[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1935 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1935

To provide for improved information collection and dissemination by the 
        Environmental Protection Agency, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              July 9, 1996

  Mr. Bradley introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for improved information collection and dissemination by the 
        Environmental Protection Agency, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Trust and Environmental 
Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Agency.
            (2) Agency.--The term ``Agency'' means the Environmental 
        Protection Agency.

SEC. 3. IMPROVED INFORMATION COLLECTION AND DISSEMINATION.

    (a) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are--
            (1) to enhance public access and encourage use of 
        information collected by the Agency;
            (2) to improve the management of information resources; and
            (3) to assist Agency enforcement, pollution prevention, and 
        multimedia permitting and reporting initiatives.
    (b) Plan.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Administrator shall develop a plan to implement policies, 
programs, and methods for integrating and making publicly available 
information pertaining to the environment and public health policy 
concerns within the jurisdiction of the Agency.
    (c) Matters To Be Addressed.--The policies, programs, and methods 
under subsection (b) shall provide for--
            (1) creation of standard information formats for 
        collection, integration, retrieval, storage, retention, and 
        dissemination of information;
            (2) improved coordination of information collection and 
        information management to integrate separate information 
        resources, including the development and implementation of 
        common company, facility, industrial sector, geographic, and 
        chemical identifiers and such other information as the 
        Administrator determines to be appropriate;
            (3) a system for indexing, locating, and obtaining 
        information maintained by the Agency concerning parent 
        companies, facilities, chemicals, and the regulatory status of 
        entities subject to oversight by the Agency;
            (4) ready accessibility of, and dissemination of, publicly 
        available information generated by or submitted to the Agency, 
        including public accessibility by computer telecommunication 
        and other means; and
            (5) universal availability of electronic reporting for all 
        environmental reporting requirements established under laws 
        administered by the Agency directly or through delegations to 
        States, territories, and Indian tribes.
    (d) Coordination.--
            (1) In general.--The Administrator shall coordinate the 
        Agency's information collection and dissemination activities 
        with the activities of other Federal, State, and local agencies 
        to reduce unnecessary burdens and promote greater integration 
        of information.
            (2) Other information.--When necessary to support the 
        mission of the Agency, the Administrator may provide for the 
        integration and dissemination of publicly available information 
        not collected by the Agency.
    (e)  Limitation.--Nothing in this section shall affect the duty of 
the Agency to maintain the confidentiality of trade secrets, 
confidential business information, or information that is subject to a 
rule of court or court order requiring maintenance of confidentiality.
    (f) Pricing.--The Administrator may set charges for the provision 
of information under this section in accordance with the pricing 
policies of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly known 
as the ``Paperwork Reduction Act'').
    (g) Dissemination Policies.--Dissemination policies of the Agency 
shall include fee reductions, fee waivers, and other support services 
to encourage public use of information maintained by the Agency.
    (h) Reports.--Not later that 2 years after the date of enactment of 
this section and annually thereafter, the Administrator shall produce 
and make available reports that summarize the information that has been 
made available under this section.

SEC. 4. SOURCE REDUCTION AWARD PROGRAM.

    The Administrator shall establish an annual award program to 
recognize companies that operate outstanding or innovative source 
reduction programs.
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