II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2412

To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize appropriations for

the National Transportation Safety Board for fiscal years 2000, 2001,

2002, and 2003, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 12, 2000

Mr. MCCAIN 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 authorize appropriations for the National Transportation Safety Board

for fiscal years 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003, 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; REFERENCES.

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

5 ‘‘National Transportation Safety Board Amendments Act

6 of 2000’’.

7 (b) REFERENCES.—Except as otherwise specifically

8 provided, whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal
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1 is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of,

2 a section or other provision of law, the reference shall be

3 considered to be made to a section or other provision of

4 title 49, United States Code.

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

6 Section 1101 is amended to read as follows:

7 ‘‘§ 1101. Definitions

8 ‘‘Section 2101(17a) of title 46 and section 40102(a)

9 of this title apply to this chapter. In this chapter, the term

10 ‘accident’ includes damage to or destruction of vehicles in

11 surface or air transportation or pipelines, regardless of

12 whether the initiating event is accidental or otherwise.’’.

13 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO AGREEMENTS.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1113(b)(1)(I) is amended

15 to read as follows:

16 ‘‘(I) negotiate and enter into agreements

17 with individuals and private entities and depart18 ments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the

19 Government, State and local governments, and

20 governments of foreign countries for the provi21 sion of facilities, accident-related services or

22 training in accident investigation techniques,

23 and require that such entities provide appro24 priate consideration for the reasonable costs of
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1 any facilities, services, or training provided by

2 the Board.’’.

3 (b) DEPOSIT OF AMOUNTS.—

4 (1) Section 1113(b)(2) is amended—

5 (A) by inserting ‘‘as offsetting collections’’

6 after ‘‘to be credited’’; and

7 (B) by adding after ‘‘Board.’’ the fol8 lowing: ‘‘The Board shall maintain an annual

9 record of collections received under paragraph

10 (1)(I) of this subsection.’’.

11 (2) Section 1114(a) is amended—

12 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘Except’’;

13 and

14 (B) by adding at the end thereof the fol15 lowing:

16 ‘‘(2) The Board shall deposit in the Treasury

17 amounts received under paragraph (1) to be credited

18 to the appropriation of the Board as offsetting col19 lections.’’.

20 (3) Section 1115(d) is amended by striking ‘‘of

21 the ‘National Transportation Safety Board, Salaries

22 and Expenses’ ’’ and inserting ‘‘of the Board’’.

23 SEC. 4. OVERTIME PAY.

24 Section 1113 is amended by adding at the end the

25 following:
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1 ‘‘(g) OVERTIME PAY.—

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the require3 ments of this section and notwithstanding para4 graphs (1) and (2) of section 5542(a) of title 5, for

5 an employee of the Board whose basic pay is at a

6 rate which equals or exceeds the minimum rate of

7 basic pay for GS-10 of the General Schedule, the

8 Board may establish an overtime hourly rate of pay

9 for the employee with respect to work performed at

10 the scene of an accident (including travel to or from

11 the scene) and other work that is critical to an acci12 dent investigation in an amount equal to one and

13 one-half times the hourly rate of basic pay of the

14 employee. All of such amount shall be considered to

15 be premium pay.

16 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON OVERTIME PAY TO AN EM17 PLOYEE.—An employee of the Board may not re18 ceive overtime pay under paragraph (1), for work

19 performed in a calendar year, in an amount that ex20 ceeds 15 percent of the annual rate of basic pay of

21 the employee for such calendar year.

22 ‘‘(3) BASIC PAY DEFINED.—In this subsection,

23 the term ‘basic pay’ includes any applicable locality24 based comparability payment under section 5304 of

25 title 5 (or similar provision of law) and any special
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1 rate of pay under section 5305 of title 5 (or similar

2 provision of law).

3 ‘‘(4) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than Janu4 ary 31, 2001, and annually thereafter, the Board

5 shall transmit to the Senate Committee on Com6 merce, Science and Transportation and the House

7 Transportation and Infrastructure a report identi8 fying the total amount of overtime payments made

9 under this subsection in the preceding fiscal year.’’.

10 SEC. 5. RECORDERS.

11 (a) COCKPIT VIDEO RECORDINGS.—Section 1114(c)

12 is amended—

13 (1) by striking ‘‘VOICE’’ in the subsection head14 ing;

15 (2) by striking ‘‘cockpit voice recorder’’ in para16 graphs (1) and (2) and inserting ‘‘cockpit voice or

17 video recorder’’; and

18 (3) by inserting ‘‘or any written depiction of

19 visual information’’ after ‘‘transcript’’ in the second

20 sentence of paragraph (1).

