20 U.S.C. § 3601 — Congressional statement of findings and

Page 1186 TITLE 20—EDUCATION § 3508 Editorial Notes CODIFICATION ‘‘May 4, 1980’’ substituted in text for ‘‘the effective date of this chapter’’ pursuant to section 601 of Pub. L. 96–88, set out as an Effective Date note under section 3401 of this title. § 3508. Department of Health and Human Serv- ices (a) Redesignation of Department of Health, Edu- cation, and Welfare The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is hereby redesignated the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Sec- retary of Health, Education, and Welfare or any other official of the Department of Health, Edu- cation, and Welfare is hereby redesignated the Secretary or official, as appropriate, of Health and Human Services. (b) Reference to Department, Secretary, etc., of Health, Education, and Welfare deemed ref- erence to Department, Secretary, etc., of Health and Human Services Any reference to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, or any other official of the Department of Health, Education, and Wel- fare in any law, rule, regulation, certificate, di- rective, instruction, or other official paper in force on May 4, 1980, shall be deemed to refer and apply to the Department of Health and Human Services or the Secretary of Health and Human Services, respectively, except to the ex- tent such reference is to a function or office transferred to the Secretary or the Department under this chapter. (Pub. L. 96–88, title V, § 509, Oct. 17, 1979, 93 Stat. 695; Pub. L. 107–217, § 6(b), Aug. 21, 2002, 116 Stat. 1304; Pub. L. 108–178, § 2(b)(2), Dec. 15, 2003, 117 Stat. 2640.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION In subsec. (b), ‘‘May 4, 1980’’ substituted for ‘‘the ef- fective date of this chapter’’ pursuant to section 601 of Pub. L. 96–88, set out as an Effective Date note under section 3401 of this title. AMENDMENTS 2003—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 108–178 amended Pub. L. 107–217, § 6(b). See 2002 Amendment note below. 2002—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 107–217, § 6(b), which had re- pealed subsec. (b) of this section, was itself repealed by Pub. L. 108–178 insofar as it related to subsec. (b) of this section, and Pub. L. 108–178 further provided that sub- sec. (b) of this section was revived to read as if Pub. L. 107–217, § 6(b), had not been enacted. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2003 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 108–178 effective Aug. 21, 2002, see section 5 of Pub. L. 108–178, set out as a note under section 5334 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. § 3509. Coordination of programs for handi- capped The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall identify, assess, coordinate, and eliminate conflict, duplication, and inconsistencies among programs significantly affecting handicapped in- dividuals carried out by or under the Depart- ment of Health and Human Services, shall pro- mote efficiency among such programs, and shall seek to coordinate, to the maximum extent fea- sible, such programs with programs signifi- cantly affecting handicapped individuals carried out by or under the Department of Education. (Pub. L. 96–88, title V, § 510, Oct. 17, 1979, 93 Stat. 695.) § 3510. Transitional provisions With the consent of the appropriate depart- ment or agency head concerned, the Secretary is authorized to utilize the services of such offi- cers, employees, and other personnel of the de- partments and agencies from which functions or offices have been transferred to the Secretary or the Department, and funds appropriated to such functions or offices for such period of time as may reasonably be needed to facilitate the or- derly implementation of this chapter. (Pub. L. 96–88, title V, § 511, Oct. 17, 1979, 93 Stat. 695.) CHAPTER 49—ASBESTOS SCHOOL HAZARD DETECTION AND CONTROL Sec. 3601. Congressional statement of findings and pur- poses. 3602. Asbestos Hazards School Safety Task Force. 3603. State plan. 3604. Asbestos hazards detection program. 3605. Asbestos Hazards Control Loan Program. 3606. Standards and safety procedures. 3607. Recovery of costs by United States. 3608. Employee protection. 3609. Retained rights. 3610. Definitions. 3611. Authorization of appropriations. § 3601. Congressional statement of findings and purposes (a) The Congress finds that— (1) exposure to asbestos fibers has been iden- tified over a long period of time and by rep- utable medical and scientific evidence as sig- nificantly increasing the incidence of cancer and other severe or fatal diseases, such as as- bestosis; (2) medical evidence has suggested that chil- dren may be particularly vulnerable to envi- ronmentally induced cancers; (3) medical science has not established any minimum level of exposure to asbestos fibers which is considered to be safe to individuals exposed to the fibers; (4) substantial amounts of asbestos, particu- larly in sprayed form, have been used in school buildings, especially during the period 1946 through 1972; (5) partial surveys in some States have indi- cated that (A) in a number of school buildings materials containing asbestos fibers have be- come damaged or friable, causing asbestos fi- bers to be dislodged into the air, and (B) asbes- tos concentrations far exceeding normal ambi- ent air levels have been found in school build- ings containing such damaged materials; Page 1187 TITLE 20—EDUCATION § 3602 1 See References in Text note below. (6) the presence