[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2731 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2731

To amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to provide for 
  the award of attorney's fees and costs to very small employers when 
they prevail in litigation prompted by the issuance of citations by the 
             Occupational Safety and Health Administration.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 15, 2003

 Mr. Norwood introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to provide for 
  the award of attorney's fees and costs to very small employers when 
they prevail in litigation prompted by the issuance of citations by the 
             Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

    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 ``Occupational Safety and Health Small 
Employer Access to Justice Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. AWARD OF ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COSTS.

    The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 and 
following) is amended by redesignating section 32 through 34 as 33 
through 35 and inserting the following new section after section 31:

``SEC. 32. AWARD OF ATTORNEYS' FEES AND COSTS.

    ``(a) Administrative Proceedings.--An employer who--
            ``(1) is the prevailing party in any adversary adjudication 
        instituted under this Act, and
            ``(2) had not more than 100 employees and a net worth of 
        not more than $1,500,000 at the time of the adversary 
        adjudication was initiated,
shall be awarded fees and other expenses as a prevailing party under 
section 504 of title 5, United States Code, in accordance with the 
provisions of that section, but without regard to whether the position 
of the Secretary was substantially justified or special circumstances 
make an award unjust. For purposes of this section the term `adversary 
adjudication' has the meaning given that term in section 504(b)(1)(C) 
of title 5, United States Code.
    ``(b) Proceedings.--An employer who--
            ``(1) is the prevailing party in any proceeding for 
        judicial review of any action instituted under this Act, and
            ``(2) had not more than 100 employees and a net worth of 
        not more than $1,500,000 at the time the action addressed under 
        subsection (1) was filed,
shall be awarded fees and other expenses as a prevailing party under 
section 2412(d) of title 28, United States Code, in accordance with the 
provisions of that section, but without regard to whether the position 
of the United States was substantially justified or special 
circumstances make an award unjust. Any appeal of a determination of 
fees pursuant to subsection (a) of this subsection shall be determined 
without regard to whether the position of the United States was 
substantially justified or special circumstances make an award unjust.
    ``(c) Applicability.--
            ``(1) Commission proceedings.--Subsection (a) of this 
        section applies to proceedings commenced on or after the date 
        of enactment of this Act.
            ``(2) Court proceedings.--Subsection (b) of this section 
        applies to proceedings for judicial review commenced on or 
        after the date of enactment of this Act.''.
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