Bill strengthens mine safety rules and protects miners from retaliation.
S. 5391 — Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act of 2026 · Filed by Tim Kaine (D-VA) · Introduced Sep 14, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill creates independent panels to look into major mining accidents. It gives the Secretary of Labor more power to check mines. It increases fines for breaking safety rules. Miners who report safety problems are protected from retaliation. Miners get paid leave when mines close for safety rule breaks. Operators with a pattern of violations must hire more skilled miners.
Who it affects
Miners gain protection from retaliation when they report safety problems. They get paid leave if their mine closes for rule breaks. Mine operators face higher fines and stricter rules. Operators with repeated violations must keep more skilled miners on staff.
One thing to notice
The bill creates a new process to look into major mining accidents. This process is separate from the normal criminal process.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Sep 14, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 14, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- retaliation — punishing someone for reporting a problem or speaking up
- pattern of violations — a record of breaking safety rules multiple times
- Secretary of Labor — the federal official in charge of worker safety and job rules
- fines — money a person or company must pay for breaking a rule
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (50,094 characters) on Oct 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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