21 (b) SURFACE VEHICLE RECORDINGS AND TRAN22 SCRIPTS.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1114 is amended—

24 (A) by redesignating subsections (d) and

25 (e) as subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and
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1 (B) by inserting after subsection (e) the

2 following:

3 ‘‘(d) SURFACE VEHICLE RECORDINGS AND TRAN4 SCRIPTS.—

5 ‘‘(1) CONFIDENTIALITY OF RECORDINGS.—The

6 Board may not disclose publicly any part of a sur7 face vehicle voice or video recorder recording or

8 transcript of oral communications by or among driv9 ers, train employees, or other operating employees

10 responsible for the movement and direction of the

11 vehicle or vessel, or between such operating employ12 ees and company communication centers, related to

13 an accident investigated by the Board. However, the

14 Board shall make public any part of a transcript or

15 any written depiction of visual information that the

16 Board decides is relevant to the accident—

17 ‘‘(A) if the Board holds a public hearing

18 on the accident, at the time of the hearing; or

19 ‘‘(B) if the Board does not hold a public

20 hearing, at the time a majority of the other fac21 tual reports on the accident are placed in the

22 public docket.

23 ‘‘(2) REFERENCES TO INFORMATION IN MAKING

24 SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS.—This subsection does

25 not prevent the Board from referring at any time to
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1 voice or video recorder information in making safety

2 recommendations.’’.

3 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The first sen4 tence of section 1114(a) is amended by striking

5 ‘‘and (e)’’ and inserting ‘‘(d), and (f)’’.

6 (c) DISCOVERY AND USE OF COCKPIT AND SURFACE

7 VEHICLE RECORDINGS AND TRANSCRIPTS.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1154 is amended—

9 (A) by striking the section heading and in10 serting the following:

11 ‘‘§ 1154. Discovery and use of cockpit and surface ve12 hicle recordings and transcripts’’;

13 (B) by striking ‘‘cockpit voice recorder’’

14 each place it appears in subsection (a) and in15 serting ‘‘cockpit or surface vehicle recorder’’;

16 (C) by striking ‘‘section 1114(e)’’ each

17 place it appears in subsection (a) and inserting

18 ‘‘section 1114(c) or 1114(d)’’; and

19 (D) by adding at the end the following:

20 ‘‘(6) In this subsection:

21 ‘‘(A) RECORDER.—The term ‘recorder’

22 means a voice or video recorder.

23 ‘‘(B) TRANSCRIPT.—The term ‘transcript’

24 includes any written depiction of visual infor25 mation obtained from a video recorder.’’.
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1 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The chapter

2 analysis for chapter 11 is amended by striking the

3 item relating to section 1154 and inserting the fol4 lowing:

‘‘1154. Discovery and use of cockpit and surface vehicle recordings and transcripts.’’.

5 SEC. 6. PRIORITY OF INVESTIGATIONS.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1131(a)(2) is amended—

7 (1) by striking ‘‘(2) An investigation’’ and in8 serting

9 ‘‘(2)(A) Subject to the requirements of this

10 paragraph, an investigation’’; and

11 (2) by adding at the end the following:

12 ‘‘(B) If the Attorney General, in consulta13 tion with the Chairman of the Board, deter14 mines and notifies the Board that cir15 cumstances reasonably indicate that the acci16 dent may have been caused by an intentional

17 criminal act, the Board shall relinquish inves18 tigative priority to the Federal Bureau of Inves19 tigation. The relinquishment of investigative

20 priority by the Board shall not otherwise affect

21 the authority of the Board to continue its inves22 tigation under this section.

23 ‘‘(C) If a Federal law enforcement agency

24 suspects and notified the Board that an acci-
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1 dent being investigated by the Board under

2 subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D) of para3 graph (1) may have been caused by an inten4 tional criminal act, the Board, in consultation

5 with the law enforcement agency, shall take

6 necessary actions to ensure that evidence of the

7 criminal act is preserved.’’.

8 (b) REVISION OF 1977 AGREEMENT.—Not later than

9 1 year the date of the enactment of this Act, the National

10 Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Bureau of

11 Investigation shall revise their 1977 agreement on the in12 vestigation of accidents to take into account the amend13 ments made by this Act.

