Bills Introduced 3-7-13

Yesterday was pretty much a snow day in Washington but some work did get done in Congress. I’m stretching the ‘of interest to the chemical safety/security’ community definition today to include these three bills:

S 485 Latest Title: A bill to exempt certain class A CDL drivers from the requirement to obtain a hazardous material endorsement while operating a service vehicle with a fuel tank containing 3,785 liters (1,000 gallons) or less of diesel fuel. Sponsor: Sen Roberts, Pat (R,KS)

HR1026 Latest Title: To exempt certain class A CDL drivers from the requirement to obtain a hazardous material endorsement while operating a service vehicle with a fuel tank containing 3,785 liters (1,000 gallons) or less of diesel fuel. Sponsor: Rep Neugebauer, Randy (R,TX)

S 491 Latest Title: A bill to amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to modify provisions relating to grants, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. (D,NJ)

The first two are part of a continuing effort to reduce the hazardous materials transportation safety rule impacts on farmers. I haven’t seen the actual wording of these two companion bills to see how carefully they apply just to farmers, but that appears to be the intent. I don’t think that I’ll be watching these bills too closely; this is probably the last time that I’ll mention them here.

The CERCLA grant bill could go either way. I’ll want to take a closer look at the actual text, but this may be of interest to the emergency response community that has to deal with chemical facilities.