Disaster Area Health and Environmental Monitoring Act of 2005
Latest action. Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
Disaster Area Health and Environmental Monitoring Act of 2005 - Amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize the President, if one or more chemicals or substances associated with potential acute or chronic human health effects are being or have been released in a disaster area, to carry out a program for the protection, assessment, monitoring, and study of the health and safety of workers or volunteers who respond to a major disaster or emergency, residents in a disaster area, or persons who are employed in, or who attend school, child care, or adult day care in, a disaster area..
Authorizes the President to carry out such a program through a cooperative agreement with a medical institution or a consortium of medical institutions, especially those located near the disaster area and any other area in which there reside groups of individuals that worked or volunteered in response to the disaster. Requires such an institution to have appropriate experience in the areas of environmental or occupational health, toxicology, and safety.
Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to enter jointly into a contract with the National Academy of Sciences to study and report on disaster area health and environmental protection and monitoring.
Amends the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to extend to September 30, 2007, the authority for the predisaster hazard mitigation program.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on September 21, 2005. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 15, 2006: Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 109th Congress (2005-06), 482 of the 10,701 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.5 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
GEORGE VOINOVICH (R-OH) introduced it on September 21, 2005, and 16 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 10 Democrats, 6 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on September 21, 2005, 7659 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 7392 days ago, on June 15, 2006.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 109th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2007 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers