Review – HR 1182 Introduced – Foreign Cylinder Regulations

Earlier this month, Rep Balderson (R,OH) introduced HR 1182, 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.

This bill is very similar to HR 3404 that was introduced by Balderson in May of 2023. No action was taken on that bill since neither Balderson nor his initial cosponsor were members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to which the bill was assigned. An added sponsor later in the session changed that influence situation, but too late to be of any help. A similar bill, S 1632, was introduced in the Senate by then Sen Vance (R,OH); no action was taken on that bill either.

Moving Forward

While Balderson is still not a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, two of his cosponsors {Rep Taylor (R,OH) and Rep Nehls (R,TX)} are members. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. While this bill would require new regulations (generally an anathema to the Republican majority in the House and Senate) this bill would allow for expanded use of less expensive foreign made cylinders, something that would be generally favored by most hazardous material shippers. Balanced against the increased oversight of FOMC, and presumably their increased costs, this bill may have a chance of moving through the Committee with some level of bipartisan support. How extensive that support is will determine if the bill could be brought to the floor of the House under the suspension of the rules process.

 

For more information about the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-1182-introduced - subscription required.

HR 3404 Sponsor Added – Gas Cylinder Safety

Yesterday, Rep Orden (R,OH) was added as a cosponsor to HR 3404 [removed from paywall], the Compressed Gas Cylinder Safety and Oversight Improvements Act of 2023. Orden is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to which this was assigned for consideration, the first sponsor that is a member. This means that there may now be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee.

Unfortunately, this late in an election year session, there may not be time for this bill to move forward. The sooner it is considered in Committee (preferably without amendments) the better chances for it to move forward. There has been no action in the Senate on the nearly identical S 1632.

S 1632 Introduced – Foreign Cylinder Regulation

Last month, Sen Vance (R,OH) introduced S 1632, 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.

This bill is virtually identical to HR 3404 that was introduced on the same day. This is not technically a companion measure since there is one difference between the two bills. In the discussion about authorizing overseas inspection on page 8, line 23, the Senate version corrects the CFR reference that I noted was wrong [subscription required] in the House version.

Moving Forward

Vance and two of his cosponsors {Sen Baldwin (D,WI) and Sen Budd (R,SC)} are member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see this bill considered in Committee. As I commented in my post on HR 3404, I suspect that there may be some opposition in the chemical industry to the provisions of this bill, but I do not believe they would be sufficient to stop the bill passing in Committee. They would certainly be sufficient, however, to stop the bill from being considered under the Senate’s unanimous consent process, since this bill is not ‘important’ enough to take-up the Senate’s time under regular order.

 

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

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.

Bills Introduced – 5-17-23

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in session, there were 115 bills introduced. Three of these bills will receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 3404 To require the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate regulations relating to the approval of foreign manufacturers of cylinders, and for other purposes. Balderson, Troy [Rep.-R-OH-12]

HR 3429 To increase cybersecurity education and job growth, and for other purposes. Lieu, Ted [Rep.-D-CA-36]

S 1632 A bill to require the Secretary of Transportation to promulgate regulations relating to the approval of foreign manufacturers of cylinders, and for other purposes. Vance, J. D. [Sen.-R-OH]

Bills Introduced – 07-26-17

Yesterday with both the House and Senate in session there were 58 bills introduced. Of those, nine may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 3401 To amend chapter 301 of subtitle VI of title 49, United States Code, to update or provide new motor vehicle safety standards for highly automated vehicles, and for other purposes. Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. [D-IL-9]

HR 3404 To provide for the establishment in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of a Highly Automated Vehicle Advisory Council. Rep. Cardenas, Tony [D-CA-29]

HR 3405 To amend title 49, United States Code, to expand the exemption from the motor vehicle safety standards for testing or evaluation purposes to cover manufacturers of highly automated vehicles and automated driving system components, and for other purposes. Rep. Walters, Mimi [R-CA-45]

