    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 17 (Monday, April 28, 1997)]
    [Pages 563-566]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Executive Order 13045--Protection of Children From Environmental Health
    Risks and Safety Risks

    April 21, 1997

        By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
    the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as
    follows:
        Section 1. Policy.
        1-101. A growing body of scientific knowledge demonstrates that
    children may suffer disproportionately from environmental health risks
    and safety risks. These risks arise because: children's neurological
    immuno- logical, digestive, and other bodily systems are still
    developing; children eat more food, drink more fluids, and breathe more
    air in proportion to their body weight than adults; children's size and
    weight may diminish their protection from standard safety features; and
    children's behavior patterns may make them more susceptible to accidents
    because they are less able to protect themselves. Therefore, to the
    extent permitted by law and appropriate, and consistent with the
    agency's mission, each Federal agency:
    (a)         shall make it a high priority to identify and assess
                environmental health risks

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                and safety risks that may disproportionately affect
                children; and
    (b)         shall ensure that its policies, programs, activities, and
                standards address disproportionate risks to children that
                result from environmental health risks or safety risks.
        1-102. Each independent regulatory agency is encouraged to
    participate in the implementation of this order and comply with its
    provisions.
        Sec. 2. Definitions. The following definitions shall apply to this
    order.
        2-201. ``Federal agency'' means any authority of the United States
    that is an agency under 44 U.S.C. 3502(1) other than those considered to
    be independent regulatory agencies under 44 U.S.C. 3502(5). For purposes
    of this order, ``military departments,'' as defined in 5 U.S.C. 102, are
    covered under the auspices of the Department of Defense.
        2-202. ``Covered regulatory action'' means any substantive action in
    a rulemaking, initiated after the date of this order or for which a
    Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is published 1 year after the date of this
    order, that is likely to result in a rule that may:
    (a)         be ``economically significant'' under Executive Order 12866
                (a rulemaking that has an annual effect on the economy of
                $100 million or more or would adversely affect in a material
                way the economy, a sector of the economy, productivity,
                competition, jobs, the environment, public health or safety,
                or State, local, or tribal governments or communities); and
    (b)         concern an environmental health risk or safety risk that an
                agency has reason to believe may disproportionately affect
                children.
        2-203. ``Environmental health risks and safety risks'' mean risks to
    health or to safety that are attributable to products or substances that
    the child is likely to come in contact with or ingest (such as the air
    we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink or use for recreation,
    the soil we live on, and the products we use or are exposed to).
        Sec. 3. Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to
    Children.
        3-301. There is hereby established the Task Force on Environmental
    Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children (``Task Force'').
        3-302. The Task Force will report to the President in consultation
    with the Domestic Policy Council, the National Science and Technology
    Council, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Office of
    Management and Budget (OMB).
        3-303. Membership. The Task Force shall be composed of the:
    (a)         Secretary of Health and Human Services, who shall serve as a
                Co-Chair of the Council;
    (b)         Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, who
                shall serve as a Co-Chair of the Council;
    (c)         Secretary of Education;
    (d)         Secretary of Labor;
    (e)         Attorney General;
    (f)         Secretary of Energy;
    (g)         Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;
    (h)         Secretary of Agriculture;
    (i)         Secretary of Transportation;
    (j)         Director of the Office of Management and Budget;
    (k)         Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality;
    (l)         Chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission;
    (m)         Assistant to the President for Economic Policy;
    (n)         Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy;
    (o)         Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of
                Science and Technology Policy;
    (p)         Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers; and
    (q)         Such other officials of executive departments and agencies
                as the President may, from time to time, designate.
        Members of the Task Force may delegate their responsibilities under
    this order to subordinates.
        3-304. Functions. The Task Force shall recommend to the President
    Federal strategies for children's environmental health and safety,
    within the limits of the Administration's budget, to include the
    following elements:

