Washington — Six senators are making another attempt to pass the Protecting America’s Workers Act – legislation that has been introduced in both houses of Congress over multiple sessions in the past 14 years.
None of the bills has made it past the committee stage in 15 previous tries, beginning with an attempt by the late Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy (D-MA) in April 2004.
This most recent version (S. 2621), introduced March 22 by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), seeks to update the Occupational Safety and Health Act by extending protections to federal, state and local public employees and some workers in the private sector. It also seeks to authorize “felony penalties against employers who knowingly commit OSHA violations that result in death or serious bodily injury and extend such penalties to corporate officers and directors.”