[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 17 (Monday, April 28, 1997)]
[Pages 563-566]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Executive Order 13045--Protection of Children From Environmental Health
Risks and Safety Risks
April 21, 1997
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as
follows:
Section 1. Policy.
1-101. A growing body of scientific knowledge demonstrates that
children may suffer disproportionately from environmental health risks
and safety risks. These risks arise because: children's neurological
immuno- logical, digestive, and other bodily systems are still
developing; children eat more food, drink more fluids, and breathe more
air in proportion to their body weight than adults; children's size and
weight may diminish their protection from standard safety features; and
children's behavior patterns may make them more susceptible to accidents
because they are less able to protect themselves. Therefore, to the
extent permitted by law and appropriate, and consistent with the
agency's mission, each Federal agency:
(a) shall make it a high priority to identify and assess
environmental health risks
[[Page 564]]
and safety risks that may disproportionately affect
children; and
(b) shall ensure that its policies, programs, activities, and
standards address disproportionate risks to children that
result from environmental health risks or safety risks.
1-102. Each independent regulatory agency is encouraged to
participate in the implementation of this order and comply with its
provisions.
Sec. 2. Definitions. The following definitions shall apply to this
order.
2-201. ``Federal agency'' means any authority of the United States
that is an agency under 44 U.S.C. 3502(1) other than those considered to
be independent regulatory agencies under 44 U.S.C. 3502(5). For purposes
of this order, ``military departments,'' as defined in 5 U.S.C. 102, are
covered under the auspices of the Department of Defense.
2-202. ``Covered regulatory action'' means any substantive action in
a rulemaking, initiated after the date of this order or for which a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is published 1 year after the date of this
order, that is likely to result in a rule that may:
(a) be ``economically significant'' under Executive Order 12866
(a rulemaking that has an annual effect on the economy of
$100 million or more or would adversely affect in a material
way the economy, a sector of the economy, productivity,
competition, jobs, the environment, public health or safety,
or State, local, or tribal governments or communities); and
(b) concern an environmental health risk or safety risk that an
agency has reason to believe may disproportionately affect
children.
2-203. ``Environmental health risks and safety risks'' mean risks to
health or to safety that are attributable to products or substances that
the child is likely to come in contact with or ingest (such as the air
we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink or use for recreation,
the soil we live on, and the products we use or are exposed to).
Sec. 3. Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to
Children.
3-301. There is hereby established the Task Force on Environmental
Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children (``Task Force'').
3-302. The Task Force will report to the President in consultation
with the Domestic Policy Council, the National Science and Technology
Council, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB).
3-303. Membership. The Task Force shall be composed of the:
(a) Secretary of Health and Human Services, who shall serve as a
Co-Chair of the Council;
(b) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, who
shall serve as a Co-Chair of the Council;
(c) Secretary of Education;
(d) Secretary of Labor;
(e) Attorney General;
(f) Secretary of Energy;
(g) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;
(h) Secretary of Agriculture;
(i) Secretary of Transportation;
(j) Director of the Office of Management and Budget;
(k) Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality;
(l) Chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission;
(m) Assistant to the President for Economic Policy;
(n) Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy;
(o) Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of
Science and Technology Policy;
(p) Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers; and
(q) Such other officials of executive departments and agencies
as the President may, from time to time, designate.
Members of the Task Force may delegate their responsibilities under
this order to subordinates.
3-304. Functions. The Task Force shall recommend to the President
Federal strategies for children's environmental health and safety,
within the limits of the Administration's budget, to include the
following elements:
[[Page 565]]
(a) statements of principles, general policy, and targeted
annual priorities to guide the Federal approach to achieving
the goals of this order;
(b) a coordinated research agenda for the Federal Government,
including steps to implement the review of research
databases described in section 4 of this order;
(c) recommendations for appropriate partnerships among Federal,
State, local, and tribal governments and the private,
academic, and nonprofit sectors;
(d) proposals to enhance public outreach and communication to
assist families in evaluating risks to children and in
making informed consumer choices;
(e) an identification of high-priority initiatives that the
Federal Government has undertaken or will undertake in
advancing protection of children's environmental health and
safety; and
(f) a statement regarding the desirability of new legislation to
fulfill or promote the purposes of this order.
