I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1139 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the development of public 

transportation operations safety risk reduction programs, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2019 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO (for herself, Mr. KATKO, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. KING of 

New York, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. HUFFMAN, 

Mr. POCAN, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. BLUNT

ROCHESTER, Mr. RYAN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. SUOZZI, Ms. BROWNLEY of 

California, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. NADLER, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. TITUS, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. 

VARGAS, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. HIGGINS of 

New York, Mr. TONKO, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. CLARKE of New 

York, Mr. KILMER, Mr. SIRES, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, 

Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. ROSE of New York, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. 

KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. MOORE, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. OMAR, Mr. 

GREEN of Texas, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. 

FUDGE, Mr. COHEN, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. 

LARSEN of Washington, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. PASCRELL, and Mr. CARTWRIGHT) 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 development of public transportation operations safety risk 

reduction programs, 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 ‘‘Transit Worker and 

3 Pedestrian Protection Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Public transportation workers are vital to 

7 the safe, efficient, and affordable movement of peo8 ple and to the economic prosperity of the country. 

9 (2) Assaults on public transportation workers 

10 are a growing problem, with daily reports of bus op11 erators and rail transit employees being beaten, hav12 ing items thrown at them, being spat upon, and 

13 being verbally abused. 

14 (3) This is not only a tragic situation for public 

15 transportation workers, but also a major safety risk 

16 for passengers, other motorists, and pedestrians. 

17 (4) An additional risk to safe bus operation is 

18 the existence of blind spots in the view from a bus 

19 operator workstation that— 

20 (A) prevent a driver from fully seeing the 

21 driver’s surroundings; and 

22 (B) have caused serious accidents with pe23 destrians. 

24 (5) Blind spots are avoidable, and buses can be 

25 designed to provide the bus operator a clear view 

26 outside the vehicle. 


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1 (6) Section 3022 of the FAST Act (49 U.S.C. 

2 5329 note; Public Law 114–94) required the Sec3 retary of Transportation to issue a notice of pro4 posed rulemaking to address protection of public 

5 transportation operators from the risk of assault. 

6 (7) The Secretary of Transportation has failed 

7 to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking as required 

8 under section 3022 of the FAST Act. 

9 SEC. 3. BUS OPERATIONS SAFETY RISK REDUCTION PRO10 GRAM. 

11 Section 5329 of title 49, United States Code, is 

12 amended by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(l) BUS OPERATIONS SAFETY RISK REDUCTION

14 PROGRAM.— 

15 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 2 years 

16 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 

17 Secretary shall require each recipient that operates 

18 fixed route bus service to— 

19 ‘‘(A) develop a risk reduction program for 

20 bus operations under paragraph (2) to improve 

21 safety by reducing the number and rates of ac22 cidents, injuries, assaults on bus operators, and 

23 fatalities; 

24 ‘‘(B) submit the program required under 

25 subparagraph (A), including the implementation 


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1 plan required under paragraph (3), to the Sec2 retary for review and approval; and 

3 ‘‘(C) implement the program and plan ap4 proved by the Secretary. 

5 ‘‘(2) DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM.—A recipient 

6 required to develop and submit a risk reduction pro7 gram for bus operations under paragraph (1)— 

8 ‘‘(A) shall develop the program by con9 ducting risk analysis on the bus operations of 

10 the recipient; 

11 ‘‘(B) may incorporate the program into an 

12 applicable comprehensive safety plan that the 

13 recipient prepares under subsection (d), if the 

14 plan addresses each requirement under this 

15 subsection; and 

16 ‘‘(C) shall develop the program in coopera17 tion with bus operators and collective bar18 gaining representatives of bus operators, includ19 ing the development of— 

20 ‘‘(i) the risk analysis required under 

21 subparagraph (A); and 

22 ‘‘(ii) the implementation plan required 

23 under paragraph (3). 


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1 ‘‘(3) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—Each risk re2 duction program for bus operations under paragraph 

3 (1) shall include an implementation plan for— 

4 ‘‘(A) reduction of vehicular and pedestrian 

5 accidents involving buses that includes— 

6 ‘‘(i) deployment of driver assistance 

7 technologies for bus operators that reduce 

8 or prevent accidents; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) measures to reduce visibility im10 pairments for bus operators that con11 tribute to accidents, including retrofits to 

12 buses in revenue service and specifications 

13 for future procurements that reduce visi14 bility impairments; 

15 ‘‘(B) bus operator assault mitigation, in16 cluding— 

17 ‘‘(i) the deployment of assault mitiga18 tion infrastructure and technology on 

19 buses, including barriers to restrict the un20 wanted entry of individuals and objects 

21 into bus operators’ workstations when a re22 cipient’s risk analysis determines that such 

23 barriers would reduce assaults on and inju24 ries to bus operators; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) conflict de-escalation training for 

2 bus operators; 

3 ‘‘(C) installation of seating and modifica4 tion to design specifications of bus operator 

5 workstations that reduce or prevent injuries 

6 from ergonomic risks; and 

7 ‘‘(D) other measures that the Secretary de8 termines would significantly reduce the number 

9 and rate of accidents, injuries, assaults on bus 

10 operators, and fatalities related to bus oper11 ations. 

