II 

Calendar No. 402 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1446 

[Report No. 110–188] 

To amend the National Capital Transportation Act of 1969 to authorize 

additional Federal contributions for maintaining and improving the transit system of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2007 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. WARNER, and Mr. WEBB) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

OCTOBER 3, 2007 

Reported by Mr. LIEBERMAN, without amendment 

A BILL 

To amend the National Capital Transportation Act of 1969 

to authorize additional Federal contributions for maintaining and improving the transit system of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 

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

3 ‘‘National Capital Transportation Amendments Act of 

4 2007’’. 

5 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds as follows: 

6 (1) Metro, the public transit system of the 

7 Washington metropolitan area, is essential for the 

8 continued and effective performance of the functions 

9 of the Federal Government, and for the orderly 

10 movement of people during major events and times 

11 of regional or national emergency. 

12 (2) On 3 occasions, Congress has authorized 

13 appropriations for the construction and capital im14 provement needs of the Metrorail system. 

15 (3) Additional funding is required to protect 

16 these previous Federal investments and ensure the 

17 continued functionality and viability of the original 

18 103-mile Metrorail system. 

19 SEC. 2. FEDERAL CONTRIBUTION FOR CAPITAL PROJECTS 

20 FOR WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA 

21 TRANSIT SYSTEM. 

22 The National Capital Transportation Act of 1969 

23 (sec. 9–1111.01 et seq., D.C. Official Code) is amended 

24 by adding at the end the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘AUTHORIZATION OF ADDITIONAL FEDERAL CONTRIBU2 TION FOR CAPITAL AND PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE

3 PROJECTS

4 ‘‘SEC. 18. (a) AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to the suc5 ceeding provisions of this section, the Secretary of Trans6 portation is authorized to make grants to the Transit Au7 thority, in addition to the contributions authorized under 

8 sections 3, 14, and 17, for the purpose of financing in 

9 part the capital and preventive maintenance projects in10 cluded in the Capital Improvement Program approved by 

11 the Board of Directors of the Transit Authority. 

12 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—The Federal grants made pur13 suant to the authorization under this section shall be sub14 ject to the following limitations and conditions: 

15 ‘‘(1) The work for which such Federal grants 

16 are authorized shall be subject to the provisions of 

17 the Compact (consistent with the amendments to the 

18 Compact described in subsection (d)). 

19 ‘‘(2) Each such Federal grant shall be for 50 

20 percent of the net project cost of the project in21 volved, and shall be provided in cash from sources 

22 other than Federal funds or revenues from the oper23 ation of public mass transportation systems. Con24 sistent with the terms of the amendment to the 

25 Compact described in subsection (d)(1), any funds 


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1 so provided shall be solely from undistributed cash 

2 surpluses, replacement or depreciation funds or re3 serves available in cash, or new capital. 

4 ‘‘(c) APPLICABILITY OF REQUIREMENTS FOR MASS

5 TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL PROJECTS RECEIVING FUNDS

6 UNDER FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION LAW.—Except as 

7 specifically provided in this section, the use of any 

8 amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization under 

9 this section shall be subject to the requirements applicable 

10 to capital projects for which funds are provided under 

11 chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code, except to the 

12 extent that the Secretary of Transportation determines 

13 that the requirements are inconsistent with the purposes 

14 of this section. 

15 ‘‘(d) AMENDMENTS TO COMPACT.—No amounts may 

16 be provided to the Transit Authority pursuant to the au17 thorization under this section until the Transit Authority 

18 notifies the Secretary of Transportation that each of the 

19 following amendments to the Compact (and any further 

20 amendments which may be required to implement such 

21 amendments) have taken effect: 

22 ‘‘(1)(A) An amendment requiring that all pay23 ments by the local signatory governments for the 

24 Transit Authority for the purpose of matching any 

25 Federal funds appropriated in any given year auVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:32 Oct 03, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1446.RS S1446

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1 thorized under subsection (a) for the cost of oper2 ating and maintaining the adopted regional system 

3 are made from amounts derived from dedicated 

4 funding sources. 

5 ‘‘(B) For purposes of this paragraph, the term 

6 ‘dedicated funding source’ means any source of 

7 funding which is earmarked or required under State 

8 or local law to be used to match Federal appropria9 tions authorized under this Act for payments to the 

10 Transit Authority. 

11 ‘‘(2) An amendment establishing the Office of 

12 the Inspector General of the Transit Authority in 

13 accordance with section 3 of the National Capital 

14 Transportation Amendments Act of 2007. 

15 ‘‘(3) An amendment expanding the Board of 

16 Directors of the Transit Authority to include 4 addi17 tional Directors appointed by the Administrator of 

18 General Services, of whom 2 shall be nonvoting and 

19 2 shall be voting, and requiring one of the voting 

20 members so appointed to be a regular passenger and 

21 customer of the bus or rail service of the Transit 

22 Authority. 

23 ‘‘(e) AMOUNT.—There are authorized to be appro24 priated to the Secretary of Transportation for grants 

25 under this section an aggregate amount not to exceed 


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1 $1,500,000,000 to be available in increments over 10 fis2 cal years beginning in fiscal year 2009, or until expended. 

