USA: Congressional deal allows Federal agencies to raise monetary penalties by an amount pegged to the Consumer Price Index

The U.S. Congress has approved a deal that authorizes most federal agencies to raise monetary penalties by an amount pegged to the Consumer Price Index. Since the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), for example, last raised fines in 1990 and because it has never before been permitted to make inflation-adjusted penalty increases, the amount of the increase in OSHA fines could be as high as 82 percent. In addition, Congress is allowing OSHA fines to be automatically adjusted for inflation going forward.