I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3159

To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize appropriations for

fiscal years 1997, 1998, and 1999 for the National Transportation Safety

Board, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 26, 1996

Mr. SHUSTER (for himself, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. LIPINSKI, Ms.

MOLINARI, and Mr. WISE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 1997, 1998, and 1999 for the

National Transportation Safety Board, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Transpor5 tation Safety Board Amendments of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. TERMS OF OFFICE.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1111(d) of title 49, Unit8 ed States Code, is amended by striking the third sentence
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1 and inserting the following: ‘‘The term of office of the

2 Chairman shall be 4 years and the term of Vice Chairman

3 shall be 2 years.’’.

4 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub5 section (a) shall only apply to persons designated as Chair6 man of the National Transportation Safety Board after

7 the date of the enactment of this Act.

8 SEC. 3. FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.

9 Section 1114 of title 49, United States Code, is

10 amended—

11 (1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘(b) and (c)’’

12 and inserting ‘‘(b), (c), and (e)’’; and

13 (2) by adding at the end the following:

14 ‘‘(e) FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

16 provision of law, neither the Board, nor any agency

17 receiving information from the Board, shall disclose

18 records or information relating to its participation in

19 foreign aircraft accident investigations; except

20 that—

21 ‘‘(A) the Board shall release records per22 taining to such an investigation when the coun23 try conducting the investigation issues its final

24 report or 2 years following the date of the acci25 dent, whichever occurs first; and
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1 ‘‘(B) the Board may disclose records and

2 information when authorized to do so by the

3 country conducting the investigation.

4 ‘‘(2) SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS.—Nothing in

5 this subsection shall restrict the Board at any time

6 from referring to foreign accident investigation in7 formation in making safety recommendations.’’.

8 SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION OF IN9 FORMATION.

10 Section 1114(b) of title 49, United States Code, is

11 amended by adding at the end the following:

12 ‘‘(3) PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION

13 OF INFORMATION.—Notwithstanding any other pro14 vision of law, neither the Board, nor any agency re15 ceiving information from the Board, shall disclose

16 voluntarily provided safety-related information if

17 that information is not related to the exercise of the

18 Board’s accident or incident investigation authority

19 under this chapter and if the Board finds that the

20 disclosure of the information would inhibit the vol21 untary provision of that type of information.’’.

22 SEC. 5. TRAINING.

23 Section 1115 of title 49, United States Code, is

24 amended by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘(d) TRAINING OF BOARD EMPLOYEES AND OTH2 ERS.—The Board may conduct training of its employees

3 in those subjects necessary for the proper performance of

4 accident investigation. The Board may also authorize at5 tendance at courses given under this subsection by other

6 governmental personnel, personnel of foreign govern7 ments, and personnel from industry or otherwise who have

8 a requirement for accident investigation training. The

9 Board may require non-Board personnel to reimburse

10 some or all of the training costs, and amounts so reim11 bursed shall be credited to the appropriation of the ‘Na12 tional Transportation Safety Board, Salaries and Ex13 penses’ as offsetting collections.’’.

14 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

15 Section 1118(a) of title 49, United States Code, is

16 amended—

17 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’; and

18 (2) by inserting before the period at the end of

19 the first sentence the following: ‘‘, $40,300,000 for

20 fiscal year 1997, $43,000,000 for fiscal year 1998,

21 and $44,000,000 for fiscal year 1999’’.

22 SEC. 7. REPORTS ON SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS.

23 Section 1135(d) of title 49, United States Code, is

24 amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘January 1’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘January 31’’;

3 (2) by inserting ‘‘or any other officer of the De4 partment of Transportation’’ after ‘‘to the Sec5 retary’’; and

6 (3) by inserting ‘‘or such officer’s’’ after ‘‘the

7 Secretary’s’’.

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