[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6189 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6189

To amend the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program 
  Act of 2000 to establish the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and 
 Worker Health for the contractor employee compensation program under 
                        subtitle E of such Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 22, 2010

 Mr. Whitfield (for himself and Mr. Polis of Colorado) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
 and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, 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 Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program 
  Act of 2000 to establish the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and 
 Worker Health for the contractor employee compensation program under 
                        subtitle E of such 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 ``EEOICPA Amendment Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ADVISORY BOARD ON TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND 
              WORKER HEALTH.

    (a) Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health.--Subtitle 
E of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act 
of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7385 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section:

``SEC. 3687. ADVISORY BOARD ON TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND WORKER HEALTH.

    ``(a) Establishment.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this section, the President shall establish 
        and appoint an Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker 
        Health (in this section referred to as the `Board').
            ``(2) Consultation on appointments.--The President shall 
        make appointments to the Board in consultation with 
        organizations with expertise on worker health issues in order 
        to ensure that the membership of the Board reflects a balance 
        of perspectives from the scientific, medical, legal, worker, 
        and worker advocate communities.
            ``(3) Chair.--The President shall designate a Chair for the 
        Board from among its members.
    ``(b) Duties.--The Board shall--
            ``(1) advise the Secretary, the Secretary of Energy, and 
        the Secretary of Health and Human Services concerning the 
        review and approval of the site exposure matrix used to 
        determine eligibility for compensation under this subtitle for 
        illnesses resulting from exposure to toxic substances;
            ``(2) periodically review and approve guidance provided to 
        claims examiners on weighing medical evidence under this 
        subtitle;
            ``(3) review reports by consulting physicians to ensure 
        quality, objectivity, and consistency; and
            ``(4) coordinate exchanges of data and findings with the 
        Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health to the extent 
        necessary.
    ``(c) Staff.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall appoint a staff to 
        facilitate the work of the Board. The staff shall be headed by 
        a Director who shall be appointed under subchapter VIII of 
        chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code.
            ``(2) Federal agency personnel.--The Secretary may accept 
        as staff of the Board personnel on detail from other Federal 
        agencies as necessary to enable the Board to carry out its 
        duties under this section. The detail of personnel under this 
        paragraph may be on a nonreimbursable basis.
            ``(3) Contractors.--The Secretary shall employ outside 
        contractors and specialists selected by the Board to support 
        the work of the Board.
    ``(d) Expenses.--Members of the Board, other than full-time 
employees of the United States, while attending meetings of the Board 
or while otherwise serving at the request of the President, while 
serving away from their homes or regular places of business, shall be 
allowed travel and meal expenses, including per diem in lieu of 
subsistence, in accordance with applicable provisions under subchapter 
I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code.
    ``(e) Security Clearances.--
            ``(1) Application.--The Secretary of Energy shall ensure 
        that the members and staff of the Board, and the contractors 
        performing work in support of the Board, are afforded the 
        opportunity to apply for a security clearance for any matter 
        for which such a clearance is appropriate.
            ``(2) Determination.--The Secretary of Energy should, not 
        later than 180 days after receiving a completed application for 
        a security clearance under this subsection, make a 
        determination whether or not the individual concerned is 
        eligible for the clearance.
            ``(3) Report.--For fiscal year 2012 and each fiscal year 
        thereafter, the Secretary of Energy shall include in the budget 
        justification materials submitted to Congress in support of the 
        Department of Energy budget for that fiscal year (as submitted 
        with the budget of the President under section 1105(a) of title 
        31, United States Code) a report specifying the number of 
        applications for security clearances under this subsection, the 
        number of such applications granted, and the number of such 
        applications denied.
    ``(f) Information.--The Secretary of Energy shall, in accordance 
with law, provide to the Board and the contractors of the Board access 
to any information that the Board considers relevant to carry out its 
responsibilities under this section, including information such as 
Restricted Data (as defined in section 11(y) of the Atomic Energy Act 
of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2014(y))) and information covered by the Privacy 
Act.''.
    (b) Ombudsman Report.--Section 3686 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 7385s-
15) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection (i); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the following:
    ``(h) Response to Report.--
            ``(1) Timing.--Not later than 90 days after the publication 
        of the annual report under subsection (e), the Secretary shall 
        submit to Congress a written response to the report.
            ``(2) Contens of response.--
                    ``(A) Agreement.--If the Secretary agrees with a 
                finding of the Ombudsman in the report, the Secretary 
                shall include in the response proposed actions to 
                address any issues raised by the finding.
                    ``(B) Disagreement.--If the Secretary disagrees 
                with a finding of the Ombusman in the report, the 
                Secretary shall include in the response the reasons of 
                disagreement with the finding.
            ``(3) Publication.--The Secretary shall post the response 
        on the public Internet site of the Department of Labor.''.
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