I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2691
To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit discrimination regarding
exposure to hazardous substances.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 29, 1995
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit
discrimination regarding exposure to hazardous substances.
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 ‘‘Public Health Equity
Act’’.
SEC. 2. DISCRIMINATION REGARDING EXPOSURE TO HAZ-
ARDOUS SUBSTANCES.
The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following title:
‘‘TITLE XXVII—DISCRIMINATION REGARDING
EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES
‘‘SEC. 2701. COVERED SUBSTANCES.
‘‘For purposes of this title, the term ‘covered sub-
stance’ means each of the following:
‘‘(1) Any contaminant identified in title XIV of
this Act.
‘‘(2) Any substance described in section 201(q)
of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and
any material registered pursuant to the Act referred
to in such section.
‘‘(3) Any chemical listed by the National Toxi-
cology Program of the Department of Health and
Human Services as a known or probable human car-
cinogen.
‘‘(4) Any substance defined in section 101(14)
of the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 and any
chemical subject to section 313 of the Emergency
Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of
1986.
‘‘(5) Any material subject to the requirements
concerning material safety data sheets for chemicals
under the Occupational and Safety and Health Act
of 1970.
‘‘SEC. 2702. PROHIBITION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An entity receiving Federal fi-
nancial assistance may not, on the ground of race, color,
or national origin, subject an individual to a disproportion-
ate level of exposure to any covered substance.
‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT.—With respect to the provisions
of section 602 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that relate
to compliance, such provisions apply to subsection (a) to
the same extent and in the same manner as the provisions
apply to section 601 of such Act. The preceding sentence
is subject to section 2703(b).
‘‘SEC. 2703. REGULATIONS.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall require the
appropriate Federal officials to issue regulations to imple-
ment section 2702. Such regulations shall be issued in ac-
cordance with procedures established for the issuance of
substantive rules under section 553 of title 5, United
States Code.
‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to section 602
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as applied for pur-
poses of section 2702(b), the regulations under sub-
section (a) shall provide that the means of providing
for the compliance of an entity with section 2702(a)
include the termination of all or part of the Federal
financial assistance that otherwise would be provided
to the entity, without regard to the limitation de-
scribed in such section 602 with respect to particu-
lar entities, particular recipients, and particular pro-
grams.
‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE
ORDERS; PARTICULAR
FACILITIES.—In the case of an entity that is in vio-
lation of section 2702(a), the appropriate Federal
official may, pursuant to paragraph (1), issue ad-
ministrative orders regarding the covered substance
involved, including as applicable orders regarding
the facility that produces the covered substance.
‘‘(c) DATES CERTAIN REGARDING REGULATIONS.—
For purposes of regulations under subsection (a), all pro-
posed rules shall be issued not later than 180 days after
the date of the enactment of the Public Health Equity
Act, all final rules shall be issued not later than 10 months
after such date, and all the final rules shall take effect
not later than one year after such date.’’.
Æ