§804 Interim Compliance Panel

Summary

Creates an Interim Compliance Panel made up of five people: the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards (or a delegate); the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (or a delegate); the Administrator of Consumer Protection and Environmental Health Service at Health and Human Services (or a delegate); the Director of the United States Bureau of Mines at the Interior Department (or a delegate); and the Director of the National Science Foundation (or a delegate). Members get no extra pay but can be paid back for travel and other needed expenses. The Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Commerce, Interior, and Labor must give the Panel staff and help if the Panel asks. Three members make a quorum. Decisions need a majority, and the members pick the chair. The Panel may hire as many administrative law judges as needed, and those judges are covered by the rules in section 3105 of title 5. The Panel must carry out its duties under this law and must hold a public hearing, after notice, if an affected mine operator or the miners’ representative asks for one. Any operator or miners’ representative unhappy with a final Panel decision can seek review under section 816 of this title. Hearings must be on the record, and the Panel must write findings of fact and a decision following section 554 of title 5. The Panel’s duties end when its work is finished. The Panel must also send a written annual report to the Secretary, who will transmit it to Congress, about how it met its goals and any recommendations.