Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

18. Department of Labor and Related Agencies · Notable · Needs Congress

Exempt small first-time non-willful violators from OSHA fines

Partially done

594 18. Department of Labor and Related Agencies

“Congress (and DOL, in its enforcement discretion) should exempt small business, first-time, non-willful violators from fines issued by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.”

What has happened

  1. Partially done

    OSHA cut penalties for exactly the class the Quote names, by enforcement discretion rather than exemption. The Chapter 6 update to its Field Operations Manual (CPL 02-00-164, signed 2025-07-24 and effective 2025-07-14, superseding the Chapter 6 issued 2020-04-14) lists among its significant changes: the history penalty reduction "[e]xpanded … from 10 percent to 20 percent"; eligibility for that reduction "[e]xpanded … to include employers who have been inspected in the last five years and were issued only other-than-serious violations" and "to include employers who have never been inspected" — the first-time violator; and an "[i]ncreased … size penalty reduction available to certain small employers for both serious and serious willful violations" — the small business. It also widens the Quick-Fix reduction, allowing up to fifteen days for abatement of more complex conditions where an employer prevents exposure meanwhile. `partial` and not `done`: a larger reduction is not an exemption, small first-time non-willful violators are still fined, and the Quote's primary addressee is Congress, where no bill of the 119th Congress exempts them. The chapter's own reduction tables could not be read — the PDF the directive page links, `osha.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement/directives/CPL_02-00-164.pdf`, answers 404 up the whole header ladder — so this rests on the directive page's own abstract of what the chapter changed.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

  • Read 2026-09-06 (read-queue ticket 07). The queue named osha.gov/enforcement/directives/cpl-02-00-164-1, which does not open. The live page is osha.gov/enforcement/directives/cpl-02-00-164: it carries the full abstract for all three Chapter updates issued under that directive number (Chapter 6 penalties, effective 2025-07-14; Chapter 10 agriculture and maritime, effective 2026-02-09; Chapter 17 preemption, effective 2023-01-23), each with its signature date, cancellations and “Significant Changes” list. That is where the penalty-reduction changes are set out, and it is the Evidence for the event.
  • The chapter text itself is still unreachable: /sites/default/files/enforcement/directives/CPL_02-00-164.pdf and the plausible per-chapter variants all 404 to the full header set. So the magnitudes in the size-of-business and gravity tables were not read, only the changes OSHA lists. The note says so.
  • Leveling: this is partial and not attempted. A directive with an effective date that has passed is not a proposal — the reductions are in force in every area office — so it is “a mechanism in place” under §3, and it is not done because a reduction is not an exemption and the Quote’s first addressee is Congress.
  • The FY2027 President’s Budget states the enforcement philosophy the Quote wants — the Budget “emphasizes outreach, education, and assistance—rather than harsh penalties—for employers and workers trying to comply” — but proposes no exemption and cuts worker-protection agencies by $234 million instead. Recorded here rather than as an event: a statement of emphasis is not the exemption the Quote asks for.
  • Negative search: chapter log, Cluster negative search — the OSHA asks (#1623, #1636, #1640, #1700).
Action
eliminate
Object
OSHA fines on small first-time violators
ID
1636