14 SEC. 7. PUBLIC AIRCRAFT INVESTIGATION CLARIFICATION.

15 Section 1131(d) is amended by striking ‘‘1134(b)(2)’’

16 and inserting ‘‘1134 (a), (b), (d), and (f)’’.

17 SEC. 8. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.

18 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment

19 of this Act, the National Transportation Safety Board and

20 the United States Coast Guard shall revise their Memo21 randum of Understanding governing major marine

22 accidents—

23 (1) to redefine or clarify the standards used to

24 determine when the National Transportation Safety

25 Board will lead an investigation; and
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1 (2) to develop new standards to determine when

2 a major marine accident involves significant safety

3 issues relating to Coast Guard safety functions.

4 SEC. 9. TRAVEL BUDGETS.

5 The Chairman of the National Transportation Safety

6 Board shall establish annual fiscal year budgets for non7 accident-related travel expenditures for Board members,

8 and submit to the Senate Committee on Commerce,

9 Science, and Transportation and to the House of Rep10 resentatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc11 ture an annual report detailing the non-accident-related

12 travel of each Board member. The report shall include sep13 arate accounting for foreign and domestic travel, including

14 any personnel or other expenses associated with that

15 travel.

16 SEC. 10. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER.

17 Section 1111 is amended—

18 (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub19 section (i); and

20 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol21 lowing:

22 ‘‘(h) CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER.—The Chairman

23 shall designate an officer or employee of the Board as the

24 Chief Financial Officer. The Chief Financial Officer

25 shall—
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1 ‘‘(1) report directly to the Chairman on finan2 cial management and budget execution;

3 ‘‘(2) direct, manage, and provide policy guid4 ance and oversight on financial management and

5 property and inventory control; and

6 ‘‘(3) review the fees, rents, and other charges

7 imposed by the Board for services and things of

8 value it provides, and suggest appropriate revisions

9 to those charges to reflect costs incurred by the

10 Board in providing those services and things of

11 value.’’.

12 SEC. 11. IMPROVED AUDIT PROCEDURES.

13 The National Transportation Safety Board shall de14 velop and implement comprehensive internal audit controls

15 for its financial programs based on the findings and rec16 ommendations of the private sector audit firm contract en17 tered into by the Board in March, 2000. The improved

18 internal audit controls shall, at a minimum, address Board

19 asset management systems, including systems for account20 ing management, debt collection, travel, and property and

21 inventory management and control.

22 SEC. 12. AUTHORITY OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 11 of

24 subtitle II is amended by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘§ 1137. Authority of the Inspector General

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General of the

3 Department of Transportation, in accordance with the

4 mission of the Inspector General to prevent and detect

5 fraud and abuse, shall have authority to review only the

6 financial management and business operations of the Na7 tional Transportation Safety Board, including internal ac8 counting and administrative control systems, to determine

9 compliance with applicable Federal laws, rules, and regu10 lations.

11 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—In carrying out this section, the In12 spector General shall—

13 ‘‘(1) keep the Chairman of the Board and Con14 gress fully and currently informed about problems

15 relating to administration of the internal accounting

16 and administrative control systems of the Board;

17 ‘‘(2) issue findings and recommendations for

18 actions to address such problems; and

19 ‘‘(3) report periodically to Congress on any

20 progress made in implementing actions to address

21 such problems.

22 ‘‘(c) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—In carrying out this

23 section, the Inspector General may exercise authorities

24 granted to the Inspector General under subsections (a)

25 and (b) of section 6 of the Inspector General Act of 1978

26 (5 U.S.C. App.).
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1 ‘‘(d) REIMBURSEMENT.—The Inspector General shall

2 be reimbursed by the Board for the costs associated with

3 carrying out activities under this section.’’.

4 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The subchapter

5 analysis for such subchapter is amended by adding at the

6 end the following:

‘‘1137. Authority of the Inspector General.’’.

7 SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

8 Section 1118 is amended to read as follows:

9 ‘‘§ 1118. Authorization of appropriations

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap11 propriated for the purposes of this chapter $57,000,000

12 for fiscal year 2000, $65,000,000 for fiscal year 2001,

13 $72,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and $79,000,000 for fis14 cal year 2003, such sums to remain available until ex15 pended.

16 ‘‘(b) EMERGENCY FUND.—The Board has an emer17 gency fund of $2,000,000 available for necessary expenses

18 of the Board, not otherwise provided for, for accident in19 vestigations. Amounts equal to the amounts expended an20 nually out of the fund are authorized to be appropriated

21 to the emergency fund.’’.

Æ