Financial

OSHA-approved state plans are funded with both state and federal monies. This page is designed to assist John Q. Taxpayer in understanding how money is spent on the KYOSH program — from where the money comes and to where it goes.

The 23(g) Grant

The United States OSH Act of 1970 (full text) established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as the agency to oversee the protection of America's workforce.

In Section 23 of the OSH Act, authorization was given by Congress to OSHA for the giving of "Grants to the States" who operate their own state OSH agencies. The continual authorization for giving grants "to assist them in administering and enforcing" their OSH programs is located in subsection (g) of that same section. The shorthand reference to this type of grant is simply "23(g) grant."

One of the key words of import within section 23 is enforcement. Except for a handful of state programs, the 23(g) grant is to be appropriated solely to enforcement/compliance activities. The other arm of each state OSH program consists of consultative services, which deal with supplying education and training on the various OSH topics. The funding for consultative services is authorized under subsection 21(d) of the OSH Act. It should be noted here that the funding provided through subsection 21(d) is for public sector consultative services and not private sector. ←CONFIRM

Kentucky OSH is one of the "handful of state programs" — along with Washington and Puerto Rico — mentioned in the previous paragraph where 23(g) funds are allotted for activities other than enforcement. These programs utilize 23(g) funds for private sector consultative services, which are available to any employer in that state — in addition to the required public sector consultative services.