The Honorable Sherwood Boehlert
Chairman, Committee on Science
Dear Mr. Chairman:
This is to present the views of the Administration on H.R.
4687, the National Construction Safety Team Act. The bill would authorize the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to establish investigative teams
to respond to major building failure events.
The teams would investigate the performance of buildings in and
following such events and the probable technical cause of the building failures. Based on its technical findings, NIST would recommend
improvements to standards, codes and practices.
NIST would also recommend future research to improve building safety as
well as evacuation and emergency response procedures. To support these
investigations, the bill would provide NIST with investigatory powers,
including subpoena power. The bill would
also extend those powers to NIST for its proposed investigation into the
collapse of buildings at the
Among Federal laboratories, NIST is uniquely qualified to
conduct comprehensive building failure investigations. NIST’s Building and
Fire Research Laboratory is the foremost in its field,
and through the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, NIST is the
principal agency involved in R&D to improve building codes and standards
for structures and lifelines. NIST has
extensive disaster investigation experience and expertise – including investigations following
structural or construction failures, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, and
tornadoes. Some of the most prominent of
these were the 1981 collapse of a walkway in the Kansas City Hyatt Regency
Hotel, the 1986 Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in
NIST is currently proposing to undertake a building and fire
safety investigation into the collapse of several of the buildings at the
The Administration supports the NIST response plan and has requested $16 million as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s FY 2002 supplemental budget request to support the NIST investigation. The President’s FY 2003 budget request to Congress also requests an increase of $2 million in base funding to support other elements of the NIST response plan. NIST’s Building and Fire Research Laboratory has already redirected about $2 million of its existing base funds to support the response plan.
The
Administration supports the intent of H.R. 4687. To this end, the Administration supports
vesting NIST with subpoena power to complete full and thorough investigations
of major structural failures, provided however that enforcement power rests, as
is typical, with the Department of Justice.
At the same time, the Administration is concerned that the historic role
of NIST as a technological and standard-setting body not be materially altered
by this legislation. NIST has operated
effectively in the past to investigate building and structural failures, and we
wish to work closely with the Congress to ensure that NIST not be tasked in
this bill with inappropriate regulatory responsibilities. The Administration will seek improvements in the
bill to address liability and other issues that might otherwise discourage
private sector participation on investigatory teams, and to ensure that NIST is
not transformed into a regulatory or quasi-regulatory agency. In addition, the Administration requests that
the authorization levels conform to the
President’s FY 2003 budget.
Thank you for the opportunity to present our views. The Office of Management and Budget has advised us that, from the standpoint of the Administration’s program, there is no objection to submission of this letter.
Sincerely,
Theodore W. Kassinger
cc: The Honorable Ralph M. Hall
Ranking Minority Member