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    (a)         statements of principles, general policy, and targeted
                annual priorities to guide the Federal approach to achieving
                the goals of this order;
    (b)         a coordinated research agenda for the Federal Government,
                including steps to implement the review of research
                databases described in section 4 of this order;
    (c)         recommendations for appropriate partnerships among Federal,
                State, local, and tribal governments and the private,
                academic, and nonprofit sectors;
    (d)         proposals to enhance public outreach and communication to
                assist families in evaluating risks to children and in
                making informed consumer choices;
    (e)         an identification of high-priority initiatives that the
                Federal Government has undertaken or will undertake in
                advancing protection of children's environmental health and
                safety; and
    (f)         a statement regarding the desirability of new legislation to
                fulfill or promote the purposes of this order.
        3-305. The Task Force shall prepare a biennial report on research,
    data, or other information that would enhance our ability to understand,
    analyze, and respond to environmental health risks and safety risks to
    children. For purposes of this report, cabinet agencies and other
    agencies identified by the Task Force shall identify and specifically
    describe for the Task Force key data needs related to environmental
    health risks and safety risks to children that have arisen in the course
    of the agency's programs and activities. The Task Force shall
    incorporate agency submissions into its report and ensure that this
    report is publicly available and widely disseminated. The Office of
    Science and Technology Policy and the National Science and Technology
    Council shall ensure that this report is fully considered in
    establishing research priorities.
        3-306. The Task Force shall exist for a period of 4 years from the
    first meeting. At least 6 months prior to the expiration of that period,
    the member agencies shall assess the need for continuation of the Task
    Force or its functions, and make appropriate recommendations to the
    President.
        Sec. 4. Research Coordination and Integration.
        4-401. Within 6 months of the date of this order, the Task Force
    shall develop or direct to be developed a review of existing and planned
    data resources and a proposed plan for ensuring that researchers and
    Federal research agencies have access to information on all research
    conducted or funded by the Federal Government that is related to adverse
    health risks in children resulting from exposure to environmental health
    risks or safety risks. The National Science and Technology Council shall
    review the plan.
        4-402. The plan shall promote the sharing of information on academic
    and private research. It shall include recommendations to encourage that
    such data, to the extent permitted by law, is available to the public,
    the scientific and academic communities, and all Federal agencies.
        Sec. 5. Agency Environmental Health Risk or Safety Risk Regulations.
        5-501. For each covered regulatory action submitted to OMB's Office
    of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review pursuant to
    Executive Order 12866, the issuing agency shall provide to OIRA the
    following information developed as part of the agency's decisionmaking
    process, unless prohibited by law:
    (a)         an evaluation of the environmental health or safety effects
                of the planned regulation on children; and
    (b)         an explanation of why the planned regulation is preferable
                to other potentially effective and reasonably feasible
                alternatives considered by the agency.
        5-502. In emergency situations, or when an agency is obligated by
    law to act more quickly than normal review procedures allow, the agency
    shall comply with the provisions of this section to the extent
    practicable. For those covered regulatory actions that are governed by a
    court-imposed or statutory deadline, the agency shall, to the extent
    practicable, schedule any rulemaking proceedings so as to permit
    sufficient time for completing the analysis required by this section.
        5-503. The analysis required by this section may be included as part
    of any other required analysis, and shall be made part of

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    the administrative record for the covered regulatory action or otherwise
    made available to the public, to the extent permitted by law.
        Sec. 6. Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.
        6-601. The Director of the OMB (``Director'') shall convene an
    Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics (``Forum''), which will
    include representatives from the appropriate Federal statistics and
    research agencies. The Forum shall produce an annual compendium
    (``Report'') of the most important indicators of the well-being of the
    Nation's children.
        6-602. The Forum shall determine the indicators to be included in
    each Report and identify the sources of data to be used for each
    indicator. The Forum shall provide an ongoing review of Federal
    collection and dissemination of data on children and families, and shall
    make recommendations to improve the coverage and coordination of data
    collection and to reduce duplication and overlap.
        6-603. The Report shall be published by the Forum in collaboration
    with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The
    Forum shall present the first annual Report to the President, through
    the Director, by July 31, 1997. The Report shall be submitted annually
    thereafter, using the most recently available data.
        Sec. 7. General Provisions.
        7-701. This order is intended only for internal management of the
    executive branch. This order is not intended, and should not be
    construed to create, any right, benefit, or trust responsibility,
    substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party
    against the United States, its agencies, its officers, or its employees.
    This order shall not be construed to create any right to judicial review
    involving the compliance or noncompliance with this order by the United
    States, its agencies, its officers, or any other person.
        7-702. Executive Order 12606 of September 2, 1987 is revoked.
                                                William J. Clinton
    The White House,
    April 21, 1997.

    [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:49 a.m., April 22,
    1997]

    Note: This Executive order was published in the Federal Register on
    April 23.