3 ‘‘(f) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursu4 ant to the authorization under this section— 

5 ‘‘(1) shall remain available until expended; and 

6 ‘‘(2) shall be in addition to, and not in lieu of, 

7 amounts available to the Transit Authority under 

8 chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code, or any 

9 other provision of law.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT AU11 THORITY INSPECTOR GENERAL. 

12 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Washington Metropoli14 tan Area Transit Authority (hereafter referred to as 

15 the ‘‘Transit Authority’’) shall establish in the Tran16 sit Authority the Office of the Inspector General 

17 (hereafter in this section referred to as the ‘‘Of18 fice’’), headed by the Inspector General of the Tran19 sit Authority (hereafter in this section referred to as 

20 the ‘‘Inspector General’’). 

21 (2) DEFINITION.—In paragraph (1), the 

22 ‘‘Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’’ 

23 means the Authority established under Article III of 

24 the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Author25 ity Compact (Public Law 89–774). 


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1 (b) INSPECTOR GENERAL.— 

2 (1) APPOINTMENT.—The Inspector General 

3 shall be appointed by the vote of a majority of the 

4 Board of Directors of the Transit Authority, and 

5 shall be appointed without regard to political affili6 ation and solely on the basis of integrity and dem7 onstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial 

8 analysis, law, management analysis, public adminis9 tration, or investigations, as well as familiarity or 

10 experience with the operation of transit systems. 

11 (2) TERM OF SERVICE.—The Inspector General 

12 shall serve for a term of 5 years, and an individual 

13 serving as Inspector General may be reappointed for 

14 not more than 2 additional terms. 

15 (3) REMOVAL.—The Inspector General may be 

16 removed from office prior to the expiration of his 

17 term only by the unanimous vote of all of the mem18 bers of the Board of Directors of the Transit Au19 thority, and the Board shall communicate the rea20 sons for any such removal to the Governor of Mary21 land, the Governor of Virginia, the Mayor of the 

22 District of Columbia, the chair of the Committee on 

23 Government Reform of the House of Representa24 tives, and the chair of the Committee on Homeland 

25 Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 


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1 (c) DUTIES.— 

2 (1) APPLICABILITY OF DUTIES OF INSPECTOR

3 GENERAL OF EXECUTIVE BRANCH ESTABLISH4 MENT.—The Inspector General shall carry out the 

5 same duties and responsibilities with respect to the 

6 Transit Authority as an Inspector General of an es7 tablishment carries out with respect to an establish8 ment under section 4 of the Inspector General Act 

9 of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App. 4), under the same terms 

10 and conditions which apply under such section. 

11 (2) CONDUCTING ANNUAL AUDIT OF FINANCIAL

12 STATEMENTS.—The Inspector General shall be re13 sponsible for conducting the annual audit of the fi14 nancial accounts of the Transit Authority, either di15 rectly or by contract with an independent external 

16 auditor selected by the Inspector General. 

17 (3) REPORTS.— 

18 (A) SEMIANNUAL REPORTS TO TRANSIT

19 AUTHORITY.—The Inspector General shall pre20 pare and submit semiannual reports summa21 rizing the activities of the Office in the same 

22 manner, and in accordance with the same dead23 lines, terms, and conditions, as an Inspector 

24 General of an establishment under section 5 of 

25 the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. 


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1 App. 5). For purposes of applying section 5 of 

2 such Act to the Inspector General, the Board of 

3 Directors of the Transit Authority shall be con4 sidered the head of the establishment, except 

5 that the Inspector General shall transmit to the 

6 General Manager of the Transit Authority a 

7 copy of any report submitted to the Board pur8 suant to this paragraph. 

9 (B) ANNUAL REPORTS TO LOCAL SIGNA10 TORY GOVERNMENTS AND CONGRESS.—Not 

11 later than January 15 of each year, the Inspec12 tor General shall prepare and submit a report 

13 summarizing the activities of the Office during 

14 the previous year, and shall submit such reports 

15 to the Governor of Maryland, the Governor of 

16 Virginia, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, 

17 the chair of the Committee on Government Re18 form of the House of Representatives, and the 

19 chair of the Committee on Homeland Security 

20 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 

21 (4) INVESTIGATIONS OF COMPLAINTS OF EM22 PLOYEES AND MEMBERS.— 

23 (A) AUTHORITY.—The Inspector General 

24 may receive and investigate complaints or infor25 mation from an employee or member of the 


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1 Transit Authority concerning the possible exist2 ence of an activity constituting a violation of 

3 law, rules, or regulations, or mismanagement, 

4 gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a 

5 substantial and specific danger to the public 

6 health and safety. 

