II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1831

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 4, 1996

Mr. PRESSLER (for himself, Mr. HOLLINGS, Mr. LOTT, and Mr. FORD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

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.

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 Transpor5 tation Safety Board Amendments of 1996.’’.

6 SEC. 2. FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.

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

8 amended—
2

•S 1831 IS

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

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

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

4 ‘‘(e) FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.—

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

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

7 receiving information from the Board, shall disclose

8 records or information relating to its participation in

9 foreign aircraft accident investigations; except

10 that—

11 ‘‘(A) the Board shall release records per12 taining to such an investigation when the coun13 try conducting the investigation issues its final

14 report or 2 years following the date of the acci15 dent, whichever occurs first; and

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

17 information when authorized to do so by the

18 country conducting the investigation.

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

20 this subsection shall restrict the Board at any time

21 from referring to foreign accident investigation in22 formation in making safety recommendations.’’.
3

•S 1831 IS

1 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION OF IN2 FORMATION.

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

4 amended by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘(3) PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION OF

6 INFORMATION.—Notwithstanding any other provision of

7 law, neither the Board, nor any agency receiving informa8 tion from the Board, shall disclose voluntarily provided

9 safety-related information if that information is not relat10 ed to the exercise of the Board’s accident or incident inves11 tigation authority under this chapter and if the Board

12 finds that the disclosure of the information would inhibit

13 the voluntary provision of that type of information.’’.

14 SEC. 4. TRAINING.

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

16 amended by adding at the end the following:

17 ‘‘(d) TRAINING OF BOARD EMPLOYEES AND OTH18 ERS.—The Board may conduct training of its employees

19 in those subjects necessary for the proper performance of

20 accident investigation. The Board may also authorize at21 tendance at courses given under this subsection by other

22 government personnel, personnel of foreign governments,

23 and personnel from industry or otherwise who have a re24 quirement for accident investigation training. The Board

25 may require non-Board personnel to reimburse some or

26 all of the training costs, and amounts so reimbursed shall
4

•S 1831 IS

1 be credited to the appropriation of the ‘National Transpor2 tation Safety Board, Salaries and Expenses’ as offsetting

3 collections.’’.

4 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

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

6 amended—

7 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’; and

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

9 the first sentence the following: ‘‘, $42,400,000 for

10 fiscal year 1997, $44,400,000 for fiscal year 1998,

11 and $46,600,000 for fiscal year 1999.’’.

Æ