I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1033 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a grant program 

to improve railroad safety by providing funds for the construction and 

maintenance of fencing and other protective structures along railroad 

tracks, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2007 

Mr. WEINER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a 

grant program to improve railroad safety by providing 

funds for the construction and maintenance of fencing 

and other protective structures along railroad tracks, 

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 ‘‘Ari’s Law’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF RAILROAD SAFETY GRANT 

2 PROGRAM. 

3 (a) GRANTS.—The Secretary of Transportation 

4 (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall establish 

5 a grant program to improve railroad safety by providing 

6 funds to eligible entities to construct and maintain fencing 

7 and other protective structures along railroad tracks. 

8 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—For the purposes of this Act, 

9 ‘‘eligible entity’’ means any of the following: 

10 (1) A unit of local government who owns or 

11 controls land along a railroad right-of-way. 

12 (2) Any other person providing railroad trans13 portation. 

14 (c) GRANT CONDITIONS.— 

15 (1) CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.—In order to re16 ceive a grant under the program for a fiscal year, 

17 an eligible entity must certify to the Secretary, at 

18 such time and in such form as the Secretary may re19 quire, that— 

20 (A) the eligible entity will monitor or in21 spect all of the fencing and other protective 

22 structures along railroad tracks within the enti23 ty’s jurisdiction not less frequently than once 

24 per week; and 

25 (B) the eligible entity will repair any defi26 ciency in the fencing and other protective strucVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:33 Feb 17, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1033.IH H1033

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1 tures within 2 weeks of finding or being notified 

2 of such deficiency. 

3 (2) PERIOD OF APPLICABILITY.—An eligible en4 tity that receives a grant shall monitor and repair 

5 fencing and other protective structures, as described 

6 in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1), for 

7 the period beginning with the receipt of grant funds 

8 and ending 10 years after the date on which all 

9 grant funds received under the program by the enti10 ty have been expended. 

11 (d) RAILROAD DEFINED.—For the purposes of this 

12 Act, ‘‘railroad’’ means any form of nonhighway ground 

13 transportation that runs on rails or electromagnetic guide14 ways. 

15 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

16 (1) GRANTS.—For grants under this section, 

17 there is authorized to be appropriated $20 million 

18 for fiscal year 2008 and each succeeding fiscal year. 

19 (2) CONTINUING AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS

20 APPROPRIATED.—Amounts appropriated pursuant to 

21 the authorization under paragraph (1) shall remain 

22 available until expended. 


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1 SEC. 3. STUDYING AND REPORTING ON BEST PRACTICES 

2 FOR RAILROAD SAFETY. 

3 (a) STUDY OF BEST PRACTICES.—The Administrator 

4 of the Federal Railroad Administration shall study the 

5 best practices for railroad safety related to the construc6 tion, monitoring, and repair of fencing and other protec7 tive structures along railroad tracks. 

8 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

9 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit 

10 a report of the findings from the study conducted in sub11 section (a) to Congress. 

Æ 


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