A bill to clarify the effect of State statutes of repose on the required commencement date for actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.

Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) to preempt a state statute of repose for actions brought under state law for personal injury or property damages caused from or contributed to by exposure to any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant, if the state statute provides a commencement date that is earlier than the federally required commencement date. (Currently, CERCLA preempts state statutes of limitations, which limit the amount of time a lawsuit can commence from the time the contamination is discovered. The Supreme Court ruled in CTS Corp. v. Waldburger that North Carolina's statute of repose was not preempted by CERCLA. That statute of repose limits the amount of time a lawsuit can commence to 10 years from the defendant's last action, regardless of when the contamination is discovered.)

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2542 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2542

   To clarify the effect of State statutes of repose on the required 
  commencement date for actions under the Comprehensive Environmental 
           Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 26, 2014

  Mrs. Hagan introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To clarify the effect of State statutes of repose on the required 
  commencement date for actions under the Comprehensive Environmental 
           Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. ACTIONS UNDER STATE LAW FOR DAMAGES FROM EXPOSURE TO 
              HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES.

    Section 309 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9658) is amended--
            (1) in the subsection heading of subsection (a), by 
        inserting ``and Repose'' after ``Statutes of Limitations''; and
            (2) by inserting ``or repose'' after ``limitations'' each 
        of the other places it appears.
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