II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3082 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to prohibit Amtrak from including 

mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts of carriage, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 27, 2021 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. LEAHY, Ms. 

WARREN, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. CASEY, and Mr. PETERS) 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 prohibit Amtrak 

from including mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts of carriage, 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 ‘‘Ending Passenger Rail 

5 Forced Arbitration Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NO VALIDITY OR ENFORCEABILITY OF ARBITRA2 TION AGREEMENTS FOR CONSUMER AND 

3 CIVIL RIGHTS DISPUTES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 243 of title 49, United 

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘§ 24323. Prohibition on mandatory arbitration 

8 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 

9 ‘‘(1) to prohibit predispute arbitration agree10 ments that force arbitration of consumer and civil 

11 rights disputes between Amtrak and customers of 

12 Amtrak; and 

13 ‘‘(2) to prohibit agreements and practices that 

14 interfere with the right of customers to participate 

15 in a joint, class, or collective action related to con16 sumer and civil rights disputes between Amtrak and 

17 customers of Amtrak. 

18 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

19 ‘‘(1) AMTRAK.—The term ‘Amtrak’ means the 

20 National Railroad Passenger Corporation. 

21 ‘‘(2) CIVIL RIGHTS DISPUTE.—The term ‘civil 

22 rights dispute’ means a dispute— 

23 ‘‘(A) arising from an alleged violation of— 

24 ‘‘(i) the Constitution of the United 

25 States or the constitution of a State; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) any Federal, State, or local law 

2 that prohibits discrimination on the basis 

3 of— 

4 ‘‘(I) race, sex, age, gender iden5 tity, sexual orientation, disability, reli6 gion, or national origin; or 

7 ‘‘(II) any legally protected status 

8 in education, employment, credit, 

9 housing, public accommodations and 

10 facilities, voting, veterans and service11 members, health care, or a program 

12 funded or conducted by the Federal 

13 Government or a State government, 

14 including any law referred to or de15 scribed in section 62(e) of the Inter16 nal Revenue Code of 1986, including 

17 parts of such law not explicitly ref18 erenced in such section that relate to 

19 protecting individuals on any such 

20 basis; and 

21 ‘‘(B) in which at least 1 party alleging a 

22 violation described in subparagraph (A) consists 

23 of 1 or more customers (or their authorized 

24 representative), including 1 or more individuals 

25 seeking certification as a class under rule 23 of 


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1 the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or a com2 parable rule or provision of State law. 

3 ‘‘(3) CONSUMER DISPUTE.—The term ‘con4 sumer dispute’ means any dispute, including all 

5 claims related to personal injuries, between Amtrak 

6 and 1 or more customers who seek or acquire— 

7 ‘‘(A) services and accommodations pro8 vided by Amtrak; or 

9 ‘‘(B) carriage on Amtrak trains and equip10 ment. 

11 ‘‘(4) CUSTOMER.—The term ‘customer’ means 

12 any individual, except for an employee of Amtrak 

13 and without regard to whether the individual is a 

14 minor or paid for the transportation, who seeks or 

15 acquires— 

16 ‘‘(A) services and accommodations pro17 vided by Amtrak; or 

18 ‘‘(B) carriage on Amtrak trains and equip19 ment. 

20 ‘‘(5) PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT.— 

21 The term ‘predispute arbitration agreement’ means 

22 an agreement to arbitrate a dispute that has not yet 

23 arisen at the time of the making of the agreement. 

24 ‘‘(6) PREDISPUTE JOINT-ACTION WAIVER.—The 

25 term ‘predispute joint-action waiver’ means an 


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1 agreement, whether or not part of a predispute arbi2 tration agreement, that would prohibit, or waive the 

3 right of, one of the parties to the agreement to par4 ticipate in a joint, class, or collective action in a ju5 dicial, arbitral, administrative, or other forum, con6 cerning a dispute that has not yet arisen at the time 

7 of the making of the agreement. 

8 ‘‘(7) RAIL PASSENGER CARRIER.—The term 

9 ‘rail passenger carrier’ means a rail carrier pro10 viding— 

11 ‘‘(A) interstate intercity rail passenger 

12 transportation (as such term is defined in sec13 tion 24102); or 

14 ‘‘(B) interstate or intrastate high-speed 

15 rail (as such term is defined in section 26105) 

16 transportation, except that such term does not 

17 include a tourist, historic, scenic, or excursion 

18 rail carrier. 

19 ‘‘(c) IN GENERAL.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—All predispute arbitration 

21 agreements and predispute joint-action waivers shall 

22 be invalid and unenforceable with respect to a con23 sumer or civil rights dispute between Amtrak (in its 

24 capacity as a rail passenger carrier) and a customer 

25 of Amtrak. 


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1 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A determination of 

3 whether this section applies to a particular dis4 pute shall be made in accordance with Federal 

5 law. 

6 ‘‘(B) AUTHORITY OF COURT.—The appli7 cability of this section to an agreement to arbi8 trate and the validity and enforceability of an 

9 agreement to which this section applies shall be 

10 determined by a court, rather than by an arbi11 trator, regardless of whether— 

12 ‘‘(i) the party resisting arbitration 

13 challenges the arbitration agreement spe14 cifically or in conjunction with other terms 

15 of the contract containing such agreement; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(ii) the agreement purports to dele18 gate such determinations to an arbitrator. 

19 ‘‘(C) EXCLUSION.—Nothing in this section 

20 shall apply to a predispute arbitration agree21 ment or joint action waiver invoked in connec22 tion with any dispute subject to the Railway 

23 Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.).’’. 

24 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

25 subsection (a)— 


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1 (1) shall take effect on the date of the enact2 ment of this Act; and 

3 (2) shall apply with respect to any dispute or 

4 claim that arises or accrues on or after such date. 

5 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap6 ter 243 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 

7 adding at the end the following: 

‘‘24323. Prohibition on mandatory arbitration.’’. 

Æ 


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