Senate budget bill features modest increases for safety agencies in FY 2025

Washington — Small budget increases are in store for OSHA, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and NIOSH in fiscal year 2025, under legislation recently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The appropriations bill (S. 4942) allocates around $637.3 million for OSHA – 0.8% above current funding. In its budget proposal released in March, the White House requests around $655.5 million for the agency – 3.7% above its current budget of $632.3 million. The House’s budget bill, released in June, proposes an 11.8% decrease, allocating $557.8 million for the agency. FY 2025 begins Oct. 1.

At press time, the House bill was still under consideration by the full chamber.

The Senate’s budget report features requests for OSHA, including one adopted during the committee markup before the vote. Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) requested that, for its proposed updates to the emergency response standard, the agency “conduct listening sessions or other stakeholder engagement to fully understand the impact on various emergency response and firefighter stakeholders, including whether or not it is economically feasible for volunteers to comply with the proposed regulation, prior to issuing any final rule.”

OSHA has scheduled a public hearing on the proposed rule for Nov. 12.

The committee also requests that OSHA provide, within 180 days after the budget bill is signed into law, an update on its efforts to develop a standard aimed at preventing workplace violence in the health care and social assistance industries.

Additionally, the report requests a briefing on OSHA and NIOSH efforts to protect workers from hazardous outdoor air, including wildfire smoke, within 90 days after enactment.

The proposed and current budget numbers for MSHA:
Senate budget bill: $392.8 million (1.3% increase)
FY 2024 budget: $387.8 million
White House request: $406.5 million (4.8% increase)
House budget bill: $367.8 million (5.2% decrease)

For NIOSH:
Senate budget bill: $364 million (0.3% increase)
FY 2024 budget: $362.8 million
White House request: $363.2 million (0.1% increase)
House budget bill: $263.7 million (27.3% decrease)

On July 25, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill (S. 4802) that would allocate around $14.6 million for the Chemical Safety Board in FY 2025 – 1.4% above the agency’s $14.4 current budget. The White House has requested $17.4 million for the agency (an increase of 20.8%), while the House bill allocates $13.8 million (a decrease of 4.2%).