frank r. lautenberg chemical safety for the 21st century act frank r. lautenberg chemical safety for the 21st century act the frank r. lautenberg chemical safety for the 21st century act is a law passed by the 114th united states congress and signed into law by us president barack obama in 2016. administered by the united states environmental protection agency, which regulates the introduction of new or already existing chemicals, the act amends and updates the toxic substances control act (tsca) that went into force in 1976. frank r. lautenberg chemical safety for the 21st century actother short titlestsca modernization act of 2015rural healthcare connectivity act of 2016long titlean act to modernize the toxic substances control act, and for other purposes.nicknameschemical safety improvement act of 2016enacted bythe 114th united states congresseffectivedecember 18, 2016citationspublic law114-182statutes at large130 stat. 448legislative historyintroduced in the house as h.r. 2576 by john shimkus (r–il) on may 26, 2015committee consideration by house energy and commercepassed the house on june 23, 2015 (398-1 roll call vote 378, via clerk.house.gov)passed the senate on december 17, 2015 (passed voice vote) with amendmenthouse agreed to senate amendment on may 24, 2016 (403-12 roll call vote 238, via clerk.house.gov) with further amendmentsenate agreed to house amendment on june 7, 2016 (agreed voice vote)signed into law by president barack obama on june 22, 2016 history senators david vitter and frank lautenberg introduced a tsca reform bill as s. 1009 on may 22, 2013, co-sponsored by a number of other senators at the united states house energy subcommittee on environment and economy. after senator lautenberg died, senator tom udall sponsored senate bill 697 in 2015, to amend and re-authorize tsca, called the frank r. lautenberg chemical safety for the 21st century act. the house then passed h.r.2576, the tsca modernization act of 2015, and was referred to the senate. congress passed a reconciled version of the reform bill with bipartisan support in june 2016. on wednesday, june 22, 2016, president barack obama signed the bill into law. lawmakers and industry groups were largely supportive of the new law, while environmental advocates offered more mixed reactions. changes to tsca tsca as reformed by the frank r. lautenberg chemical safety for the 21st century acttsca pre-reform mandatory duty on epa to evaluate existing chemicals with clear and enforceable deadlinesno duty to review, no deadlines for action chemicals assessed against a risk-based safety standardrisk-benefit balancing standard unreasonable risks identified in the risk evaluation must be eliminatedsignificant risks might not be addressed due to cost/benefit balancing and no mandate to act expanded authority to more quickly require development of chemical information when neededtesting on existing chemicals required lengthy rulemaking