II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2547 

To establish the Railroad Emergency Services Preparedness, Operational 

Needs, and Safety Evaluation (RESPONSE) Subcommittee under the 

Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Advisory Council 

to provide recommendations on emergency responder training and resources relating to hazardous materials incidents involving railroads, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 26, 2014 

Ms. HEITKAMP (for herself and Mr. SCHUMER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To establish the Railroad Emergency Services Preparedness, 

Operational Needs, and Safety Evaluation (RESPONSE) 

Subcommittee under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Advisory Council to provide recommendations on emergency responder training and resources relating to hazardous materials incidents involving railroads, 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. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘RESPONSE Act of 

3 2014’’. 

4 SEC. 2. RAILROAD EMERGENCY SERVICES PREPAREDNESS, 

5 OPERATIONAL NEEDS, AND SAFETY EVALUA6 TION SUBCOMMITTEE. 

7 Section 508 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

8 (6 U.S.C. 318) is amended— 

9 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub10 section (e); and 

11 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(d) RESPONSE SUBCOMMITTEE.— 

14 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days 

15 after the date of the enactment of the RESPONSE 

16 Act of 2014, the Administrator shall establish, as a 

17 subcommittee of the National Advisory Council, the 

18 Railroad Emergency Services Preparedness, Oper19 ational Needs, and Safety Evaluation Subcommittee 

20 (referred to in this subsection as the ‘RESPONSE 

21 Subcommittee’). 

22 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—Notwithstanding sub23 section (c), the RESPONSE Subcommittee shall be 

24 composed of the following: 

25 ‘‘(A) The Deputy Administrator for Pro26 tection and National Preparedness of the FedVerDate Mar 15 2010 19:43 Jul 07, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2547.IS S2547

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1 eral Emergency Management Agency, or des2 ignee. 

3 ‘‘(B) The Director of the Office of Emer4 gency Communications of the Department of 

5 Homeland Security, or designee. 

6 ‘‘(C) The Director for the Office of Rail7 road, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Inves8 tigations of the National Transportation Safety 

9 Board, or designee, only in an advisory capac10 ity. 

11 ‘‘(D) The Associate Administrator for 

12 Railroad Safety of the Federal Railroad Admin13 istration, or designee. 

14 ‘‘(E) The Assistant Administrator for Se15 curity Policy and Industry Engagement of the 

16 Transportation Security Administration, or des17 ignee. 

18 ‘‘(F) The Assistant Commandant for Re19 sponse Policy of the Coast Guard, or designee. 

20 ‘‘(G) The Assistant Administrator for the 

21 Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response 

22 of the Environmental Protection Agency, or 

23 designee. 

24 ‘‘(H) The Associate Administrator for 

25 Hazardous Materials Safety of the Pipeline and 


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1 Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or 

2 designee. 

3 ‘‘(I) The Chief Safety Officer and Assist4 ant Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier 

5 Safety Administration, or designee. 

6 ‘‘(J) Such other qualified individuals as 

7 the Administrator shall appoint as soon as 

8 practicable after the date of the enactment of 

9 the RESPONSE Act of 2014 from among the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(i) Members of the National Advi12 sory Council that have the requisite tech13 nical knowledge and expertise to address 

14 rail safety issues, including members from 

15 the following disciplines: 

16 ‘‘(I) Emergency management and 

17 emergency response providers, includ18 ing fire service, law enforcement, haz19 ardous materials response, and emer20 gency medical services. 

21 ‘‘(II) State, local, and tribal gov22 ernment officials with expertise in 

23 preparedness, protection, response, re24 covery, and mitigation, including Ad25 jutants General. 


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1 ‘‘(III) Elected State, local, and 

2 tribal government executives. 

3 ‘‘(IV) Such other individuals as 

4 the Administrator determines to be 

5 appropriate. 

6 ‘‘(ii) Individuals who have the req7 uisite technical knowledge and expertise to 

8 serve on the RESPONSE Subcommittee, 

9 including representatives of— 

10 ‘‘(I) the rail industry; 

11 ‘‘(II) the oil industry; 

12 ‘‘(III) the communications indus13 try; 

14 ‘‘(IV) emergency response pro15 viders, including individuals nomi16 nated by national organizations rep17 resenting local governments and per18 sonnel; 

19 ‘‘(V) representatives from na20 tional Indian organizations; 

21 ‘‘(VI) technical experts; and 

22 ‘‘(VII) vendors, developers, and 

23 manufacturers of systems, facilities, 

24 equipment, and capabilities for emer25 gency responder services. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) Representatives of such other 

2 stakeholders and interested and affected 

3 parties as the Administrator considers ap4 propriate. 

