Review - HR 3404 Introduced – Foreign Cylinder Regulations

Last month, Rep Balderson (R,OH) introduced HR 3404 [added link 0957 EDT 6-9-23], the Compressed Gas Cylinder Safety and Oversight Improvements Act of 2023. The bill would require DOT to establish additional regulations relating to the approval of foreign manufacturers of cylinders used in the transport of hazardous chemicals. There is no new spending authorized by this legislation.

Moving Forward

Neither Balderson nor his sole cosponsor {Rep Krishnamoorthi (D,IL)} are members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there is probably not enough influence to see this bill considered in Committee. I suspect that there might be multinational chemical companies operating in the United States that would object to the new requirements for approval of foreign made cylinders. It is unclear, however, how much opposition that would engender in Congress. While there may not be enough opposition to stop this from being approved in Committee if it were considered, I suspect that there would not be sufficient support to see the bill considered under the suspension of the rules process. I doubt that there would be enough leadership interest for the House to take this bill up under a rule.

Commentary

This is a bill that almost requires a new section outlining the reasons that the additional regulations are necessary. Typically called ‘Congressional Findings’ it outlines problems (in this case probably safety problems would be appropriate) that have been caused by the currently deficient regulations leading to the need for the proposed changes. In narrow regulatory area like this, it is important to provide the necessary information to fellow congress critters.

 

For more details about the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-3404-introduced - subscription required.