Safety and Health Improvement and Regulatory Reform Act of 1995

Safety and Health Improvement and Regulatory Reform Act of 1995

This 1995 bill would have eliminated Mine Safety and Health Administration, and granted its jurisdiction to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), while slashing the OSHA budget. The bill would have cut back the number of annual inspections required of underground mines, from four to one, and eliminated required surface mine inspections entirely.  It also would have cancelled all federal government funding for safety and health research.  Lastly, the bill would have forced OSHA to devote half of its budget to employer training and consultation.

Cry Wolf Quotes

More money could be available for worker safety and health if we cut back on bureaucratic administration, because an OSHA/MSHA merger would end duplicative costs, duplicative employees and duplicative actions.

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Patrick Murphy, administrative assistant to Representative Cass Ballenger(R-NC). The Salt Lake Tribune.

The basic idea is OSHA [and by extension MSHA] has lost its purpose. Its purpose started off being the health and safety of workers, and now it's been more like a cop on the beat who gets rewarded for the number of tickets he can hand out. And it has become an anti-business operation of the federal government.

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Representative Cass Ballenger (R-NC), Business Insurance.