Union Calendar No. 353

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3159

[Report No. 104–682]

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorBoard, and for other purposes. and 1999 for the National Transportation Safety ize appropriations for fiscal years 1997, 1998,

JULY 17, 1996

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
I

Union Calendar No. 353

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3159

[Report No. 104–682]

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

JULY 17, 1996

Additional sponsor: Ms. BROWN of Florida

JULY 17, 1996

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 26, 1996]

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.
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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 Transportation

5 Safety Board Amendments of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. TERMS OF OFFICE.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1111(d) of title 49, United

8 States Code, is amended by striking the third sentence and

9 inserting the following: ‘‘The term of office of the Chairman

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

11 be 2 years.’’.

12 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub13 section (a) shall only apply to persons designated as Chair14 man of the National Transportation Safety Board after the

15 date of the enactment of this Act.

16 SEC. 3. FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.

17 Section 1114 of title 49, United States Code, is amend18 ed—

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

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

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

22 ‘‘(e) FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.—

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

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

25 receiving information from the Board, shall disclose
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1 records or information relating to its participation in

2 foreign aircraft accident investigations; except that—

3 ‘‘(A) the Board shall release records per4 taining to such an investigation when the coun5 try conducting the investigation issues its final

6 report or 2 years following the date of the acci7 dent, whichever occurs first; and

8 ‘‘(B) the Board may disclose records and

9 information when authorized to do so by the

10 country conducting the investigation.

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

12 this subsection shall restrict the Board at any time

13 from referring to foreign accident investigation infor14 mation in making safety recommendations.’’.

15 SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION OF IN16 FORMATION.

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

18 amended by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(3) PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION OF

20 INFORMATION.—Notwithstanding any other provision

21 of law, neither the Board, nor any agency receiving

22 information from the Board, shall disclose voluntarily

23 provided safety-related information if that informa24 tion is not related to the exercise of the Board’s acci25 dent or incident investigation authority under this
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1 chapter and if the Board finds that the disclosure of

2 the information would inhibit the voluntary provision

3 of that type of information.’’.

4 SEC. 5. TRAINING.

5 Section 1115 of title 49, United States Code, is amend6 ed by adding at the end the following:

7 ‘‘(d) TRAINING OF BOARD EMPLOYEES AND OTH8 ERS.—The Board may conduct training of its employees

9 in those subjects necessary for the proper performance of

10 accident investigations. The Board may also authorize at11 tendance at courses given under this subsection by other

12 governmental personnel, personnel of foreign governments,

13 and personnel from industry or otherwise who have a re14 quirement for accident investigation training. The Board

15 may require non-Board personnel to reimburse some or all

16 of the training costs, and amounts so reimbursed shall be

17 credited to the appropriation of the ‘National Transpor18 tation Safety Board, Salaries and Expenses’ as offsetting

19 collections.’’.

20 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

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

22 amended—

23 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’; and

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

25 the first sentence the following: ‘‘, $40,300,000 for fis-
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1 cal year 1997, $42,400,000 for fiscal year 1998, and

2 $44,500,000 for fiscal year 1999’’.

3 SEC. 7. REPORTS ON SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS.

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

5 amended—

6 (1) by striking ‘‘January 1’’ and inserting ‘‘Jan7 uary 31’’;

8 (2) by inserting ‘‘or any other officer of the De9 partment of Transportation’’ after ‘‘to the Secretary’’;

10 and

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

12 Secretary’s’’.