I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3628 

To require motor carriers to mitigate hardships due to unwarranted and 

excessive passenger delays and to assess fines to bolster motor carriers’ 

accountability to consumers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2019 

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi (for himself, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. CARSON of 

Indiana, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. FUDGE, 

Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. 

ADAMS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CLAY, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. BISHOP of 

Georgia, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. RUSH, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. RICHMOND, Mrs. BEATTY, 

Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. BASS, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Ms. LEE of California, and Ms. PRESSLEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To require motor carriers to mitigate hardships due to unwarranted and excessive passenger delays and to assess 

fines to bolster motor carriers’ accountability to consumers, 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 ‘‘Motor Carriers Ac5 countability Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PASSENGER DELAYS IN INTERSTATE MOTOR CAR2 RIER TRANSPORTATION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 141 of 

4 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

5 end the following: 

6 ‘‘§ 14105. Passenger delays in interstate motor carrier 

7 transportation 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the date on which 

9 a motor carrier operates a covered trip, each such motor 

10 carrier shall adopt a contingency plan for excessive pas11 senger delays on covered trips. 

12 ‘‘(b) COMPLIANCE.—Each motor carrier operating a 

13 covered trip shall adhere to the terms of the plan adopted 

14 pursuant to subsection (a). 

15 ‘‘(c) CONTENTS.—A contingency plan described in 

16 subsection (a) shall include the following conditions: 

17 ‘‘(1) A motor carrier will not let passengers un18 dergo a covered delay unless there are safety-related 

19 or security-related issues. 

20 ‘‘(2) A motor carrier will provide adequate food 

21 and water if passengers undergo a covered delay. 

22 ‘‘(3) A motor carrier will ensure there are oper23 able lavatory facilities at stations. 

24 ‘‘(4) A motor carrier will provide a full refund 

25 of the price of a passenger’s ticket if a passenger 


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1 undergoes a covered delay and will provide the re2 mainder of the trip to the passenger without charge. 

3 ‘‘(5) For a period of 2 years after the date of 

4 any covered delay, a motor carrier will retain any 

5 records containing the following information: 

6 ‘‘(A) The length of such delay. 

7 ‘‘(B) The cause of such delay. 

8 ‘‘(C) Actions taken to minimize hardships 

9 for passengers, including the provision of food 

10 and water and the maintenance and servicing of 

11 lavatories. 

12 ‘‘(6) A motor carrier will include in the contin13 gency plan a statement about its compliance with 

14 section 374.311 of title 49, Code of Federal Regula15 tions. 

16 ‘‘(d) REQUIRED NOTIFICATIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A motor carrier operating 

18 a covered trip shall notify passengers of— 

19 ‘‘(A) a known delayed arrival of 1 or more 

20 hours after the scheduled arrival time on a sin21 gle one-way ticket; 

22 ‘‘(B) cancellations; and 

23 ‘‘(C) diversions. 


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1 ‘‘(2) TRAVEL STATUS.—A motor carrier oper2 ating a covered trip shall notify passengers of travel 

3 status information— 

4 ‘‘(A) in the boarding area of the station; 

5 ‘‘(B) on the website of such motor carrier; 

6 ‘‘(C) on the mobile application of such 

7 motor carrier; and 

8 ‘‘(D) through the telephone reservation 

9 system of such motor carrier, upon inquiry by 

10 any person. 

11 ‘‘(3) UPDATE.—In the case of a covered delay, 

12 a motor carrier shall provide passengers an update 

13 on the delay at a frequency of not less than once 

14 every 30 minutes. 

15 ‘‘(e) PENALTIES.—Notwithstanding any other provi16 sion of law, the following penalties apply with respect to 

17 this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) A motor carrier is liable to the United 

19 States for a civil penalty, in an amount to be deter20 mined by the Secretary, for a covered delay that is 

21 unwarranted and unannounced. 

22 ‘‘(2) A motor carrier shall pay a penalty de23 scribed in paragraph (1) not later than the date that 

24 is 14 days after the date on which a covered delay 

25 occurs. 


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1 ‘‘(3) The penalty described in paragraph (1) 

2 shall be not less than $50,000. 

3 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

4 definitions apply: 

5 ‘‘(1) COVERED DELAY.—The term ‘covered 

6 delay’ means a delayed arrival of 3 or more hours 

7 after the scheduled arrival time on a single one-way 

8 ticket of a covered trip. 

9 ‘‘(2) COVERED TRIP.—The term ‘covered trip’ 

10 means a trip on a motor carrier that is operating 

11 such trip pursuant to scheduled passenger services 

12 on a standard coach bus with 50 or more seats. 

13 ‘‘(3) DIVERSION.—The term ‘diversion’ means 

14 any unknown delays, including mechanical issues, in15 volvement in a car accident, or passenger emer16 gencies. 

17 ‘‘(4) PASSENGER.—The term ‘passenger’ means 

18 a passenger on a covered trip.’’. 

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of chap20 ters for chapter 141 of title 49, United States Code, is 

21 amended by adding at the end the following new item: 

‘‘14105. Passenger delays in interstate motor carrier transportation.’’. 

Æ 


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