7 (B) NONDISCLOSURE.—The Inspector 

8 General shall not, after receipt of a complaint 

9 or information from an employee or member, 

10 disclose the identity of the employee or member 

11 without the consent of the employee or member, 

12 unless the Inspector General determines such 

13 disclosure is unavoidable during the course of 

14 the investigation. 

15 (C) PROHIBITING RETALIATION.—An em16 ployee or member of the Transit Authority who 

17 has authority to take, direct others to take, rec18 ommend, or approve any personnel action, shall 

19 not, with respect to such authority, take or 

20 threaten to take any action against any em21 ployee or member as a reprisal for making a 

22 complaint or disclosing information to the In23 spector General, unless the complaint was made 

24 or the information disclosed with the knowledge 


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1 that it was false or with willful disregard for its 

2 truth or falsity. 

3 (5) INDEPENDENCE IN CARRYING OUT DU4 TIES.—Neither the Board of Directors of the Tran5 sit Authority, the General Manager of the Transit 

6 Authority, nor any other member or employee of the 

7 Transit Authority may prevent or prohibit the In8 spector General from carrying out any of the duties 

9 or responsibilities assigned to the Inspector General 

10 under this section. 

11 (d) POWERS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General may 

13 exercise the same authorities with respect to the 

14 Transit Authority as an Inspector General of an es15 tablishment may exercise with respect to an estab16 lishment under section 6(a) of the Inspector General 

17 Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App. 6(a)), other than para18 graphs (7), (8), and (9) of such section. 

19 (2) STAFF.— 

20 (A) ASSISTANT INSPECTOR GENERALS AND

21 OTHER STAFF.—The Inspector General shall 

22 appoint and fix the pay of— 

23 (i) an Assistant Inspector General for 

24 Audits, who shall be responsible for coordiVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:32 Oct 03, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1446.RS S1446

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1 nating the activities of the Inspector Gen2 eral relating to audits; 

3 (ii) an Assistant Inspector General for 

4 Investigations, who shall be responsible for 

5 coordinating the activities of the Inspector 

6 General relating to investigations; and 

7 (iii) such other personnel as the In8 spector General considers appropriate. 

9 (B) INDEPENDENCE IN APPOINTING

10 STAFF.—No individual may carry out any of 

11 the duties or responsibilities of the Office unless 

12 the individual is appointed by the Inspector 

13 General, or provides services procured by the 

14 Inspector General, pursuant to this paragraph. 

15 Nothing in this subparagraph may be construed 

16 to prohibit the Inspector General from entering 

17 into a contract or other arrangement for the 

18 provision of services under this section. 

19 (C) APPLICABILITY OF TRANSIT SYSTEM

20 PERSONNEL RULES.—None of the regulations 

21 governing the appointment and pay of employ22 ees of the Transit System shall apply with re23 spect to the appointment and compensation of 

24 the personnel of the Office, except to the extent 

25 agreed to by the Inspector General. Nothing in 


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1 the previous sentence may be construed to af2 fect subparagraphs (A) through (B). 

3 (3) EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES.—The General 

4 Manager of the Transit Authority shall provide the 

5 Office with appropriate and adequate office space, 

6 together with such equipment, supplies, and commu7 nications facilities and services as may be necessary 

8 for the operation of the Office, and shall provide 

9 necessary maintenance services for such office space 

10 and the equipment and facilities located therein. 

11 (e) TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS.—To the extent that 

12 any office or entity in the Transit Authority prior to the 

13 appointment of the first Inspector General under this sec14 tion carried out any of the duties and responsibilities as15 signed to the Inspector General under this section, the 

16 functions of such office or entity shall be transferred to 

17 the Office upon the appointment of the first Inspector 

18 General under this section. 

19 SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORT BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL. 

20 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General shall conduct 

21 a study on the use of the funds provided under section 

22 18 of the National Capital Transportation Act of 1969 

23 (as added by this Act). 

24 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 

25 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 


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1 submit a report to the Committee on Government Reform 

2 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

3 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen4 ate on the study conducted under subsection (a). 


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Calendar No. 402 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1446 

[Report No. 110

–188] 

A BILL 

To amend the National Capital Transportation Act 

Transit Authority, and for other purposes. system of the Washington Metropolitan Area tions for maintaining and improving the transit of 1969 to authorize additional Federal contribuOCTOBER 3, 2007 

Reported without amendment 


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