The legislation, called the Mine Safety and Health Act of 2010 or HR 5663, is intended to provide tougher means to ensure safety-deficient mining operators improve conditions.

It also would allow for work empowerment to protest against known safety issues, and provide more tools to the Department of Labor.

“We see the consequences of mine operators that game the system in order to push production. Safety is compromised and miners die,” US Representative George Miller said.

Miller is chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and the driving force behind the proposal.

“Too many families have suffered a great loss recently as the result of callous mine operators, ineffective protections and outdated laws,” he said.

“It is time to provide effective protections to ensure that every miner is able to return home safely to their families at the end of their shift [and] Congress has an obligation to make sure that is the case.”

The committee listened to testimony in May from miners as well as the families of those who died in the UBB blast.

The office said those statements included concerns of miner protection shortcomings, and threats or intimidation of those who brought concerns to mine management.

“In this year when so many miners and others have lost their lives in workplace accidents, it is more important than ever to extend protections to those brave miners and workers who want to speak out about unsafe conditions,” Workforce Protections subcommittee chair representative Lynn Woolsey said.

“This bill will save lives in a number of ways, but none more important than by strengthening whistleblower and other worker protection provisions.”

The UBB investigation also put a spotlight on flaws in oversight by the US Mine Safety and Health Administration that undermine its abilities to enforce tougher sanctions against hazardous operations, the committee said.

“The bill would revamp the criteria for ‘pattern of violations’ sanctions to ensure that dangerous mine operations fix chronic problems.

“The [agency] would have authority to close down the mine once a pattern of violations status is triggered, and in order to reopen, mine operators have to comply with a remediation plan and be subject to more mine inspections and additional reporting requirements.”

Another reform in the new legislation would be to ensure irresponsible operators are held accountable for conditions.

If the proposal is passed, the maximum criminal and civil penalties would be increased and associated fines would be due in a timely manner.

Federal pattern of violations sanctions would be overhauled and new protections would be put into place for workers who wanted to speak out about unsafe conditions.

Those portions of the bill would also guarantee that workers would not lose pay when a mine is closed for a safety-related issue.

“The bill would provide underground coal miners with protections from dismissal unless the employer has just cause,” according to the House committee.

“In addition, miners would receive protections allowing them to speak freely during investigations.”

Increased rock dusting would also be mandated under the Mine Safety and Health Act of 2010, as would communication between shifts of pre-shift examination results.

A significant issue as of late, the accountability of MHSA will be addressed through a legislative outline that will require an independent investigation of serious mining incidents.

Mine personnel will be required to be well qualified and to ensure inspections are well-targeted as well as comprehensive.

A hearing will be held on the bill July 13. Feedback to the government’s move, however, has already begun.

US Department of Labor secretary Hilda Solis called HR 5663 “an historic step” for bolstering mine safety laws.

“There is a tremendous need for swift action on this legislation,” Solis said.

“We cannot and must not take safety for granted. Mine operators must prioritize worker safety, and this bill will compel them to so that every miner can return home safe after his or her shift.”

Solis said the DOL and MSHA had worked in tandem with Congressman Miller to compile the bill’s provisions.

“We fully endorse the efforts to strengthen mine safety and health laws because, ultimately, we all share the goal of safer workplaces for our nation’s workers.”

National Mining Association spokesperson Carol Raulston told the Associated Press late last week that adjusting the pattern of violation system in particular was “a good step".

"It needs to be more transparent and consider more than just citations," she said, adding that the final result should be a “workable system for operators”

"We are reviewing the proposed legislation in that light."

Also speaking out in support was the United Mine Workers of America.

“This legislation takes a comprehensive approach to improving mine safety by making it far more difficult for rogue operators to evade the law and their responsibility to provide a safe workplace for their employees," union international president Cecil Roberts said.

"In the wake of the Upper Big Branch disaster, enactment of these reforms is urgently needed."