[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 99 (Wednesday, July 20, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1539]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH SMALL BUSINESS DAY IN COURT ACT OF 2005

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                               speech of

                        HON. DONALD A. MANZULLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 12, 2005

  Mr. MANZULLO. Madam Speaker, I wish to express my strong support for 
H.R. 739, the Occupational Safety and Health Small Business Day in 
Court Act; H.R. 740, the Occupational Safety and Health Review 
Commission Efficiency Act; H.R. 741, the Occupational Safety and Health 
Independent Review of OSHA Citations Act; and H.R. 742, the 
Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice Act. As 
Chairman of the Small Business Committee, I see daily the immense 
regulatory burden placed upon our small businesses. The Office of 
Advocacy at the Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates that the 
average small business is burdened with almost $7,000 per employee in 
regulatory compliance costs. I am pleased that the House has taken 
action to relieve small businesses of some of this burden.
  H.R. 739 provides small businesses with additional flexibility by 
allowing certain exceptions to the arbitrary 15-day deadline for 
employers to file responses to citations by the Occupational Safety and 
Health Administration (OSHA). This commonsense measure allows an 
extension of the 15-day deadline in narrowly tailored circumstances, 
namely when a small business inadvertently misses this deadline by 
mistake. H.R. 739 helps ensure that disputes between OSHA and small 
businesses would be resolved based on the merits of the situation as 
opposed to legal technicalities. No small business should be foreclosed 
from a remedy simply because of an arbitrary deadline.
  H.R. 740 helps ensure that OSHA reviews cases in a timely and more 
efficient manner by adding two additional commissioners to the 
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC). This change 
ensures that small businesses do not have long, drawn-out proceedings 
that monopolize their limited resources.
  H.R. 741 is designed to restore the review process that was 
originally intended by Congress when it enacted the OSHA law. 
Congress's original intent was to form a separate, independent, and 
unbiased entity, OSHRC, that presided over OSHA hearings. However, the 
lines between OSHA and OSHRC have become blurred. This bill restores 
the original system contemplated by Congress and ensures that OSHRC, 
and not OSHA, would be the party who interprets the law and provides an 
independent review of OSHA citations.
  Finally, H.R. 742 will assist small businesses by giving these 
businesses an opportunity to recover attorney fees if successful in 
challenging an OSHA citation.
  In all, this common-sense legislation allows OSHA to continue 
protecting workers at their place of employment, while giving small 
businesses the ability to be competitive, create jobs, and to be 
protected from frivolous lawsuits.

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