12 ‘‘(4) UPDATING REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec13 retary shall require each recipient required to de14 velop a program under paragraph (1) to— 

15 ‘‘(A) update the program annually; and 

16 ‘‘(B) resubmit the program for approval by 

17 the Secretary not less than once every 3 

18 years.’’. 

19 SEC. 4. RAIL OPERATIONS WORKER ASSAULT RISK REDUC20 TION PROGRAM. 

21 (a) PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SAFETY PROGRAM

22 SECTION.—Section 5329 of title 49, United States Code, 

23 as amended by section 3, is further amended by adding 

24 at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(m) RAIL OPERATIONS WORKER ASSAULT RISK

2 REDUCTION PROGRAM.— 

3 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 2 years 

4 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 

5 Secretary shall require each recipient that operates 

6 a rail fixed guideway public transportation system 

7 that is not subject to regulation by the Federal Rail8 road Administration to— 

9 ‘‘(A) develop a risk reduction program for 

10 assaults on rail workers under paragraph (2) to 

11 improve safety by reducing the number and se12 verity of assaults on rail workers, including op13 erators and station personnel; 

14 ‘‘(B) submit the program required under 

15 subparagraph (A), including the implementation 

16 plan required under paragraph (3), to the Sec17 retary for review and approval; and 

18 ‘‘(C) implement the program and plan ap19 proved by the Secretary. 

20 ‘‘(2) DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM.—A recipient 

21 required to develop and submit a risk reduction pro22 gram for assaults on rail workers under paragraph 

23 (1)— 


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1 ‘‘(A) shall develop the program by con2 ducting risk analysis on assaults on workers 

3 serving the rail operations of the recipient; 

4 ‘‘(B) may incorporate the program into an 

5 applicable comprehensive safety plan that the 

6 recipient prepares under subsection (d), if the 

7 plan addresses each requirement under this 

8 subsection; and 

9 ‘‘(C) shall develop the program in coopera10 tion with rail workers and collective bargaining 

11 representatives of rail workers, including the 

12 development of— 

13 ‘‘(i) the risk analysis required under 

14 subparagraph (A); and 

15 ‘‘(ii) the implementation plan required 

16 under paragraph (3). 

17 ‘‘(3) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—Each risk re18 duction program for assaults on rail workers under 

19 paragraph (1) shall include an implementation plan 

20 for rail worker assault mitigation. 

21 ‘‘(4) UPDATING REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec22 retary shall require each recipient required to de23 velop a program under paragraph (1) to— 

24 ‘‘(A) update the program annually; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) resubmit the program for approval by 

2 the Secretary not less than once every 3 

3 years.’’. 

4 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 (a) AMOUNT AND DURATION.—There are authorized 

6 to be appropriated to carry out implementation plans 

7 under the bus operations safety risk reduction program 

8 described in subsection (l) of section 5329 of title 49, 

9 United States Code (as added by section 3 of this Act), 

10 $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023. 

11 (b) FORMULA.—Of the amounts made available to 

12 carry out subsection (l) of section 5329 of title 49, United 

13 States Code, for a fiscal year— 

14 (1) 80 percent shall be distributed under the 

15 formula set forth in section 5336 of title 49, United 

16 States Code, other than subsection (b) of that sec17 tion; and 

18 (2) 20 percent shall be distributed under the 

19 formula set forth in section 5311(c)(3) of that title. 

20 SEC. 6. TRANSIT WORKER ASSAULT DATA. 

21 Section 5335 of title 49, United States Code, is 

22 amended by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(d) TRANSIT WORKER ASSAULT DATA.— 

24 ‘‘(1) REPORT.—A recipient shall report to the 

25 Secretary, for inclusion in the National Transit 


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1 Database, any information on each assault on a 

2 transit worker. 

3 ‘‘(2) OTHER REPORTS.—A report required 

4 under paragraph (1) shall be separate from the re5 porting on other safety incidents in the National 

6 Transit Database. 

7 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

8 ‘‘(A) ASSAULT ON A TRANSIT WORKER.— 

9 The term ‘assault on a transit worker’ means 

10 any circumstance in which an individual know11 ingly, without lawful authority or permission, 

12 and with intent to endanger the safety or health 

13 of any individual, or with a reckless disregard 

14 for the safety or health of human life, interferes 

15 with, disables, or incapacitates any transit 

16 worker while the transit worker is performing 

17 his or her duties, including circumstances that 

18 do not require immediate medical attention or 

19 that do not result in a fatality. 

20 ‘‘(B) RECIPIENT.—The term ‘recipient’ 

21 has the meaning given the term in section 

22 5329(a).’’. 

Æ 


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