[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1540 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1540

 To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide procedures for claims 
                      relating to drinking water.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 8, 2005

    Mr. Gary G. Miller of California (for himself and Mr. Calvert) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
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 Safe Drinking Water Act to provide procedures for claims 
                      relating to drinking water.

    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 ``Drinking Water Standards 
Preservation Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The safety of drinking water, and the adequacy of water 
        supplies, is a national concern. In the 29 years since Congress 
        first mandated the establishment of uniform national minimum 
        drinking water standards, national standards have been 
        established for more than 100 contaminants and parameters.
            (2) The States have been authorized to enforce those 
        standards, and, in appropriate cases, set stricter standards on 
        a statewide basis.
            (3) It is technologically infeasible for a drinking water 
        system to provide water with a zero level of contaminants, and 
        a determination that drinking water must contain no 
        contaminants would threaten the adequacy of water supplies.
            (4) The setting of drinking water standards is a complex 
        public policy determination requiring a careful analysis and 
        balancing of a number of factors, including--
                    (A) the maximum safe level for each drinking water 
                contaminant;
                    (B) the technological capability of removing 
                contaminants from public drinking water supplies; and
                    (C) the importance of assuring that drinking water 
                is affordable to all Americans.
            (5) The setting of these standards is not appropriate for 
        individual juries deciding individual cases in the separate 
        States, but rather is fundamentally a scientific issue to be 
        resolved by the appropriate Federal and State agencies in 
        accordance with the rulemaking provisions of the Safe Drinking 
        Water Act and the applicable State authorities.
            (6) Claims for monetary damages brought against public 
        water providers under the common law of the various States 
        based on alleged contamination of drinking water threaten to 
        undermine the science-based uniform national system of water 
        quality regulation.
            (7) The States should retain maximum flexibility to handle 
        claims for monetary damages brought against public water 
        providers based on alleged contamination of drinking water, 
        including the authority to decide whether such claims should be 
        heard by the courts or an administrative agency.
            (8) The costs of defending against multiple legal claims 
        can be financially burdensome to any water provider, but 
        especially to small systems, and the imposition of such costs 
        cannot be justified when a supplier complies with the 
        requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT.

    Section 1449 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j-8) is 
amended as follows:
            (1) In subsection (e)--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``Nothing'' 
                and inserting ``Except as provided in subsection (f), 
                nothing'';
                    (B) at the end of the first sentence, by striking 
                ``or to seek any other relief'';
                    (C) in the second sentence, by striking ``Nothing'' 
                and inserting ``Except as provided in subsection (f), 
                nothing''; and
                    (D) by inserting after the first sentence the 
                following: ``Nothing in subsection (f) creates a new 
                cause of action, and, except as otherwise explicitly 
                provided in this title, nothing in this title expands 
                liability otherwise imposed or limits any defense 
                otherwise available under Federal or State law.''.
            (2) By adding the following new subsection at the end 
        thereof:
    ``(f)(1) No public water system shall be liable in a civil suit 
brought before any Federal or State court for damages arising from 
injury (including personal injury, death, or property damage) allegedly 
caused by delivery of contaminated water, unless the court determines 
that the plaintiff has established the following:
            ``(A) In the case of a regulated contaminant, the plaintiff 
        must establish that each of the following criteria are met:
                    ``(i) The substance in the delivered water which 
                the plaintiff claims caused the injury was subject to a 
                Federal or State regulation prescribed under this Act 
                at the time of delivery.
                    ``(ii) There is substantial scientific evidence 
                that the substance in the delivered water which the 
                plaintiff claims caused the injury was of such a 
                nature, and in such amounts, that it was reasonably 
                likely to cause the kind of injury of which the 
                plaintiff complains.
                    ``(iii) The public water system violated the 
                regulation referred to in clause (i).
                    ``(iv) The violation was negligent.
                    ``(v) The violation caused the injury.
            ``(B) In the case of an unregulated contaminant, the 
        plaintiff must establish that each of the following criteria 
        are met:
                    ``(i) The substance in the delivered water which 
                the plaintiff claims caused the injury was not subject 
                to any requirements prescribed under this Act at the 
                time of delivery.
                    ``(ii) There is substantial scientific evidence 
                that the substance in the delivered water which the 
                plaintiff claims caused the injury was of such a 
                nature, and in such amounts, that it was reasonably 
                likely to cause the kind of injury of which the 
                plaintiff complains.
                    ``(iii) The injury actually was caused by delivery 
                of water that contained such a substance.
                    ``(iv) The public water system knew or should have 
                known that the substance was in the drinking water at 
                such a level and was likely to cause the injury.
                    ``(v) It was feasible for the supplier to have 
                removed such contaminant to a level below which it was 
                not likely to cause such injury.
    ``(2) The court shall, in a special pretrial proceeding, subject to 
the requirements of paragraph (3), determine whether the plaintiff has 
established either that criteria in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of 
paragraph (1)(A) or criteria in clauses (i), (ii), and (v) in paragraph 
(1)(B) have been met.
    ``(3) The court, in making the determinations required in 
paragraphs (1)(A) and (1)(B), shall adopt and give binding effect to 
any findings of fact, conclusions of law, or determination of any 
agency of a State exercising primary enforcement authority for purposes 
of this title. Nothing in this section limits the jurisdiction or 
authority of any State agency to make findings and determinations with 
respect to whether--
            ``(A) requirements for drinking water quality adequately 
        protect the public;
            ``(B) additional requirements for regulated or unregulated 
        contaminants are warranted; and
            ``(C) public water systems are in compliance with such 
        requirements.''.
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