The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE OSHA CONSULTATION AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1995” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E829 on April 7, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE OSHA CONSULTATION AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1995
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HON. JAMES A. HAYES
of louisiana
in the house of representatives
Thursday, April 6, 1995
Mr. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's [OSHA] Consultation Services [OSHCON] currently derive their authority from a shaky regulatory framework. OSHCON programs compete for very limited dollars with other OSHA education and training compliance assistance programs. Therefore, in an effort to enhance the Federal Government's responsiveness to the business community and to provide more effective solutions to the problems impacting safety and health in the workplace, I, along with my colleague Congressman Cass Ballenger, am introducing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Consultation Authorization Act of 1995.
Our bill would, simply put, statutorily codify the authority of the Department of Labor to establish the current scheme of cooperative agreements with States. There is overwhelming and widespread support for our language amongst representatives of both large industry and small business, officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Consultation Programs, and the Administration.
Businesses in Louisiana and throughout the country convey to me horror stories about the burdens that OSHA standards and paperwork requirements impose upon their fiscal stability without producing discernable corresponding benefits to safety and health. They would welcome initiatives that seek to distribute information on safety and health in a more timely and efficient manner. Businessmen realize that safe employment practices enable them to compete for and retain the most qualified employees.
State run consultation offices are overworked and understaffed. OSHA has consistently failed to allocate adequate resources to OSHCON programs. With the proposed fiscal year 1996 budget request, we are again faced with a budget recommendation heavily slanted toward enforcement rather than compliance assistance. We owe businesses and employees alike the opportunity to work in a safe environment. We can and should redirect our priorities toward productive and pro-active strategies, such as consultation assistance, and away from the reactive and cumbersome overregulatory approaches of the past.
I welcome my colleagues to join Mr. Ballenger and I in our fight to ensure the successful continuation of a health and safety program that works.
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