in school buildings of friable or easily damaged asbestos creates an unwar- ranted hazard to the health of the school chil- dren and school employees who are exposed to such materials; (7) the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as several States, have at- tempted to publicize the potential hazards to school children and employees from exposure to asbestos fibers, but there is no systematic program for identifying hazardous conditions in schools or for remedying those conditions; (8) because there is no Federal health stand- ard regulating the concentration of asbestos fibers in noncommercial workplace environ- ments such as schools, school employees and students may be exposed to hazardous con- centrations of asbestos fibers in the school buildings which they use each day; (9) without an improved program of informa- tion distribution, technical and scientific as- sistance, and financial support, many local educational agencies and States will not be able to mitigate the potential asbestos haz- ards in their schools; and (10) the effective regulation of interstate commerce for the protection of the public health requires the establishment of programs under this chapter to identify and mitigate hazards from exposure to asbestos fibers and materials emitting such fibers. (b) It is the purpose of this chapter to— (1) direct the Secretary of Education to es- tablish a task force to assist States and local educational agencies to ascertain the extent of the danger to the health of school children and employees from asbestos materials in schools; (2) require States receiving administrative funds for any applicable program (as defined under section 1221(c)(1)(A) 1 of this title) to prepare a plan describing the manner in which information relating to programs established under this chapter shall be distributed to local educational agencies; (3) provide scientific, technical, and finan- cial assistance to State educational agencies and local educational agencies to enable them to conduct an asbestos detection program to identify asbestos hazards in schools; (4) provide loans to local educational agen- cies for the mitigation of asbestos hazards which constitute an imminent hazard to the health and safety of school children and em- ployees; and (5) assure that no employee of any local edu- cational agency suffers any disciplinary action as a result of calling attention to potential as- bestos hazards which may exist in schools. (Pub. L. 96–270, § 2, June 14, 1980, 94 Stat. 487.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT Section 1221 of this title, referred to in subsec. (b)(2), was amended generally by Pub. L. 103–382, title II, § 211, Oct. 20, 1994, 108 Stat. 3912, and, as so amended, no longer contains a subsec. (c)(1)(A). However, the term ‘‘applicable program’’ is defined in subsec. (c)(1) of that section. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries SHORT TITLE Pub. L. 96–270, § 1, June 14, 1980, 94 Stat. 487, provided that: ‘‘This Act [enacting this chapter and amending section 1411 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Asbestos School Hazard Detection and Control Act of 1980’.’’ § 3602. Asbestos Hazards School Safety Task Force (a) Establishment; composition; membership; chairman; appointment; vacancies (1) There is established a task force to be known as the Asbestos Hazards School Safety Task Force (hereinafter in this chapter referred to as ‘‘Task Force’’). The Task Force shall be composed of ten members, who shall be ap- pointed by the Secretary within 30 days after June 14, 1980, as follows: (A) One representative of the Department of Education, recommended by the Secretary of Education. (B) One representative of the Department of Health and Human Services. (C) One representative of the National Can- cer Institute. (D) One representative of the Environmental Protection Agency, recommended by the Ad- ministrator of such agency. (E) One representative of the National Insti- tute of Environmental Health Sciences. (F) One representative of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, rec- ommended by the Secretary of Labor. (G) Four representatives from among organi- zations concerned with education and health. Members of the Task Force shall be individuals who have knowledge of the medical problems as- sociated with exposure to asbestos, or individ- uals who are familiar with procedures for the following activities: the containment or removal of asbestos from buildings; the replacement of asbestos materials removed from school build- ings with other appropriate building materials; and the restoration of such buildings to condi- tions comparable to those existing before such containment or removal was carried out. (2) The Secretary shall designate a chairman of the Task Force from among its members. (3) Members shall be appointed for the life of the Task Force. Any vacancy in the Task Force shall be filled in the same manner in which the original appointment was made. (b) Meetings; quorum; hearings (1) The Task Force shall meet, no later than 30 days after the appointment of its members, at the call of the chairman of the Task Force. (2) Five members of the Task Force shall con- stitute a quorum for purposes of conducting the business of the Task Force, but a lesser number may hold hearings. (c) Compensation; travel expenses (1) Members of the Task Force who are not full-time officers or employees of the Federal Government shall receive compensation at a rate determined by the Secretary, but not to ex-