I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2451 

To amend title 23 and title 49, United States Code, to strengthen domestic 

content standards, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 19, 2015 

Mr. LIPINSKI (for himself, Mr. JOYCE, Mr. HIGGINS, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mrs. 

BUSTOS, Mr. POCAN, Ms. NORTON, and Mrs. DINGELL) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 

and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 23 and title 49, United States Code, to 

strengthen domestic content standards, 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 ‘‘Buy America Update 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FHWA DOMESTIC CONTENT STANDARDS IMPROVE7 MENT. 

8 (a) CMAQ LOOPHOLE.—Section 313(b) of title 23, 

9 United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para2 graph (4); 

3 (2) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘or’’; and 

4 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(3) that when procuring rolling stock under 

7 this chapter— 

8 ‘‘(A) the cost of components and sub9 components produced in the United States is 

10 more than 60 percent of the cost of all compo11 nents of the rolling stock; and 

12 ‘‘(B) final assembly of the rolling stock has 

13 occurred in the United States; or’’. 

14 (b) RULE REEVALUATION.—Not later than 1 year 

15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

16 Transportation shall review the regulations found in sec17 tion 635.410 of title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, or 

18 any similar successor regulations, to determine whether 

19 manufactured products other than those containing steel 

20 and iron should be considered for the purposes of domestic 

21 content preferences. 

22 SEC. 3. COMPONENT REQUIREMENTS AND VERIFICATION. 

23 (a) AUDITING AND CERTIFICATION MODERNIZA24 TION.— 


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1 (1) Not later than 6 months after the date of 

2 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor3 tation shall— 

4 (A) initiate a rulemaking to develop audit 

5 procedures for the agency to review offeror and 

6 recipient compliance with domestic content pro7 visions; and 

8 (B) issue guidance on best practices for 

9 pre-award and post-delivery audits by recipients 

10 under section 5323(m) of title 49, United 

11 States Code. 

12 (2) In developing the guidance required under 

13 paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary shall consider best 

14 practices for— 

15 (A) proper and sufficient documentation 

16 requests from bidders by recipients under sec17 tion 5323(m) of such title to support certifi18 cation of compliance; 

19 (B) proper and sufficient documentation 

20 requests from bidders by recipients under sec21 tion 5323(m) of such title to support pre-award 

22 and post-delivery audits; 

23 (C) determining the timing and require24 ments for post-delivery audit; and 


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1 (D) verifying the origin of supplier compo2 nents and subcomponents. 

3 (b) COMPONENT GUIDANCE.—Not later than 6 

4 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec5 retary shall initiate a rulemaking to further develop stand6 ards under section 5323(j) of title 49, United States Code, 

7 for measuring the percentage value of a component rel8 ative to the entire procurement. 

9 SEC. 4. RAIL BUY AMERICA MODERNIZATION. 

10 Section 24305(f) of title 49, United States Code, is 

11 amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(5) Before seeking a waiver request under para13 graph (4), Amtrak shall contract with the National Insti14 tute of Standards and Technology to conduct a supplier 

15 scouting process for domestic suppliers that can provide 

16 the compliant products for which a waiver will be sought. 

17 Upon conclusion of the supplier scouting process for a par18 ticular component, material, or subcomponent, Amtrak 

19 shall submit to the Secretary a scouting report along with 

20 the waiver request. The Secretary shall consider the re21 sults of the supplier scouting before making a decision on 

22 Amtrak’s waiver. If the Secretary decides to grant the 

23 waiver, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register 

24 a summary of the Scouting report and the reasons for the 

25 Secretary’s decision.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. FAA BUY AMERICA MODERNIZATION. 

2 Section 50101 of title 49, United States Code, is 

3 amended by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(d) SUPPLIER SCOUTING.—Before issuing a waiver 

5 under subsection (b), the Secretary shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) consult with the National Institute of 

7 Standards and Technology; and 

8 ‘‘(2) begin a supplier scouting process for do9 mestic suppliers that can provide for those compliant 

10 products for which a waiver will be sought. 

11 ‘‘(e) PUBLICATION REQUIRED.—Upon conclusion of 

12 the supplier scouting process required under subsection 

13 (d)(2) for a particular component, material, or subcompo14 nent, the Secretary make the results of the supplier scout15 ing available to the public.’’. 

16 SEC. 6. APPLICATION OF BUY AMERICA REQUIREMENTS TO 

17 PROJECTS FINANCED WITH PASSENGER FA18 CILITY CHARGES. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 50101(a) of title 49, 

20 United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, and may 

21 approve a project under section 40117,’’ before ‘‘only if 

22 steel’’. 

23 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub24 section (b) shall apply to an application submitted pursuVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:11 May 27, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2451.IH H2451

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1 ant to section 40177(c) of title 49, United States Code, 

2 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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