I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1140 

To provide additional funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit 

Authority and improve upon the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit 

Authority Compact, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 

Mr. DELANEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide additional funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and improve upon the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Compact, 

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 ‘‘WMATA Improvement 

5 Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF GRANTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the requirements of 

3 section 3, the Secretary of Transportation may provide 

4 grants to the Transit Authority, in addition to any grant 

5 amounts provided pursuant to section 601 of the Pas6 senger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 

7 (Public Law 110–432; 126 Stat. 4968), in an amount not 

8 to exceed $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 

9 through 2028 for the purpose of financing capital and pre10 ventive maintenance projects approved by the Board of Di11 rectors of the Transit Authority. 

12 (b) MATCHING FUNDS REQUIRED.—The Federal 

13 share of the cost of a project carried out using grant 

14 amounts provided under subsection (a) shall not exceed 

15 50 percent of the cost of such project. The non-Federal 

16 share of the cost of such project shall be borne equally 

17 by the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Vir18 ginia, and the State of Maryland. 

19 (c) LIMITATIONS.— 

20 (1) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—Any grant pro21 vided under this section shall be subject to the re22 quirements of subsections (b) and (c) of section 601 

23 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement 

24 Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–432; 126 Stat. 4968). 

25 (2) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

26 AMENDMENTS.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—No grants may be pro2 vided under this section until the Board of Di3 rectors of the Transit Authority, as such Board 

4 is composed pursuant to the amendments under 

5 section 3, certifies that amendments have been 

6 made to any existing collective bargaining 

7 agreement between the Transit Authority and a 

8 collective bargaining unit to allow the Transit 

9 Authority to implement all necessary oper10 ational changes required both to provide a high 

11 level of service, reliability, and safety as well as 

12 lower costs by selectively using competitive bid13 ding for certain capital improvement projects. 

14 (B) APPLICATION OF LAWS.—Any agree15 ment described under subparagraph (A) shall 

16 comply with the requirements of— 

17 (i) section 5333(b) of title 49, United 

18 States Code; and 

19 (ii) subchapter IV of chapter 31 of 

20 title 40, United States Code. 

21 (C) AMENDED AGREEMENTS.—A collective 

22 bargaining agreement entered into after Janu23 ary 1, 2017, may be considered an amended 

24 collective bargaining agreement for purposes of 

25 this section. 


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1 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO WMATA COMPACT. 

2 No grant amounts may be provided under section 2 

3 until the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority 

4 Compact includes the following amendments: 

5 (1) An amendment requiring that each member 

6 of the Board of Directors of the Transit Authority 

7 have a primary fiduciary obligation to the Transit 

8 Authority. 

9 (2)(A) An amendment requiring that beginning 

10 after the date of implementation of the amended 

11 compact and thereafter, that the members of the 

12 Board of Directors of the Transit Authority ap13 pointed as described in paragraph (3)(A) shall have 

14 at least 1 expert qualification, as described in sub15 paragraph (B). 

16 (B) The expert qualifications referred to in sub17 paragraph (A) are the following: 

18 (i) A certified transit expert who has 

19 served in a senior executive capacity, or the 

20 equivalent, of a transit authority in the United 

21 States. 

22 (ii) A certified management expert who is 

23 currently or has previously served for five or 

24 more years and has in his or her capacity man25 aged, directly or indirectly, more than 1,000 

26 full-time employees— 


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1 (I) as a president, chief operating offi2 cer, chief executive officer, chairman, or 

3 managing partner or an equivalent position 

4 of a qualifying business; or 

5 (II) as the president or most senior 

6 manager of a division of a qualifying busi7 ness. 

8 (iii) A certified financial expert who meets 

9 the standards of an audit committee financial 

10 expert under New York Stock Exchange rules, 

11 as in effect on the date of enactment of this 

12 Act. 

13 (iv) A certified safety expert who has a 

14 minimum of 5 years of experience as a chair15 man, director, senior investigator or equivalent 

16 position of a transportation or transit safety 

17 board in the United States. 

18 (C) For purposes of this paragraph, the term 

19 ‘‘qualifying business’’ means a corporation, partner20 ship, or limited liability entity that is engaged pri21 marily in operating activities and not investing ac22 tivities. 

23 (3) An amendment requiring that the Board of 

24 Directors of the Transit Authority be composed of 9 

25 voting members as follows: 


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1 (A) Two members appointed by each of the 

2 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Vir3 ginia, and the State of Maryland. 

4 (B) Two members appointed by the Sec5 retary of Transportation. 

6 (C) The CEO of the Transit Authority. 

7 SEC. 4. FAILURE TO ENACT AMENDMENTS. 

8 (a) WITHDRAWAL OF CONSENT.—Except as provided 

9 for under subsection (b), if the signatories of the Compact 

10 have not enacted the amendments described in section 3 

11 before the date that is 18 months after the date of enact12 ment of this Act, congressional consent for the Compact 

13 is hereby withdrawn. 

14 (b) EXTENSION.—The signatories may apply to the 

15 Secretary of Transportation for a single 3-month exten16 sion of the deadline under subsection (a). Such extension 

17 shall be granted by the Secretary so long as the signatories 

18 have shown progress toward instituting the amendments. 

19 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) COMPACT.—The term ‘‘Compact’’ means 

22 the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Author23 ity Compact (consented to by Congress under Public 

24 Law 89–774, 80 Stat. 1324) as title III of the 

25 Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Regulation 


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1 Compact (consented to by Congress under Public 

2 Law 86–794, 74 Stat. 1031). 

3 (2) TRANSIT AUTHORITY.—The term ‘‘Transit 

4 Authority’’ means the Washington Metropolitan 

5 Area Transit Authority established under Article III 

6 of the Compact. 

Æ 


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