This is an old bill from the 1995-96 legislative session. It died in committee when the session ended and must be reintroduced.
To get copies of bills for free, request it of your local state Representative (this way they know you're interested and you can tell them so) or call the House Document Room at 717-787-5320 and tell them the bill # and printer # and they'll send it to you).
BILL NO: HB2321, Printer Number 3009
SPONSOR: Williams
COMMITTEE: Environmental Resources & Energy
DATE: 1/31/96
PROPOSAL: An act establishing a program to ensure nondiscriminatory compliance with the environmental, health and safety laws; and profiding for equal protection of the public health
EXISTING LAW: The Environmental Justice Act
ANALYSIS: The Secretary of Environmental Resources, in consultation with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the National Institude for Environmental Health Sciences, the Center for Health Statistics and the Bureau of the Census shall determine the most appropriate designation of the environmental high-impact areas, either in counties or other appropriate geographic unit within 6 months after the effective date of this act.
Within 12 months after the effective date of this act, the Secretary shall publish a list of the total weight of toxic chemicals released in each county or other geographic unit during the most recent 5 year period for which data are available. If less than five years of data are available, the Secretary shall use available data until further information is reported.
The secretary shall adjust the estimates of data utilized to the toxicity of the toxic chemicals when necessary and shall revise and republish the last 5 years after the date of the initial publication and not less frequently than every five years thereafter, using data compiled during the preceding five-year period.
Within 12 months after the effective date of this act and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary shall publish a list of the 100 counties or other appropriate geographic unit with the highest total or other appropriate geographic units shall be designated as environmental high-impact areas.
To ensure that facilities with the highest potential for release of toxic chemicals are operating in compliance with all applicable environmental health and safety standards, the Secretary of Environmental Resources and the Secretary of Labor and Industry shall conduct compliance inspections of all toxic chemical facilities in environmental high-impact areas within 2 years after the effective date of this act and not less frequently than every 2 years thereafter.
Within 24 months after the effective date of this act, the Secretary of Health, in consultation with the Secretary of Environmental Resources, the Secretary of Labor and Industry, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the commissioners of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, shall issue for public comment a report identifying the nature and extent, if any, of acute and chronic impacts on human health in environmnetal high-impact areas from exposure to toxic chemicals.
If the report identifies significant adverse impacts from exposure to toxic chemicals on human health in environmental high-impact areas as a group, the Secretary shall submit to the general assembly within one year after publication of the report, proposed administrative and legislative changes to remedy and prevent such impacts. If the report identifies significant adverse impacts on human health from exposure to toxic chemicals in an environmental high-impact area, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations applicable to any state permit for construction or modification of a toxic chemical facility in that area. The regulations shall require a net reduction in the release of any toxic chemical determined to cause such significant adverse impacts on human health in that area.
Subject to appropriations and in accordance with rules promulgated by the Secretary of Health in consultation with the Secreatary of Environmental Resources, the Secretary may award a grant to any individual or group of individuals who may be affected by a release or threatened release of a toxic chemical from any toxic chemical facility in an environmental high-impact area.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect in 60 days.
Last modified: 11 November 1997
http://www.ejnet.org/chester/2321.html