The House may soon consider four bills amending the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which would effectively consolidate White House control over the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) and provide leniency to employers at the cost of the health and safety of workers. The first, the Occupational Safety and Health Small Business Day in Court Act, would give greater leeway to businesses that fail to file a response to OSHA citations within the 15-day deadline. Under this amendment, an OSHA citation is not final if the employer failed to contest the citation within the given time due to "mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect." Though the bill may ensure all businesses get their day in court, it also allows employers to contest a ruling after it is finalized, potentially clogging the commission with appeals while workplace hazards go on unchecked. The second of the proposed bills would, under the guise of efficiency, add two more board members to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The president would be able to appoint both new members, with one term to expire in 2006 and the other in 2008. The bill also gives the President the ability to increase the length of the term of a member of the board for up to a year. Struck down during markup was a clause that would have allowed a two-person majority for any subcommittee designated by the chairman. As the bill stands, Bush administration appointees will hold two-fifths of the vote in a commission that decides cases by a simple majority. In adding two additional positions both to be filled by the President, this bill gives substantial power to decide OSHA cases to the White House. In a commission that makes decisions through a majority vote, adding members seems an ineffective way to increase efficiency. The bill also requires that those commissioners have legal training, rather than just related training. Thus, healthcare professionals or safety experts who may be able to evaluate the health and safety risks posed by a violation will not be able to hold a seat on the commission. Not only could the White House tighten its grip on OSHRC through the addition of two positions, but a third bill states that OSHRC, and not the Secretary of Labor, should be give deference in interpreting OSHA standards, even though those standards are developed and implemented by the Secretary of Labor, not OSHRC. The legislation overturns a 1991 Supreme Court decision that determined that the Secretary of Labor should be given deference. The fourth bill, the Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice Act, would award attorney's fees to small business employers who challenge OSHA citation and win, regardless of whether the citation was substantially justified. Previous legislation already grants attorney's fees in cases in which the citation is unjustified. Expanding the right to attorney's fees will have a serious chilling effect on OSHA's ability to give citations in borderline cases, leaving violators to go unpunished. Businesses that qualify under the act, those with assets of up to 7 million dollars and up to 100 employees, make up 97.7 percent of private sector businesses and have a substantially higher rate of employee injury than larger businesses.