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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2153

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations and encourage the States to adopt and implement laws prohibiting the operation of certain uncovered commercial

motor vehicles on highways.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 1, 1995

Mr. LIPINSKI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations and encourage the States to adopt and implement laws prohibiting

the operation of certain uncovered commercial motor vehicles on highways.

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 ‘‘Commercial Motor Ve5 hicle Safety Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) it is in the public interest to prohibit the

2 operation of certain uncovered commercial motor ve3 hicles and thereby reduce highway fatalities, injuries,

4 and property damage otherwise associated with such

5 operation; and

6 (2) State governments can assist the Federal

7 Government in assuring the safe operation of com8 mercial motor vehicles by enacting laws prohibiting

9 the operation of certain uncovered commercial motor

10 vehicles.

11 SEC. 3. COVERED LOAD REQUIREMENT.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 311 of

13 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the

14 end thereof the following:

15 ‘‘§ 31148. Covered load requirement

16 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—Not later than 120 days after

17 the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary

18 of Transportation shall initiate a rulemaking proceeding

19 for the purpose of issuing regulations prohibiting any per20 son from operating, or causing to be operated, on any

21 street or highway, any commercial motor vehicle with an

22 open load of dirt, aggregate, garbage, tailings, wood chips,

23 refuse, or other similar loose material, unless the load is

24 secured or enclosed with a tarpaulin or other covering suf25 ficient to prevent any portion of the material from rolling
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1 of, falling from, blowing off, dropping from, or otherwise

2 escaping from the vehicle. The Secretary shall issue such

3 regulations not later than 1 year after such date of enact4 ment.

5 ‘‘(b) STATE LAW COMPATIBILITY.—If at any time in

6 a fiscal year beginning after September 30, 1997, a State

7 does not have in effect a law compatible with the regula8 tions issued by the Secretary under subsection (a), the

9 Secretary, notwithstanding any other provision of law,

shall transfer an amount equal to 11 10 ⁄2 percent of the funds

11 apportioned to the State under each of subsections (b)(1),

12 (b)(2), and (b)(3) of title 23, United States Code, to the

13 apportionment of the State under section 402 of title 23,

14 United States Code. The Federal share of the cost of any

15 project carried out with funds transferred under this sec16 tion shall be 100 percent.

17 ‘‘(c) TRANSFER OF OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—If the

18 Secretary transfers under this section any funds to the

19 State for a fiscal year for highway safety programs under

20 section 402 of title 23, United States Code, the Secretary

21 shall allocate an amount of obligation authority distrib22 uted for such fiscal year to the State for Federal-aid high23 ways and highway safety programs for carrying out only

24 projects under such section 402 which is determined by

25 multiplying—
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1 ‘‘(1) the amount of the funds transferred to the

2 apportionment of such section 402 of the State

3 under this section for such fiscal year; by

4 ‘‘(2) the ratio of the amount of obligation au5 thority distributed for such fiscal year to the State

6 for Federal-aid highways and highway safety con7 struction programs to the total of the sums appor8 tioned to the State for Federal-aid highways and

9 highway safety construction (excluding sums not

10 subject to any obligation limitation) for such fiscal

11 year.

12 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON APPLICABILITY OF HIGHWAY

13 SAFETY OBLIGATIONS.—Notwithstanding any other pro14 vision of law, no limitation on the total obligations for

15 highway safety programs carried out by the Federal High16 way Administration under section 402 of title 23, United

17 States Code, shall apply to funds transferred under this

18 section to the apportionment of the State under such sec19 tion 402.’’.

20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for

21 chapter 311 of such title is amended by inserting after

22 the item relating to section 31147 the following:

‘‘31148. Covered load requirement.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

2 Section 31132 of title 49, United States Code, is

3 amended by adding at the end the following new para4 graph:

5 ‘‘(11) ‘aggregate’ means any ore, mineral, sand,

6 gravel, shale, coal, clay, limestone, crushed stone, or

7 other ore or mineral which is mined.’’.

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