II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1764 

To clarify the application of section 14501(d) of title 49, United States 

Code, to prevent the imposition of unreasonable transportation terminal fees. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 8, 2009 

Mr. LAUTENBERG introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To clarify the application of section 14501(d) of title 49, 

United States Code, to prevent the imposition of unreasonable transportation terminal fees. 

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 ‘‘Prevention of Unrea5 sonable Fees Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PREVENTION OF UNREASONABLE FEES. 

7 Section 14501(d) of title 49, United States Code is 

8 amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘on account of 

2 the fact that a motor vehicle’’ and inserting ‘‘to be 

3 paid with respect to a motor vehicle that’’; 

4 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as 

5 paragraph (3) and (4), respectively; 

6 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(2) TRANSPORTATION TERMINAL FEES PRO9 HIBITED.—An operator of a transportation terminal 

10 that, at any time after the date of enactment of the 

11 Prevention of Unreasonable Fees Act, uses any Fed12 eral funds for the construction, expansion, renova13 tion, or other capital improvement of such transpor14 tation terminal, or for the purchase or lease of any 

15 equipment installed in such transportation terminal 

16 or on its property, may not charge any fee to a pro17 vider of prearranged ground transportation service 

18 described in paragraph (1), except— 

19 ‘‘(A) a fee charged to the general public 

20 for access to, or use of, any part of the trans21 portation terminal; or 

22 ‘‘(B) a fee for the availability of ancillary 

23 facilities at the transportation terminal that is 

24 reasonable in relation to the costs of operating 

25 the ancillary facilities.’’; 


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1 (4) by amending paragraph (3), as redesig2 nated, to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(A) ANCILLARY FACILITIES.—The term 

5 ‘ancillary facilities’ includes restrooms, vending 

6 machines, monitoring facilities that advise par7 ties accessing the transportation terminal of ar8 rivals or departures of aircraft, buses, trains, 

9 ships, or boats, and such other facilities deter10 mined by the Secretary to be necessary, appro11 priate, desirable, or useful to the business of 

12 providing prearranged ground transportation 

13 service. 

14 ‘‘(B) INTERMEDIATE STOP.—The term ‘in15 termediate stop’, with respect to transportation 

16 by a motor carrier, means a pause in the trans17 portation in order for 1 or more passengers to 

18 engage in personal or business activity if the 

19 driver providing the transportation to such pas20 sengers does not, before resuming the transpor21 tation of at least 1 of such passengers, provide 

22 transportation to any other person not included 

23 among the passengers being transported when 

24 the pause began. 


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1 ‘‘(C) TRANSPORTATION TERMINAL.—The 

2 term ‘transportation terminal’ means any air3 port, port facility for ships or boats, train sta4 tion, or bus terminal, including any principal 

5 building and all ancillary buildings, roads, run6 ways, and other facilities.’’; 

7 (5) in paragraph (4), as redesignated— 

8 (A) in subparagraph (B)— 

9 (i) by striking ‘‘an airport, train, or 

10 bus’’ and inserting ‘‘a transportation’’; and 

11 (ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

12 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 

13 subparagraph (D); 

14 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘(C) as prohibiting or restricting a trans17 portation terminal operator from requiring vehi18 cles that cannot safely use parking facilities 

19 that are otherwise available to the general pub20 lic to use segregated facilities, if the fee for 

21 such facilities is not more than the amount 

22 charged to the public for similar facilities;’’; 

23 (D) in subparagraph (D), as redesignated, 

24 by striking the period at the end and inserting 

25 ‘‘; or’’; and 


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1 (E) by inserting after subparagraph (D), 

2 as redesignated, the following: 

3 ‘‘(E) as restricting the right of any State 

4 or political subdivision of a State to require a 

5 license or fee (other than a fee by a transpor6 tation terminal operator prohibited under para7 graph (2)) with respect to a vehicle that is pro8 viding transportation not described in para9 graph (1).’’. 

10 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than December 31, 

12 2010, the Secretary of Transportation shall promulgate 

13 regulations to carry out the provisions of section 14501(d) 

14 of title 49, United States Code, as amended by section 

15 2. 

16 (b) PROVISIONS.—The regulations promulgated pur17 suant to subsection (a) shall include— 

18 (1) a comprehensive list of the ancillary facili19 ties determined by the Secretary to be necessary, ap20 propriate, desirable, and useful to the business of 

21 the provision of prearranged ground transportation 

22 service; 

23 (2) a schedule of suggested fees that— 

24 (A) may be charged for such ancillary fa25 cilities by any transportation terminal operator 


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1 to a provider of prearranged ground transpor2 tation service for the availability of the ancillary 

3 facility; and 

4 (B) are determined by the Secretary to be 

5 reasonable in relation to the costs of operating 

6 the ancillary facility; 

7 (3) a requirement that any fee proposed by a 

8 transportation terminal operator for the availability 

9 of an ancillary facility may not be greater than the 

10 fee for such ancillary facility provided in the sched11 ule described in paragraph (2), unless the fee is ap12 proved in advance by the Secretary after a public 

13 hearing and determination that the proposed fee and 

14 the amount of the fee for the availability of such an15 cillary facility at such transportation terminal— 

16 (A) is reasonable in relation to the costs of 

17 operating the ancillary facility; and 

18 (B) otherwise complies with section 

19 14501(d) of title 49, United States Code; and 

20 (4) such other provisions as the Secretary de21 termines to be necessary or appropriate to carry out 

22 such section 14501(d) in a manner that prevents the 

23 imposition by a transportation terminal operator 

24 of— 


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1 (A) fees to be paid by or with respect to 

2 a motor vehicle that is providing prearranged 

3 ground transportation service; or 

4 (B) any other discriminatory or punitive 

5 action or measure against, or with respect to, a 

6 motor vehicle that is providing prearranged 

7 ground transportation service. 

Æ 


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