I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 505 

To establish a Hazardous Materials Information Advisory Committee to develop standards for the use of electronic shipping papers for the transportation of hazardous materials, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 22, 2015 

Mr. LIPINSKI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To establish a Hazardous Materials Information Advisory 

Committee to develop standards for the use of electronic 

shipping papers for the transportation of hazardous materials, 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 ‘‘Developing Standards 

5 for Electronic Shipping Papers Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The impacts of hazardous materials trans2 portation incidents can be mitigated by effective re3 sponse strategies, equipment, and training. 

4 (2) Shipping papers and manifests are essential 

5 tools for responding to incidents involving hazardous 

6 materials as they provide the disclosures needed to 

7 determine the proper response strategy. 

8 (3) While physical shipping papers must con9 tinue to be required under law in order to ensure 

10 that redundancies are in place to protect the safety 

11 of first responders, there should be efforts to mod12 ernize how hazardous materials information is dis13 seminated. 

14 (4) The HM–ACCESS Program authorized in 

15 section 33005 of MAP–21 (49 U.S.C. 5121 note) is 

16 an important step for developing additional, innova17 tive methods for disseminating hazardous material 

18 information electronically, but the pilot tests will not 

19 be completed until October 2015. 

20 (5) As transporters of hazardous materials in 

21 commerce deploy these innovative technologies on 

22 their own, efforts should be undertaken to ensure 

23 that best practices and voluntary standards are 

24 available until the HM–ACCESS pilot and subse25 quent rulemakings are completed so that transVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:39 Jan 29, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H505.IH H505

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1 porters of hazardous materials will have guidelines 

2 to assist with their modernization effort while ensur3 ing that first responders will have access to stand4 ardized information platforms and systems. 

5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) COMMERCE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIAL.— 

8 The terms ‘‘commerce’’ and ‘‘hazardous material’’ 

9 have the meanings given such terms in section 5102 

10 of title 49, United States Code. 

11 (2) ELECTRONIC SHIPPING PAPER.—The term 

12 ‘‘electronic shipping paper’’ means an electronic 

13 version of the physical shipping paper that is— 

14 (A) designed to convey the most current 

15 available hazard information required to be dis16 closed under section 5110(a) of title 49, United 

17 States Code; and 

18 (B) capable of being accessed instanta19 neously by emergency responders during an in20 cident involving hazardous material being trans21 ported in commerce. 

22 SEC. 4. HAZARDOUS MATERIALS INFORMATION ADVISORY 

23 COMMITTEE. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

25 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of TransporVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:39 Jan 29, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H505.IH H505

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1 tation shall establish a Hazardous Materials Information 

2 Advisory Committee composed of members appointed by 

3 the Secretary. 

4 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—Members appointed by the Sec5 retary under subsection (a) shall represent the following 

6 individuals and entities: 

7 (1) Fire services personnel and management. 

8 (2) Law enforcement and other appropriate en9 forcement personnel. 

10 (3) Other emergency response providers. 

11 (4) Persons who transport hazardous material 

12 by air, highway, rail, or water. 

13 (5) Persons who offer hazardous material in 

14 commerce for transport by air, highway, rail, or 

15 water. 

16 (6) Employees of persons who transport or 

17 offer for transportation hazardous material in com18 merce by air, highway, rail, or water. 

19 (7) The Coast Guard and other relevant agen20 cies. 

21 (8) Other individuals and entities determined 

22 appropriate by the Secretary. 

23 (c) DUTIES.—Not later than 120 days after the es24 tablishment of the Hazardous Materials Information AdviVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:39 Jan 29, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H505.IH H505

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1 sory Committee under subsection (a), the Committee 

2 shall— 

3 (1) develop a voluntary standard for the use of 

4 electronic shipping papers until a rulemaking has 

5 been completed; 

6 (2) establish a standardized curriculum for 

7 training first responders and enforcement officials in 

8 the use of electronic shipping papers and other alter9 native means of communicating hazardous materials 

10 information; 

11 (3) provide recommendations and best practices 

12 for the use of electronic shipping papers by first re13 sponders in varying circumstances and locations; 

14 (4) provide recommendations and best practices 

15 to assist persons transporting hazardous materials 

16 in commerce in implementing electronic shipping pa17 pers; and 

18 (5) assess potential issues during deployment 

19 phases, including first responder training, technology 

20 procurement issues and budget limitations, and bio21 metrics. 

22 (d) REQUIREMENTS.—In developing the best prac23 tices, standards, and findings under subsection (c), the 

24 Hazardous Materials Information Advisory Committee 

25 shall take into consideration— 


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1 (1) the scalability of information in its presen2 tation to determine the most efficient means of con3 veying necessary information for emergency response 

4 personnel while allowing access to ancillary informa5 tion relating to the transport of hazardous materials 

6 in order to ensure that information conveyed fits the 

7 intended need and the varying levels of first re8 sponder training; 

9 (2) access issues and spectrum issues for rural 

10 responders; 

11 (3) standardization of information to equipment 

12 to ensure consistency across modes; 

13 (4) providing data security and protection from 

14 unwanted manipulation in order to preserve the in15 tegrity of data entered by transporters of hazardous 

16 materials and accessed by bona fide first responders; 

17 (5) the need to develop a National Deployment 

18 Standard on biometrics and identifiers to ensure se19 cure access for first responders; 

20 (6) the potential for the deployment of fail-safe 

21 redundancies linked to State, regional, and local 911 

22 emergency centers; 

23 (7) the timing of implementation and methods 

24 for funding the implementation of electronic ship25 ping papers devices and training; 


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1 (8) updates and revisions to the Emergency Re2 sponse Guidebooks; 

3 (9) existing technologies that are employed vol4 untarily by persons who transport hazardous mate5 rials in commerce by air, highway, rail, and water; 

6 and 

7 (10) the results of pilot tests being conducted 

8 in accordance with section 33005 of MAP–21 (49 

9 U.S.C. 5121 note) and any interim recommendations 

10 issued by the persons administering such pilot tests. 

11 (e) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The Secretary may provide 

12 travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, 

13 to a member appointed under subsection (b)(1), (b)(2), 

14 or (b)(3) in accordance with applicable provisions under 

15 subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code. 

16 (f) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the date 

17 of enactment of this Act, the Hazardous Materials Infor18 mation Advisory Committee shall transmit to the Com19 mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 

20 of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

21 Science, and Transportation of the Senate, a report listing 

22 the best practices, standards, and findings developed 

23 under subsection (c). 

Æ 


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