Key US House panel gives unanimous vote to TSCA reform bill

WASHINGTON (ICIS)–A key House committee on Wednesday gave unanimous approval to legislation to modernise the nearly 40-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a move broadly welcomed by the US chemicals sector.

The unanimous vote by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on the “TSCA Modernization Act of 2015” (HR-2576) suggests that the bill likely will win approval by the full House when it comes up for a floor vote.

A similar TSCA reform bill already has been cleared by a US Senate committee and is awaiting a floor vote in that chamber.

If both the House and Senate give full final approval to their respective TSCA reform measures, the two bills would then be hammered together into a single package in a House-Senate conference meeting.

After the resulting conference bill is given what presumably would be routine approval by both chambers, it would head to President Barack Obama’s desk for his signature.

In welcoming the committee vote on Wednesday, the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) described the House bill as “the most credible legislative effort to reform the nation’s chemical control laws since TSCA was enacted in 1976”.

SOCMA vice president Bill Allmond said the committee-approved bill “is a remarkable improvement over current law because it improves the parts of TSCA most stakeholders agree have fallen short, while maintaining areas of the statute that have worked well”.

“We now encourage the full House of Representatives to quickly pass this important legislation,” Allmond, said, adding that the bill not only will restore public confidence in US chemical control laws but also will serve as a model for other nations.

“After years of failed attempts,” said Allmond, “Congress is just steps away from making TSCA reform a reality.”

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) also hailed the committee vote, saying that HR-2576 “represents another significant milestone in the growing momentum in the House and Senate to enact meaningful TSCA reform legislation this year”.

As part of a trade coalition of more than 140 business and commercial groups, the ACC sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican-Kentucky), urging him to bring the Senate TSCA reform measure to a floor vote as soon as possible.

The council noted that the Senate bill, “The Frank R Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act” (S-697), was approved earlier by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee with a strong bipartisan vote of 15-5.

The council urged McConnell to bring the bill to a floor vote before Congress begins its month-long August recess.

The National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) also hailed the House committee vote, calling it “a critical and much welcomed step in the right direction”.

NACD president Eric Byer urged that “House leadership quickly bring HR-2576 to the floor for a vote so both the House and Senate can begin working together to produce a final version of TSCA reform legislation that carries our chemical management system into the 21st century”.

In the Senate, Senator David Vitter (Republican-Louisiana) said that “the overwhelming and bipartisan support to move forward with TSCA reform legislation in the House is a clear indicator of the momentum building to replace our nation’s ineffective, outdated chemical regulatory programme”.

Vitter, co-author of the Senate TSCA reform bill, also said the House bill “shares common principles and targets many of the same issues as the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, and I will continue working with Senate leadership to pass our legislation soon”.

That Vitter should see the House bill as sharing common principles with the Senate measure suggests that the two bills could be easily combined in a conference committee.

Paul Hodges studies key influences shaping the chemical industry in Chemicals and the Economy