5 ‘‘(3) CHAIRPERSON.—The Deputy Adminis6 trator for Protection and National Preparedness 

7 shall serve as the Chairperson of the RESPONSE 

8 Subcommittee, or designee. 

9 ‘‘(4) MEETINGS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) INITIAL MEETING.—The initial meet11 ing of the RESPONSE Subcommittee shall 

12 take place not later than 90 days after the date 

13 of the enactment of the RESPONSE Act of 

14 2014. 

15 ‘‘(B) OTHER MEETINGS.—After the initial 

16 meeting, the RESPONSE Subcommittee shall 

17 meet at least twice annually, with at least 1 

18 meeting conducted in person, at the call of the 

19 Chairperson. 

20 ‘‘(5) CONSULTATION WITH NONMEMBERS.—The 

21 RESPONSE Subcommittee and the program offices 

22 for emergency responder training and resources shall 

23 consult with other relevant agencies and groups, in24 cluding entities engaged in federally funded research 

25 and academic institutions engaged in relevant work 


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1 and research, which are not represented on the RE2 SPONSE Subcommittee to consider new and devel3 oping technologies and methods that may be bene4 ficial to preparedness and response to rail incidents. 

5 ‘‘(6) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The RESPONSE 

6 Subcommittee shall develop recommendations for im7 proving emergency responder training and resource 

8 allocation, including the following: 

9 ‘‘(A) Quality and application of training 

10 for local emergency first responders related to 

11 rail hazardous materials incidents, with a par12 ticular focus on local emergency responders and 

13 small communities near railroads, including the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(i) Ease of access to relevant train16 ing for local emergency first responders, 

17 including an analysis of— 

18 ‘‘(I) the number of individuals 

19 being trained; 

20 ‘‘(II) the number of individuals 

21 who are applying; 

22 ‘‘(III) whether current demand is 

23 being met; 

24 ‘‘(IV) current challenges; and 

25 ‘‘(V) projected needs. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) Modernization of course content 

2 related to rail hazardous materials inci3 dents, with a particular focus on response 

4 to the exponential rise in oil shipments by 

5 rail. 

6 ‘‘(iii) Evaluation of content across 

7 agencies and the private sector to provide 

8 complementary opportunities for courses 

9 and avoid overlap, including the following: 

10 ‘‘(I) Overlap of course content 

11 among agencies. 

12 ‘‘(II) Assess the need for inte13 grated course content through public14 private partnerships. 

15 ‘‘(III) Regular and ongoing eval16 uation of course opportunities, adap17 tation to emerging trends, agency and 

18 private sector outreach, effectiveness 

19 and ease of access for local emergency 

20 responders. 

21 ‘‘(iv) Online training platforms, train22 the-trainer and mobile training options. 

23 ‘‘(B) Effectiveness of funding levels related 

24 to training local emergency responders for rail 

25 hazardous materials incidents, with a particular 


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1 focus on local emergency responders and small 

2 communities, including the following: 

3 ‘‘(i) Minimizing overlap in resource al4 location among agencies. 

5 ‘‘(ii) Minimizing overlap in resource 

6 allocation among agencies and private sec7 tor. 

8 ‘‘(iii) Maximizing public-private part9 nerships where funding gaps exists for spe10 cific training or cost-saving measures can 

11 be implemented to increase training oppor12 tunities. 

13 ‘‘(iv) Adaptation of priority settings 

14 for agency funding allocations in response 

15 to emerging trends. 

16 ‘‘(v) Evaluation of historic levels of 

17 funding across agencies and private sector 

18 for rail hazardous materials incidents. 

19 ‘‘(vi) Assessment of the need for in20 crease funding for agencies and specific 

21 agencies where funding would be most ef22 fective. 

23 ‘‘(C) Strategy for integration of commodity 

24 flow studies, mapping, and access platforms for 

25 local emergency responders and how to increase 


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1 the rate of access to the individual responder in 

2 existing or emerging communications tech3 nology. 

