at the beginning of fiscal year 1982. We are unable to determine at the present time if the downward trend in the contested case rate has stabilized.

Mr. Chairman, I view the mission of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission to be that of making an important contribution to the reduction in the number and severity of job-related injuries, illnesses, and fatailities. As chairman of the Commission, I recognize my responsibility to carry out this mission as effectively as possible.

This concludes my statement. My staff and I are here to answer any questions you may have.

INTRODUCTION OF ASSOCIATES

Mr. ROWLAND. Mr. Chairman, on my left is Larry Hoss, who is the Director of the Office of Finance and Administrative Services and James Meadows, the Executive Director. On my right is Paul Tenney. the Chief Administrative Law Judge and to his right is the Commission's General Counsel, Earl Ohman.

We have submitted our statement and I would like to let that stand and answer your questions at this time.

Senator INOUYE. Would you tell me how you calculate your budgetary needs, based on the level of OSHA's?

Mr. ROWLAND. I don't understand your question.

Senator INOUYE. We have been advised that your budget is based upon the number of inspections carried out by the agency.

Mr. ROWLAND. That's true to a point. The notices of contests that the Commission receives is a result of the OSHA inspection level each fiscal year. An estimate of the number of contests the Commission will receive from those inspections is made, and from that estimated contest rate, other estimates are made in regard to staff resources required and all other estimated associated costs that would be incurred in the operation of the agency. So, our budget considerations are primarily based upon the notice of contest rate. That contest rate had risen to approximately 12.5 percent of OSHA inspections for fiscal year 1980. However, during fiscal year 1981, the contest rate decreased to approximately 6.6 percent of OSHA inspections. The budget request before you for fiscal year 1983 reflects that decrease in caseload.

Senator INOUYE. If appropriations were cut 20 percent for Federal OSHA inspections and 10 percent for State inspections, how much could your budget be cut to reflect reduced workload?

Mr. ROWLAND. I'm not sure that I can answer that, because it depends upon the rate of the contests. We have experienced a very sharp decline in the number of contests filed since October 1980, due to settlement procedures within OSHA. A reduction in OSHA inspections would not necessarily result in a corresponding decrease in Commission workload as it is possible that OSHA might direct their inspection efforts at industries or geographical areas which presently have a high contest rate. This possible action could result in the present contest rate remaining the same or even possibly increasing.

Senator INOUYE. So the new targeting system is not helping your workload at all?

Mr. ROWLAND. The new what, sir?

Senator INOUYE. The new OSHA enforcement targeting system.

Mr. ROWLAND. I'm not sure that we can say what it is doing at this time, because the trend of reduced contests which began in October 1980 was due to a policy change which allowed area directors to settle cases before the notice of contest was filed. What it has done is to reduce our caseload by an enormous number, but it has not reduced our hearings by a substantial amount. It is the simple cases which have been eliminated, rather than the difficult ones.

Senator INOUYE. What impact do you expect the shift of jurisdiction over the sand and gravel mines from the Mine Safety Administration to OSHA will have on your agency's workload?

Mr. ROWLAND. To be frank with you, I do not have any figures on that. We have not made a study of what that is going to do to them. Senator INOUYE. Whatever it is, it is going to be a little more?

Mr. ROWLAND. I think it will be. I will be happy to look into that and to answer that.

Senator INOUYE. I would appreciate that, because that would have to be considered when the committee acts upon the appropriations.

Mr. ROWLAND. I have no figures on just how many inspections or how many contests have been involved in that industry. That's the problem. I would have to get that, I presume, from Mine Safety to get some idea of what that would add.

[The information follows:]

During fiscal year 1980, the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission received 3,261 new cases and received 2,306 new cases during fiscal year 1981. Of these cases approximately 300 to 400 were open-pit cases in fiscal year 1980 and approximately 200 to 300 were open-pit cases in fiscal year 1981. Based upon these numbers, approximately 10 to 13 percent of the total number of cases recieved by the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission would be open-pit cases and I would expect the Commission would receive approximately the same number. I would not expect the new caseload to require an increase in Commission staff resources.

SUBMITTED QUESTIONS

Senator INOUYE. We have a few other questions we would like to submit to you, Mr. Chairman. I hope you can consider them and respond to us, sir.

Mr. ROWLAND. I would be happy to.

Senator INOUYE. Thank you very much.

Mr. ROWLAND. Thank you.

