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Fine amounts for workplace safety violations could soon rise dramatically.

The latest federal budget agreement, signed by President Barack Obama on Nov. 3, includes a provision allowing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to adjust its penalties in accordance with inflation. OSHA was exempted from a 1990 bill requiring federal agencies to keep fines on track with inflation. Its rates haven’t risen since.

OSHA is now free to increase fines by up to 82 percent, meaning the cost of “severe” violations would rise from $70,000 to $125,000. Fines for serious violations could rise from $7,000 to $12,500.

It’s not known exactly how high the rates will rise. The amounts will be set in 2016, according to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal.

The state OSHA office will wait for guidance, according to spokeswoman Lisa Morawski.

鈥淎t some point, once the federal changes have been worked out, we expect to receive guidance from federal OSHA about how to make Oregon OSHA‘s penalty authority comparable,鈥� said Morawski, director of public information for Oregon OSHA. 鈥淭hat may involve some changes to our penalty structure, but it’s too early to know what that would look like.鈥�

Oregon OSHA administers the Oregon Safe Employment Act, passed in 1973. It’s one of 27 state plans approved and monitored by federal OSHA. Almost all private and public-sector employers in Oregon are in Oregon OSHA’s jurisdiction.

When federal OSHA publishes a new rule, Oregon OSHA must adopt those changes or create an Oregon-initiated rule that is as effective as the federal rule, Morawski said.