104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3159

AN ACT

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,
104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3159

AN ACT

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Transpor3 tation Safety Board Amendments of 1996’’.

4 SEC. 2. TERMS OF OFFICE.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1111(d) of title 49, Unit6 ed States Code, is amended by striking the third sentence

7 and inserting the following: ‘‘The term of office of the

8 Chairman shall be 4 years and the term of the Vice Chair9 man shall be 2 years.’’.

10 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub11 section (a) shall only apply to persons designated as Chair12 man of the National Transportation Safety Board after

13 the date of the enactment of this Act.

14 SEC. 3. FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.

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

16 amended—

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

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

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

20 ‘‘(e) FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.—

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

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

23 receiving information from the Board, shall disclose

24 records or information relating to its participation in

25 foreign aircraft accident investigations; except

26 that—
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1 ‘‘(A) the Board shall release records per2 taining to such an investigation when the coun3 try conducting the investigation issues its final

4 report or 2 years following the date of the acci5 dent, whichever occurs first; and

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

7 information when authorized to do so by the

8 country conducting the investigation.

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

10 this subsection shall restrict the Board at any time

11 from referring to foreign accident investigation in12 formation in making safety recommendations.’’.

13 SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION OF IN14 FORMATION.

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

16 amended by adding at the end the following:

17 ‘‘(3) PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION

18 OF INFORMATION.—Notwithstanding any other pro19 vision of law, neither the Board, nor any agency re20 ceiving information from the Board, shall disclose

21 voluntarily provided safety-related information if

22 that information is not related to the exercise of the

23 Board’s accident or incident investigation authority

24 under this chapter and if the Board finds that the
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1 disclosure of the information would inhibit the vol2 untary provision of that type of information.’’.

3 SEC. 5. TRAINING.

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

5 amended by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘(d) TRAINING OF BOARD EMPLOYEES AND OTH7 ERS.—The Board may conduct training of its employees

8 in those subjects necessary for the proper performance of

9 accident investigations. The Board may also authorize at10 tendance at courses given under this subsection by other

11 governmental personnel, personnel of foreign govern12 ments, and personnel from industry or otherwise who have

13 a requirement for accident investigation training. The

14 Board may require non-Board personnel to reimburse

15 some or all of the training costs, and amounts so reim16 bursed shall be credited to the appropriation of the ‘Na17 tional Transportation Safety Board, Salaries and Ex18 penses’ as offsetting collections.’’.

19 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

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

21 amended—

22 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’; and

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

24 the first sentence the following: ‘‘, $42,407,000 for
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1 fiscal year 1997, $44,460,000 for fiscal year 1998,

2 and $45,040,000 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

7 ‘‘January 31’’;

8 (2) by inserting ‘‘or any other officer of the De9 partment of Transportation’’ after ‘‘to the Sec10 retary’’; and

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

12 Secretary’s’’.

Passed the House of Representatives July 22, 1996.

Attest:

Clerk.