[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2247 Introduced in House (IH)]







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 
      Committee 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, Compensation, 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Small Business Superfund Fairness 
Act''.

SEC. 2. LIABILITY RELIEF FOR SMALL BUSINESS.

    (a) Limitation on Liability for Small Businesses.--Section 107 of 
the Comprehensive Environmental 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 Businesses.--
            ``(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 arranged 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 employees or the equivalent thereof.''.
            ``(3) Municipal solid waste defined.--The term `municipal 
        solid waste' means all waste materials 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 municipal solid waste collection services, 
        and, regardless of when generated, would be considered 
        conditionally exempt small quantity generator waste under 
        regulation 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 judgment 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:
    ``(7)(A) The President shall, as promptly as possible, offer to 
reach a final administrative or judicial settlement with potentially 
responsible parties who are small business concerns as defined in 
section 107(o) that can demonstrate that the concern does not have the 
ability to pay response costs.
    ``(B) In the case of a small business, the term `ability to pay' 
means the President's reasonable expectation of the ability of the 
small business to pay its total settlement amount and still maintain 
its basic business operations. Such consideration shall include the 
business's overall financial condition and demonstrable constraints on 
its ability to raise revenues. Any business requesting such 
consideration shall promptly provide the President with all relevant 
information needed to determine the business's ability to pay. The 
business shall demonstrate the amount of its ability to pay.
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