[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 9]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1956.2]

[Page 145-146]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
CHAPTER XVII--OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT 
                          OF LABOR (CONTINUED)
 
PART 1956_STATE PLANS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND ENFORCEMENT OF STATE 
 
                            Subpart A_General
 
Sec. 1956.2  General policies.

    (a) Policy. The Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety 
and Health (hereinafter referred to as the Assistant Secretary) will 
approve a State plan which provides an occupational safety and health 
program for the protection of State and local government employees 
(hereinafter State and local government employees are referred to as 
public employees) that in his judgment meets or will meet the criteria 
set forth in Sec. 1956.10. Included among these criteria is the 
requirement that the State plan for public employees (hereinafter such a 
plan will be referred to as the plan) provides for the development and 
enforcement of standards relating to hazards in employment covered by 
the plan which are or will be at least as effective in providing safe 
and healthful employment and places of employment for public employees 
as standards promulgated and enforced under section 6 of the Act. In 
determining whether a plan satisfies the requirement of effectiveness, 
the Assistant Secretary will measure the plan against the indices of 
effectiveness, set forth in Sec. 1956.11.
    (b) Developmental plan. (1) A State plan for an occupational safety 
and health program for public employees may be approved although, upon 
submission, it does ot fully meet the criteria set forth in Sec. 
1956.10, if it includes satisfactory assurances by the State that it 
will take the necessary steps to bring the program into conformity with 
these criteria within the 3-year period immediately following the 
commencement of the plan's operation. In such a case, the plan shall 
include the specific actions the State proposes to take, and a time 
schedule for their accomplishment which is not to exceed 3 years, at the 
end of which the plan will meet the criteria in Sec. 1956.10. A 
developmental plan shall include the dates within which intermediate and 
final action will be accomplished. Although administrative actions, such 
as stages for application of standards and enforcement, related 
staffing, development of regulations may be developmental, to be 
considered for approval, a State plan for public employees must contain 
at time of plan approval basic State legislative and/or executive 
authority under which these actions will be taken. If necessary program 
changes

[[Page 146]]

require further implementing executive action by the Governor or 
supplementary legislative action by the State, a copy of the appropriate 
order, or the bill or a draft of legislation that will be or has been 
proposed for enactment shall be submitted, accompanied by:
    (i) A statement of the Governor's support of the legislation or 
order and
    (ii) A statement of legal opinion that the proposed legislation or 
executive action will meet the requirements of the Act and this part in 
a manner consistent with the State's constitution and laws.
    (2) On the basis of the State's submission, the Assistant Secretary 
will approve the plan if he finds that there is a reasonable expectation 
that the plan for public employees will meet the criteria in Sec. 
1956.10 within the indicated 3 year period. In such a case, the 
Assistant Secretary shall not make a determination that a State is fully 
applying the criteria in Sec. 1956.10 until the State has completed all 
the developmental steps specified in the plan which are designed to make 
it at least as effective as the Federal program for the private sector, 
and the Assistant Secretary has had at least 1 year to evaluate the plan 
on the basis of actual operations following the completion of all 
developmental steps. If at the end of 3 years from the date of 
commencement of the plan's operation, the State is found by the 
Assistant Secretary, after affording the State notice and an opportunity 
for a hearing, not to have substantially completed the developmental 
steps of the plan, he shall withdraw the approval of the plan.
    (3) Where a State plan approved under part 1902 of this chapter is 
discontinued, except for its public employee component, or becomes 
approved after approval of a plan under this part, the developmental 
period applicable to the public employee component of the earlier plan 
will be controlling with regard to any such public employee coverage. 
For good cause, a State may demonstrate that an additional period of 
time is required to make adjustments on account of the transfer from one 
type of plan to another.
    (c) Scope of a State plan for public employees. (1) A State plan for 
public employees must provide for the coverage of both State and local 
government employees to the full extent permitted by the State laws and 
constitution. The qualification ``to the extent permitted by its law'' 
means only that where a State may not constitutionally regulate 
occupational safety and health conditions in certain political 
subdivisions, the plan may exclude such political subdivision employees 
from coverage.
    (2) The State shall not exclude any occupational, industrial, or 
hazard grouping from coverage under its plan unless the Assistant 
Secretary finds that the State has shown there is no necessity for such 
coverage.