4 ‘‘(D) The lack of emergency response plans 

5 for rail, similar to existing law related to mari6 time and stationary facility emergency response 

7 plans, including the following: 

8 ‘‘(i) Provisions of law relating to the 

9 Emergency Planning and Community 

10 Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 

11 11001 et seq.). 

12 ‘‘(ii) How the industry would imple13 ment such plans. 

14 ‘‘(iii) The thresholds and availability 

15 of emergency plans for each train related 

16 to hazardous materials in its cargo. 

17 ‘‘(iv) Gaps in existing regulations 

18 across agencies. 

19 ‘‘(E) Development of a train incident data20 base, including the following: 

21 ‘‘(i) An assessment of the appropriate 

22 agency to host the database. 

23 ‘‘(ii) A definition of incident that 

24 would constitute the level of reporting from 

25 the industry. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) The projected cost of such a 

2 database and how that database would be 

3 maintained and enforced. 

4 ‘‘(F) Increasing access to relevant, useful, 

5 and timely information for the local emergency 

6 responder, including the following: 

7 ‘‘(i) Evaluation of existing informa8 tion that the emergency responder can ac9 cess, what the current rate of access and 

10 usefulness is for the emergency responder, 

11 and what current information should re12 main and what should be reassessed. 

13 ‘‘(ii) Utilization of existing technology 

14 in the hands of the first responder to 

15 maximize delivery of useful and timely in16 formation for training or in the event of an 

17 incident. 

18 ‘‘(iii) Assessment of emerging commu19 nications technology that could assist the 

20 emergency responder in the event of a rail 

21 hazardous materials incident. 

22 ‘‘(G) Determination of the most efficient 

23 agencies and offices for the implementation of 

24 the recommendations, including— 


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1 ‘‘(i) recommendations that can be im2 plemented without congressional action 

3 and appropriate time frames for such ac4 tions; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) recommendations that would re6 quire congressional action. 

7 ‘‘(7) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

8 date of the enactment of the RESPONSE Act of 

9 2014, the RESPONSE Subcommittee shall submit a 

10 report containing the recommendations developed 

11 under paragraph (6) to the National Advisory Coun12 cil for its review and deliberation. After approving 

13 the recommendations of the RESPONSE Sub14 committee, the National Advisory Council shall sub15 mit the report to— 

16 ‘‘(A) the Administrator; 

17 ‘‘(B) the head of each agency represented 

18 on the RESPONSE Subcommittee; 

19 ‘‘(C) the Committee on Homeland Security 

20 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

21 ‘‘(D) the Committee on Homeland Security 

22 of the House of Representatives; and 

23 ‘‘(E) the Committee on Transportation 

24 and Infrastructure of the House of Representa25 tives. 


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1 ‘‘(8) INTERIM ACTIVITY.— 

2 ‘‘(A) UPDATES AND OVERSIGHT.—After 

3 the submission of the report by the National 

4 Advisory Council under paragraph (7), the Ad5 ministrator shall— 

6 ‘‘(i) provide quarterly updates to the 

7 National Advisory Council, the RE8 SPONSE Subcommittee, and the congres9 sional committees referred to in paragraph 

10 (7) regarding the status of the implemen11 tation of the recommendations developed 

12 under paragraph (6); and 

13 ‘‘(ii) oversee the implementation of 

14 the recommendations described in para15 graph (6)(G)(i). 

16 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL REPORTS.—After sub17 mitting the report required under paragraph 

18 (7), the RESPONSE Subcommittee shall sub19 mit additional reports and recommendations in 

20 the same manner and to the same entities iden21 tified in paragraph (7) if needed or requested 

22 from Congress or from the Administrator. 

23 ‘‘(9) TERMINATION.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

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1 committee shall terminate not later than 4 

2 years after the date of the enactment of the 

3 RESPONSE Act of 2014. 

4 ‘‘(B) EXTENSION.—The Administrator 

5 may extend the duration of the RESPONSE 

6 Subcommittee, in 1-year increments, if the Ad7 ministrator determines that additional reports 

8 and recommendations are needed from the RE9 SPONSE Subcommittee after the termination 

10 date set forth in subparagraph (A).’’. 

Æ 


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