This bill would close the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry one year after it becomes law. Most of the agency’s work would end, but the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must move the national registries that track serious diseases and people exposed to toxic substances to another HHS office, and manage the wind-down of the agency’s affairs during that year. The bill also updates several environmental and public health laws to remove or shift references to the agency, including placing certain programs within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In short, ATSDR would be shut down, while key tracking registries and related duties continue under HHS.

Key points

• Who is affected: People exposed to hazardous substances, communities near contaminated sites, public health workers, and HHS agencies and staff.
• What changes: ATSDR closes; HHS keeps the national disease and toxic exposure registries; HHS oversees the wind-down; various laws are updated to reflect the change and move duties to HHS/CDC .
• When: The agency would be abolished one year after enactment; the registry authority is transferred before that date; the legal updates take effect when the agency is abolished .