IA 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. J. RES. 92 

Granting the consent and approval of Congress for the Commonwealth of 

Virginia, the State of Maryland, and the District of Columbia to amend 

the Washington Area Transit Regulation Compact. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 28, 2017 

Mrs. COMSTOCK (for herself, Mr. BEYER, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. BROWN of 

Maryland, Mr. DELANEY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. RASKIN, and Mr. HOYER) 

submitted the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

JOINT RESOLUTION 

Granting the consent and approval of Congress for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of Maryland, and the 

District of Columbia to amend the Washington Area 

Transit Regulation Compact. 

1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives

2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) Congress in title III of the Fixing America’s 

6 Surface Transportation Act (section 3026, Public 

7 Law 114–94) provided sole authority to the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 Mar 28, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HJ92.IH HJ92

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1 retary of Transportation to appoint Federal Direc2 tors to the Board of Directors of the Washington 

3 Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and required 

4 the signatory parties to the Compact to amend the 

5 Compact as necessary. 

6 (2) Legislation enacted by the State of Mary7 land, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the Dis8 trict of Columbia contains the amendments to the 

9 Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Regulation 

10 Compact pursuant to section 3026(b) of the Fixing 

11 America’s Surface Transportation Act (Public Law 

12 114–94). 

13 SEC. 2. CONSENT OF CONGRESS TO COMPACT AMEND14 MENTS. 

15 (a) CONSENT.—Consent of Congress is given to the 

16 amendments of the State of Maryland, the amendments 

17 of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the amendments 

18 of the District of Columbia to section 5, of title III of 

19 the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Regulation 

20 Compact. 

21 (b) AMENDMENTS.—The amendments referred to in 

22 subsection (a) amending section 5 of such Compact are 

23 substantially as follows: 

24 ‘‘(a) The Authority shall be governed by a Board of 

25 eight Directors consisting of two Directors for each SignaVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 Mar 28, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HJ92.IH HJ92

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1 tory and two for the Federal Government (one of whom 

2 shall be a regular passenger and customer of the bus or 

3 rail service of the Authority). For Virginia, the Directors 

4 shall be appointed by the Northern Virginia Transpor5 tation Commission; for the District of Columbia by the 

6 Council of the District of Columbia; for Maryland, by the 

7 Washington Suburban Transit Commission; and for the 

8 Federal Government, by the Secretary of the United 

9 States Department of Transportation. For Virginia and 

10 Maryland, the Directors shall be appointed from among 

11 the members of the appointing body, except as otherwise 

12 provided herein, and shall serve for a term coincident with 

13 their term on the appointing body. A Director for a Signa14 tory may be removed or suspended from office only as pro15 vided by the law of the Signatory from which he was ap16 pointed. The non-Federal appointing authorities shall also 

17 appoint an alternate for each Director. In addition, the 

18 Secretary of the United States Department of Transpor19 tation shall also appoint two nonvoting members who shall 

20 serve as the alternates for the Federal Directors. An alter21 nate Director may act only in the absence of the Director 

22 for whom he has been appointed an alternate, except that, 

23 in the case of the District of Columbia where only one 

24 Director and his alternate are present, such alternate may 

25 act on behalf of the absent Director. Each alternate, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 Mar 28, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HJ92.IH HJ92

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1 cluding the Federal nonvoting Directors, shall serve at the 

2 pleasure of the appointing authority. In the event of a va3 cancy in the Office of Director or alternate, it shall be 

4 filled in the same manner as an original appointment. 

5 ‘‘(b) Before entering upon the duties of his office 

6 each Director and alternate director shall take and sub7 scribe to the following oath (or affirmation) of office or 

8 any such other oath or affirmation, if any, as the Constitu9 tion or laws of the Government he represents shall provide: 

10 ‘I, llllllllllllllllllll, here11 by solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and de12 fend the Constitution of the United States and the Con13 stitution and Laws of the state or political jurisdiction 

14 from which I was appointed as a Director (alternate direc15 tor) of the Board of Washington Metropolitan Area Tran16 sit Authority and will faithfully discharge the duties of the 

17 office upon which I am about to enter.’.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. RIGHT TO ALTER, AMEND, OR REPEAL. 

19 The right to alter, amend, or repeal this joint resolu20 tion is expressly reserved. The consent granted by this 

21 joint resolution shall not be construed as impairing or in 

22 any manner affecting any right or jurisdiction of the 

23 United States in and over the region that forms the sub24 ject of the Compact. 


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1 SEC. 4. CONSTRUCTION AND SEVERABILITY. 

2 It is intended that the provisions of this Compact 

3 shall be reasonably and liberally construed to effectuate 

4 the purposes thereof. If any part or application of this 

5 Compact, or legislation enabling the Compact, is held in6 valid, the remainder of the Compact or its application to 

7 other situations or persons shall not be affected. 

8 SEC. 5. INCONSISTENCY OF LANGUAGE. 

9 The validity of this Compact shall not be affected by 

10 any insubstantial differences in its form or language as 

11 adopted by the State of Maryland, the Commonwealth of 

12 Virginia, and the District of Columbia. 

13 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

14 This joint resolution shall take effect on the date of 

15 enactment of this joint resolution. 

Æ 


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