3-305. The Task Force shall prepare a biennial report on research,
data, or other information that would enhance our ability to understand,
analyze, and respond to environmental health risks and safety risks to
children. For purposes of this report, cabinet agencies and other
agencies identified by the Task Force shall identify and specifically
describe for the Task Force key data needs related to environmental
health risks and safety risks to children that have arisen in the course
of the agency's programs and activities. The Task Force shall
incorporate agency submissions into its report and ensure that this
report is publicly available and widely disseminated. The Office of
Science and Technology Policy and the National Science and Technology
Council shall ensure that this report is fully considered in
establishing research priorities.
3-306. The Task Force shall exist for a period of 4 years from the
first meeting. At least 6 months prior to the expiration of that period,
the member agencies shall assess the need for continuation of the Task
Force or its functions, and make appropriate recommendations to the
President.
Sec. 4. Research Coordination and Integration.
4-401. Within 6 months of the date of this order, the Task Force
shall develop or direct to be developed a review of existing and planned
data resources and a proposed plan for ensuring that researchers and
Federal research agencies have access to information on all research
conducted or funded by the Federal Government that is related to adverse
health risks in children resulting from exposure to environmental health
risks or safety risks. The National Science and Technology Council shall
review the plan.
4-402. The plan shall promote the sharing of information on academic
and private research. It shall include recommendations to encourage that
such data, to the extent permitted by law, is available to the public,
the scientific and academic communities, and all Federal agencies.
Sec. 5. Agency Environmental Health Risk or Safety Risk Regulations.
5-501. For each covered regulatory action submitted to OMB's Office
of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review pursuant to
Executive Order 12866, the issuing agency shall provide to OIRA the
following information developed as part of the agency's decisionmaking
process, unless prohibited by law:
(a) an evaluation of the environmental health or safety effects
of the planned regulation on children; and
(b) an explanation of why the planned regulation is preferable
to other potentially effective and reasonably feasible
alternatives considered by the agency.
5-502. In emergency situations, or when an agency is obligated by
law to act more quickly than normal review procedures allow, the agency
shall comply with the provisions of this section to the extent
practicable. For those covered regulatory actions that are governed by a
court-imposed or statutory deadline, the agency shall, to the extent
practicable, schedule any rulemaking proceedings so as to permit
sufficient time for completing the analysis required by this section.
5-503. The analysis required by this section may be included as part
of any other required analysis, and shall be made part of
[[Page 566]]
the administrative record for the covered regulatory action or otherwise
made available to the public, to the extent permitted by law.
Sec. 6. Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.
6-601. The Director of the OMB (``Director'') shall convene an
Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics (``Forum''), which will
include representatives from the appropriate Federal statistics and
research agencies. The Forum shall produce an annual compendium
(``Report'') of the most important indicators of the well-being of the
Nation's children.
6-602. The Forum shall determine the indicators to be included in
each Report and identify the sources of data to be used for each
indicator. The Forum shall provide an ongoing review of Federal
collection and dissemination of data on children and families, and shall
make recommendations to improve the coverage and coordination of data
collection and to reduce duplication and overlap.
6-603. The Report shall be published by the Forum in collaboration
with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The
Forum shall present the first annual Report to the President, through
the Director, by July 31, 1997. The Report shall be submitted annually
thereafter, using the most recently available data.
Sec. 7. General Provisions.
7-701. This order is intended only for internal management of the
executive branch. This order is not intended, and should not be
construed to create, any right, benefit, or trust responsibility,
substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party
against the United States, its agencies, its officers, or its employees.
This order shall not be construed to create any right to judicial review
involving the compliance or noncompliance with this order by the United
States, its agencies, its officers, or any other person.
7-702. Executive Order 12606 of September 2, 1987 is revoked.
William J. Clinton
The White House,
April 21, 1997.
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:49 a.m., April 22,
1997]
Note: This Executive order was published in the Federal Register on
April 23.