IB 

Union Calendar No. 673 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6008 

[Report No. 114–860, Part I] 

To provide transit benefits to Federal employees who use the services of 

transportation network companies within the national capital region, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 13, 2016 

Mr. MEADOWS (for himself, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mrs. COMSTOCK, and Mr. 

BEYER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 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 

DECEMBER 8, 2016 

Additional sponsors: Ms. NORTON and Mr. SCHWEIKERT

DECEMBER 8, 2016 

Reported from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform with 

amendments 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

DECEMBER 8, 2016 

The Committee on Ways and Means discharged; committed to the Committee 

of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on September 13, 2016] 


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•HR 6008 RH

A BILL 

To provide transit benefits to Federal employees who use 

the services of transportation network companies within 

the national capital region, and for other purposes. 


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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; FINDINGS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Transit Benefits Modernization Act’’. 

6 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit 

8 Authority (‘‘WMATA’’) provides approximately 2.3 

9 million Metrorail and Metrobus trips per year across 

10 the National Capital Region to Federal employees, 

11 commuters, and millions of visitors to the Nation’s 

12 capital. 

13 (2) Approximately 40 percent of WMATA peak14 hour commuters are Federal employees. 

15 (3) WMATA began building its rail system in 

16 1969, currently serves 91 stations, and has 117 miles 

17 of track. 

18 (4) The Federal Transit Administration 

19 (‘‘FTA’’) and the National Transportation Safety 

20 Board have found significant safety concerns result21 ing from a backlog of deferred maintenance. 

22 (5) WMATA has designed a plan, called 

23 SafeTrack, in an effort to address this backlog of de24 ferred maintenance. 


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1 (6) SafeTrack would close the system earlier on 

2 weekends and expand weekday maintenance by reduc3 ing the number of rails in use at certain stations 

4 from two to one. 

5 (7) The plan includes 15 ‘‘Safety Surges’’ with 

6 around-the-clock single tracking or segment shutdowns 

7 that will impact rush hour commutes. 

8 (8) FTA’s review of SafeTrack’s first two ‘‘safety 

9 surge’’ areas found a number of defects in the plan’s 

10 execution. 

11 (9) SafeTrack is scheduled to conclude in March 

12 2017. 

13 (10) During SafeTrack, WMATA is encouraging 

14 customers to utilize other commuting options, includ15 ing ride-sharing services. 

16 (11) WMATA has indicated that service disrup17 tions will continue to occur following SafeTrack as 

18 routine maintenance is needed. 

19 (12) The Federal Government, which is nega20 tively affected when employees cannot easily commute 

21 to and from work, has an interest in assisting em22 ployees with alternate commuting options. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROVIDING A FRINGE TRANSIT BENEFIT FOR USE 

2 OF TRANSPORTATION NETWORK COMPANIES. 

3 For purposes of section 132(a) of the Internal Revenue 

4 Code of 1986, the use of a transportation network company 

5 by Federal employees as provided for in this Act shall be 

6 treated as a fringe benefit which qualifies as a qualified 

7 transportation fringe for the period established in section 

8 3(a) of this Act. 

9 SEC. 3. TRANSIT BENEFITS FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES FOR 

10 THE USE OF DIGITAL TRANSPORTATION COM11 PANIES. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—During the period beginning on the 

13 date of enactment of this Act and ending on December 31, 

14 2018, any agency that has a program, including a program 

15 established under section 7905 of title 5, United States 

16 Code, or Executive Order 13150 (April 21, 2000; 65 Fed. 

17 Reg. 24613), to provide transit benefits to employees of the 

18 agency shall provide transit benefits to employees who use 

19 the services of any digital transportation company within 

20 the Washington Metropolitan Area in the same manner as 

21 such agency provides transit benefits to employees who use 

22 public transportation services within the Washington Met23 ropolitan Area. 

24 (b) REQUIREMENTS.— 

25 (1) ELECTION.—Unless otherwise statutorily au26 thorized, an employee may receive transit benefits 


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1 under this section only if the employee agrees in writ2 ing to not accept any other transit or parking benefit 

3 offered by the head of any agency with a transit ben4 efit program while receiving the transit benefits under 

5 this section. 

6 (2) LIMITATION.—The amount of the transit ben7 efit provided to an employee under this section during 

8 any month for the use of services provided by any 

9 digital transportation company may not exceed the 

10 amount of the monthly average transit benefit re11 ceived by the employee during the 6-month period im12 mediately preceding the month during which an elec13 tion is made under paragraph (1). 

14 (3) IMPLEMENTATION.—Transit benefits under 

15 this section shall be provided in a manner substan16 tially similar to the manner in which transit benefits 

17 are provided to employees who use mass transpor18 tation services. The head of any agency with a transit 

19 benefit program may consult with any digital trans20 portation company and any other head of any agency 

21 with a transit benefit program to establish the proce22 dures necessary to provide transit benefits under this 

23 section. 

24 (4) SUBSTANTIATION.—The head of any agency 

25 with a transit benefit program, the Secretary of the 


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1 Department of Transportation, and the Secretary of 

2 the Treasury shall, in connection with the establish3 ment of a process for implementing the transit benefit 

4 for any digital transportation company, work with 

5 any such digital transportation company in estab6 lishing a process to substantiate the use of transit 

7 benefits by Federal employees using the benefit for 

8 services provided by a digital transportation com9 pany each month. 

10 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

11 (1) the term ‘‘Washington Metropolitan Area’’ 

12 means the District of Columbia; Montgomery, Prince 

13 George’s, Frederick, and Charles Counties in Mary14 land; Arlington, Fairfax, Loudon, and Prince Wil15 liam Counties in Virginia; and all cities now or here16 after existing in Maryland or Virginia within the ge17 ographic area bounded by the outer boundaries of the 

18 combined area of said counties; 

19 (2) the term ‘‘digital transportation company’’ 

20 means any transportation network company or car21 sharing service; 

22 (3) the term ‘‘car-sharing service’’ means a mem23 bership or non-membership based service primarily 

24 designed for shorter time or shorter distance trips 


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1 where individuals are charged per mile or per hour, 

2 or both, for vehicle usage; and 

3 (4) the term ‘‘transportation network company’’ 

4 means a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, 

5 or other entity that uses a digital network to connect 

6 riders to drivers affiliated with the entity in order for 

7 a driver to provide transportation services to a rider. 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to provide 

transit benefits to Federal employees who use the services 

of digital transportation companies within the national 

capital region, and for other purposes.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 673 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6008 

[Report No. 114–860, Part I] 

A BILL 

To provide transit benefits to Federal employees 

for other purposes. companies within the national capital region, and who use the services of transportation network 

DECEMBER 8, 2016 

Reported from the Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform with amendments 

DECEMBER 8, 2016 

The Committee on Ways and Means discharged; comState of the Union and ordered to be printed mitted to the Committee of the Whole House on the 


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