OSHA to receive small increase in FY 2020 budget

Changes to the proposed fiscal year 2020 budget would provide the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration with a modest budget increase but nowhere near the amount proposed earlier in the year by Democrats in the House.

The changes were released Monday by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Rules based on the U.S. Senate’s Amendment to H.R. 1865 in November.  

The budget proposes to allocate OSHA $581.8 million for FY 2020, a small increase from the $557.2 the agency received in the FY 2019 budget. In April, the House appropriations committee for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education proposed a budget of $660.9 million for OSHA.

The budget in H.R. 1865 also earmarks at least $3.5 million of the agency’s budget for voluntary protection program and at least $4.5 million for Susan Harwood grants.

The lawmakers set aside $379.8 million for the Mine Safety and Health Administration, of which $2 million is earmarked for mine rescue and recovery activities and at last $10 million for state assistance grants.