emergency rules could have remained in effect for 15 months. Final rules required legislative approval, which was likely to take place in the 2007 session. Federal legislation S.2231 On February 1, 2006, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) introduced a bill to direct the Secretary of Labor to prescribe additional coal mine safety standards and require additional penalties for habitual violators. The bills was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Initial cosponsors were Democrats Richard Durbin (IL), Tom Harkin (IA), Ted Kennedy (MA), Barack Obama (IL) and Jay Rockefeller (WV). The status of the bill can be tracked on Congress.gov, the Library of Congress's legislative information system. Senator Byrd outlined some of the provisions of the bill on his Senate website. Statements made by Senators Byrd, Rockefeller, Reid and Kennedy regarding the introduction of this bill were published in the 2006 Congressional Record, pages S447 to S452. The bill would mandate equipment to communicate with miners, locate miners, and provide sufficient caches of air. Rescue teams must be staffed and on site. Operators must notify the MSHA immediately when there is an accident. Any coal operator who fails to do so will be subject to a $100,000 fine, and/or 12 to 15 years imprisonment The bill would mandate a rapid notification and response system. The bill would create a new mandatory minimum penalty of $10,000 for coal operators that show “negligence or reckless disregard” for the safety standards of the Mine Act. The bill would nullify an MSHA rule issued in 2004 that authorizes the use of belt entries for ventilation, which may have caused fire in another accident at Alma. The bill would create a science and technology transfer office in MSHA to pull research and development ideas from other federal agencies for use in the mines. The bill would create an ombudsman in the Labor Department’s Inspector General office for miners to report safety violations. Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training (MHST) In the first set of rules, the state Office of MHST will require caches of air supplies to give each miner at least 16 additional devices. Mines with coal seams taller than four feet (1.2 m) must have caches every in each working section. In smaller mines, there must be caches every . Operators must submit plans for cache locations within 30 days for review and suggestions for change; however there is no