HR 3406 To amend section 30113 of title 49, United States Code, to increase the annual number of vehicles that may be exempted for the development of new vehicle safety features, and for other purposes. Rep. Upton, Fred [R-MI-6]

HR 3407 To amend chapter 301 of subtitle VI of title 49, United States Code, to require a cybersecurity plan for highly automated vehicles, and for other purposes. Rep. Kinzinger, Adam [R-IL-16]

HR 3408 To amend section 30113 of title 49, United States Code to establish new exemptions for motor vehicle safety standards, and for other purposes. Rep. Lance, Leonard [R-NJ-7]

HR 3411 To establish in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration an Automated Driving System Cybersecurity Advisory Council to make recommendations regarding cybersecurity for the testing, deployment, and updating of automated driving systems. Rep. Costello, Ryan A. [R-PA-6]

HR 3412 To amend section 30103 of title 49, United States Code, to establish sole authority for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over the regulation of highly automated vehicles, and for other purposes. Rep. Mullin, Markwayne [R-OK-2]

HR 3435 To prohibit the transportation of certain volatile crude oil by rail. Rep. Lowey, Nita M. [D-NY-17]

This block of ‘highly automated vehicles’ legislation (along with a couple of other bills that I don’t expect to be of specific interest here) all come from members of the Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It looks like these bills may have arisen out of a mark-up hearing that was held on July 19^th by that Subcommittee. That marked-up bill has not been introduced.

I will be watching these bills for cybersecurity language.

HR 3435 is probably similar to HR 2379 that was introduced by Lowey in the 114^th Congress. No action was taken on that bill.

House Passes FY 2014 Defense Authorization Bill

Yesterday the House passed what was in effect the conference bill for the FY 2014 National Defense Authorization Act as an amendment to the previously passed HR 3404, a completely unrelated bill dealing with Medal of Honor awards. The actual bipartisan vote (350-69) was on H Res 441. The GPO does not yet have the actual language of either HR 3404 or H Res 441 available, but the House Armed Services Committee does have both a Committee Print of the amended language and the obligatory (as if it were actually a conference report) Explanatory Notes on its web site.

The verbiage of the adopted amendment is an amalgam of the House passed bill (HR 1960) and the Senate Armed Services Committee (S 1197; the whole Senate never could finish their consideration of the bill) put together by the leadership (Chairmen and Ranking Members, or more accurately their staffs) of the respective Armed Forces Committees.

Chemical Safety

The odd provision addressing the amendment of 15 USC 2602(2)(B)(v) to expand the TSCA firearms exemption has been removed from the NDAA (see page 49 of the Explanatory Notes).

Cybersecurity

There were a number of cyber related provisions in both the Senate and House bills and all were adopted to some extent in the final bill. There is a lengthy discussion (pages 137-145 of the Explanatory Notes) about the changes made in the various provisions in adopted version of the bill.

For the private sector one of those provisions is more than a little interesting. The House bill had a provision (§938) that would have required DOD to to establish an outreach and education program to assist small businesses to help them understand the cyber threat, and develop plans to protect their intellectual property and networks. There was not a similar provision in the Senate bill. The provision was included with some modifications in the current bill. This is how the Explanatory Notes (pg 141) explains the changes:

“We recognize the challenges faced by industry, especially small businesses, when it comes to understanding and defending against advanced cyber threats. There are a number of initiatives and mechanisms within the Department that address aspects of this challenge, such as the Defense Industrial Base Information Assurance/Cyber Security program. Because these other efforts exist, we believe that new programs are not needed. We believe, though, that inadequate attention has been paid to effectively coordinate those initiatives, focus them on supporting the needs of small businesses, or attempt to measure the strategic effectiveness of those programs.”

Moving Forward

The revised version of HR 3404 will now go to the Senate for consideration, where it will likely pass with bipartisan support. I suspect that it will be adopted under the ‘without objections’ provision so as to avoid debate and amendment. If the bill is not adopted under such provisions it will not be able to be considered by the House until they come back to Washington in January (unless of course special provisions are made, unlikely).