No doubt dead on arrival in the Republican House, the Obama budget request nonetheless includes healthy increases for hiring Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) investigators.
The Feb. 9 budget request envisions an 8 percent increase for OSHA, for a total budget of $595 million for Fiscal Year 2017. On the MSHA front, it urges a $21 million increase to $397.3 million.
OSHA would use the extra funds to hire 60 enforcement agents and an additional 22 agents for its whistleblower protection program. OSHA also proposes to conduct 35,352 inspections in 2017, an increase of 1.700 from the expected number in 2016.
MSHA’s extra dough would be used for increased rulemaking and inspection activity.
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