[The following questions were not asked at the hearing but were submitted for response for the record:]

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE

Question. Combining OSHA and Mine Safety Review Commissions-Why couldn't the OSHA and Mine Safety Review Commissions be combined, at least to the extent of sharing administrative costs?

Answer. I do not think that I have sufficient knowledge of the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission or its work to give an informed opinion at this time as to whether or not the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission should be combined.

Question-Caseload-How many cases are currently pending?

Answer. The backlog of cases before the administrative law judges was 910 cases as of January 31, 1982. The backlog of cases before the Commission members was 246 cases as of January 31, 1982.

Question. What is the current processing time for a case filed with the Review Commission under the simplified process? Under the regular process?

Answer. The current processing time for a case filed with the Commission which is processed under the simplified proceeding process is approximately 138 days from receipt of notice of contest. The current processing time for those cases that proceed through the regular process is approximately 223 days for those cases that are disposed of by settlement and approximately 390 days for those cases that are disposed of by a hearing disposition.

Question. How many new cases a year are filed with the Review Commission? Answer. During fiscal year 1980, 7,963 new cases were filed with the Review Commission. During fiscal year 1981, 3,739 new cases were filed with the Commission. Question-Gift statute-Why does the Commission need a gift statute?

Answer. Our need for a gift statute is twofold. One, it would allow the Review Commission to utilize the services of law school interns. The students receive credit and experience, and the Government receives these services at no cost. Two, from time to time, the Review Commission is invited to speak and participate in seminars, workshops, and continuing legal education programs. Our ability to appear at these functions in the future will be hampered due to reduced budgets. However, in the past, many of the institutions conducting these events have offered to incur the OSHRC expenses which we have had to decline due to the fact that the Review Cosmmission does not operate with a gift statute.

A gift statute for the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission to cover these two areas would be appreciated and would also be beneficial to the Government in its efforts to cut costs.

FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW
COMMISSION

STATEMENT OF ROSEMARY M. COLLYER, CHAIRMAN

ACCOMPANIED BY:

RICHARD V. BACKLEY, COMMISSIONER

FRANK F. JESTRAB, COMMISSIONER

A. E. LAWSON, COMMISSIONER

PAUL MERLIN, CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE

SUBCOMMITTEE PROCEDURE

Senator INOUYE. Our next witness is the chairperson of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, Ms. Rosemary Collyer. Welcome. It is about time we had a lady.

Ms. COLLYER. Thank you very much.

PREPARED STATEMENT

Mr. Chairman, in order to save time, I will not at this time present the full statement we have submitted to you.

Senator INOUYE. We have received that statement, and without objection, it will be made a part of the record.

[The statement follows:]

(599)

STATEMENT OF ROSEMARY M. COLLYER

Mr. Chairman, it is a pleasure to appear before you and the Committee to present justification for our fiscal year 1983 budget request in the

amount of $3,686,000.

The budget request is $367,000 more than our fiscal year 1982

appropriation.

This additional funding, I believe, accurately reflects our needs and is based on our projected workload and present experience

with the 1982 appropriation.

Permit me to recap our current situation. The House passed a fiscal year 1982 budget for the Commission in the amount of $4,486,000. The President asked for a reduction of 12%, to $3,947,000.

Without

explanation, this Subcommittee reduced the figure under the third continuing resolution to $3,319,000. At the same time, the pay cap for Federal employees including all our administrative law judges

- was

lifted.

In response to the retroactive effect of the third continuing resolution and to increased payroll costs, we have reduced the size of the agency by almost one-third: we have terminated 22 employees, including three administrative law judges. We are left with a total complement of 52 persons to carry out the entire adjudicatory function of the agency. Because over 70% of our budget is for personnel, we had no alternative means of coming within the constrictions of the 1982 budget. We have also left unfilled seven positions, including General Counsel, Executive Director, Counsel to the Chairman and Librarian. We do not presently have a fifth Commissioner or that Commissioner's staff and to be perfectly frank, we cannot afford one until the beginning of the next fiscal year.

Despite these cuts, we are, under an OMB apportionment, now operating

on a deficiency basis that would result in our running out of money altogether in fiscal '82 in the absence of a Pay Supplemental to cover the unanticipated pay increases.

With a Pay Supplemental, which we now estimate to be $225,000, we would operate in fiscal year 1982 with a total appropriation of $3,544,000. The additional monies between that amount and our requested budget for next year will be used to fund the fifth Commissioner and his or her counsel and secretary. We hope to fill some of our other vital positions