Farmworker Smoke Protection Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1815 To establish an occupational safety and health standard to protect farmworkers from wildfire smoke, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 12, 2019 Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu- cation, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To establish an occupational safety and health standard to protect farmworkers from wildfire smoke, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farmworker Smoke 4 Protection Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that, as of the date of enactment of 7 this Act— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1815.IS S1815 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1815 IS (1) the wildfire season has increased by over 2 1 months since the 1970s, and wildfires have become 2 increasingly prevalent across the United States due 3 to prolonged droughts and extreme temperatures; 4 (2) the average annual temperatures in the 5 western United States have increased by 1.9 degrees 6 Fahrenheit since 1970; 7 (3) wildfire smoke often contains toxic chemi- 8 cals and particulates, creating hazardous air quality 9 conditions; 10 (4) wildfire smoke often persists for extended 11 periods of time and can travel hundreds of miles; 12 and 13 (5) wildfire smoke inhalation is harmful to 14 human health, particularly for vulnerable popu- 15 lations, including outdoor workers. 16 SEC. 3. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARD 17 TO PROTECT FARMWORKERS FROM WILD- 18 FIRE SMOKE. 19 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 20 (1) AGRICULTURAL OPERATION EMPLOYER.— 21 The term ‘‘agricultural operation employer’’ means 22 an employer, as defined in section 3 of the Occupa- 23 tional Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 24 652), engaged in farming or agricultural operation. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1815.IS S1815 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1815 IS (2) FARMWORKER.—The term ‘‘farmworker’’ 1 means an employee, as defined in section 3 of the 2 Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 3 U.S.C. 652), engaged in farming or other agricul- 4 tural work for an agricultural operation employer. 5 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 6 the Secretary of Labor. 7 (4) UNIFORM AIR QUALITY INDEX.—The term 8 ‘‘uniform air quality index’’ means the PM–2.5 cat- 9 egory of the uniform air quality index for the air 10 quality monitoring system required under section 11 319(a) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7619(a)). 12 (b) INITIAL OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH 13 STANDARD.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the period beginning 15 on the date of enactment of this Act and ending on 16 the date of the promulgation of the occupational 17 safety and health standard under subsection (c), the 18 Secretary shall deem the initial standard to protect 19 farmworkers from wildfire smoke described in para- 20 graph (2) to be an occupational safety and health 21 standard under section 6 of the Occupational Safety 22 and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 655). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1815.IS S1815 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1815 IS (2) CONTENTS OF INITIAL STANDARD.—The 1 initial standard described in this subsection shall re- 2 quire that an agricultural operation employer— 3 (A) provide farmworkers with appropriate 4 equipment to protect from wildfire smoke when 5 air quality at the workplace reaches a level of 6 151 or greater, as determined by the uniform 7 air quality index; 8 (B) ensure that the equipment provided 9 under subparagraph (A) includes an N95 mask 10 or N100 mask or other equipment certified by 11 the National Institute for Occupational Safety 12 and Health to protect from wildfire smoke ex- 13 posure; 14 (C) require mandatory use of the equip- 15 ment described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) 16 when air quality at the workplace reaches a 17 level of 201 or greater, as determined by the 18 uniform air quality index; and 19 (D) provide, with the equipment described 20 in subparagraphs (A) and (B), training and 21 education materials to farmworkers, in a lan- 22 guage understood by the farmworkers, regard- 23 ing— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1815.IS S1815 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1815 IS (i) how to properly use the protective 1 equipment; 2 (ii) how long and under what condi- 3 tions the protective equipment is effective; 4 and 5 (iii) the potential health impacts of 6 breathing wildfire smoke without proper 7 protection. 8 (3) ENFORCEMENT.—The initial standard de- 9 scribed in this subsection shall be enforced in the 10 same manner as a standard promulgated under sec- 11 tion 6 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 12 1970 (29 U.S.C. 655), including the prohibition on 13 discrimination under section 11(c) of such Act (29 14 U.S.C. 660(c)). 15 (c) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STAND- 16 ARD.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—By not later than 90 days 18 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 19 retary shall begin promulgating an occupational 20 safety and health standard under section 6 of the 21 Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 22 U.S.C. 655) to protect farmworkers from wildfire 23 smoke. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1815.IS S1815 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1815 IS (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The standard promul- 1 gated under paragraph (1) shall— 2 (A) provide safety and health protections 3 for farmworkers working for agricultural oper- 4 ation employers that provide at least the same 5 level of health and safety protection as the re- 6 quirements under subsection (b)(2); and 7 (B) detail the potential health impacts of 8 breathing wildfire smoke without proper protec- 9 tion. 10 (d) COLLABORATION AND TECHNICAL ASSIST- 11 ANCE.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—An agricultural operation 13 employer may seek advice or assistance from the 14 Secretary of Labor or a State or local health depart- 15 ment regarding the equipment and training and edu- 16 cation materials needed to meet the requirements 17 under subsection (b)(2) (or any similar requirement 18 of a standard promulgated under subsection (c)). 19 (2) DEPARTMENT OF LABOR DUTIES.—The 20 Secretary shall— 21 (A) provide technical assistance, upon the 22 request of an agricultural operation employer, 23 regarding how to meet the employer require- 24 ments of this section; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1815.IS S1815 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1815 IS (B) develop sample training and education 1 materials that may be used by agricultural op- 2 eration employers to meet the requirements of 3 subsection (b)(2)(D) (or any similar require- 4 ment of a standard promulgated under sub- 5 section (c)). 6 (3) COLLABORATION WITH COMMUNITY ORGA- 7 NIZATIONS.—The Secretary may, upon request, pro- 8 vide the training and educational materials devel- 9 oped under paragraph (2)(B) to relevant community 10 and nonprofit organizations. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1815.IS S1815 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS