUSI-
NESSES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No small business concern
shall be liable under this section for response costs
or damages at a facility or vessel on the National
Priorities List under subsection (a)(3) or (a)(4) to
the extent that the materials that the concern ar-
ranged or transported for disposal at the facility or
vessel consist of (A) municipal solid waste or (B)
other materials that do not or would not contribute
significantly to the cost of the response action with
respect to the vessel or facility concerned.
‘‘(2) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN DEFINED.—In
this subsection, the term ‘small business concern’
means a business entity that on average over the
previous 3 years has no more than 100 full-time em-
ployees or the equivalent thereof.’’.
‘‘(3) MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE DEFINED.—The
term ‘municipal solid waste’ means all waste mate-
rials generated by households, including single and
multi-family residences, and hotels and motels. The
term also includes waste materials generated by
commercial, institutional, and industrial sources, to
the extent such wastes (i) are essentially the same
as waste normally generated by households, or (ii)
are collected and disposed of with other municipal
solid waste or sewage sludge as part of normal mu-
nicipal solid waste collection services, and, regardless
of when generated, would be considered conditionally
exempt small quantity generator waste under regula-
tion issued pursuant to section 3001(d) of the Solid
Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6921(d)).’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by
subsection (a) shall apply to all actions brought under the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,
and Liability Act of 1980 after the date of the enactment
of this Act and to all such actions brought on or before
such date of enactment in which there was no final judg-
ment before such date of enactment.
SEC. 2. EXPEDITED FINAL SETTLEMENTS.
Section 122(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42
U.S.C. 9622) is amended by adding the following new
paragraph at the end thereof: