Revised HR 2868 Ready for House Amendments

The House Rules Committee has posted an ‘amendment in the nature of a substitute’ on their web site for HR 2868. It lists the author’s of the amendment as: Mr. Thompson Of Mississippi, Mr. Waxman Of California, Mr. Oberstar of Minnesota, Mr. Markey Of Massachusetts, Ms. Jackson-Lee Of Texas, and Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas. The text of HR 2868, Chemical and Water Security Act of 2009, is a major revision with a combination of both HR 2868 and HR 3258. In addition to a Title 1 for chemical facility security and a Title 2 for water treatment facility security, there is also a Title 3 for waste water treatment facilities. A quick review of the language shows that the IST provisions for the chemical facility portion of the ‘amendment’ more closely resembles the Energy and Commerce version with a little touch of Homeland Security. The Citizen Suit provisions also more closely the Energy and Commerce provisions with an additional section added to deal with a notification system to address public concerns. The review of sodium fluoroacetate, however, still remains in the bill. The Rules Committee also announced that they intend to meet the week of 11-2-09 to formulate the rule to bring this bill to the floor. As such they want any amendments filed with the Rules Committee by 6:30 pm EST on Monday the 2nd. I’ll do a review of the revised HR 2868 this evening and have a report posted first thing in the morning.