ID 

Union Calendar No. 632 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 546 

[Report No. 114–808] 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 10, 2016 

Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

NOVEMBER 14, 2016 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For the text of the Senate passed bill, see copy of bill as printed in the House of 

Representatives on May 10, 2016] 


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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. 


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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 ‘‘RESPONSE Act of 

5 2016’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RAILROAD EMERGENCY SERVICES PREPAREDNESS, 

7 OPERATIONAL NEEDS, AND SAFETY EVALUA8 TION SUBCOMMITTEE. 

9 Section 508 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 

10 U.S.C. 318) is amended— 

11 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection 

12 (e); and 

13 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(d) RESPONSE SUBCOMMITTEE.— 

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

17 after the date of the enactment of the RESPONSE 

18 Act of 2016, the Administrator shall establish, as a 

19 subcommittee of the National Advisory Council, the 

20 Railroad Emergency Services Preparedness, Oper21 ational Needs, and Safety Evaluation Subcommittee 

22 (referred to in this subsection as the ‘RESPONSE 

23 Subcommittee’). 


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1 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—Notwithstanding subsection 

2 (c), the RESPONSE Subcommittee shall be composed 

3 of the following: 

4 ‘‘(A) The Deputy Administrator, Protection 

5 and National Preparedness of the Federal Emer6 gency Management Agency, or designee. 

7 ‘‘(B) The Chief Safety Officer of the Pipe8 line and Hazardous Materials Safety Adminis9 tration, or designee. 

10 ‘‘(C) The Associate Administrator for Haz11 ardous Materials Safety of the Pipeline and 

12 Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or 

13 designee. 

14 ‘‘(D) The Director of the Office of Emer15 gency Communications of the Department of 

16 Homeland Security, or designee. 

17 ‘‘(E) The Director for the Office of Rail18 road, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Inves19 tigations of the National Transportation Safety 

20 Board, or designee. 

21 ‘‘(F) The Chief Safety Officer and Associate 

22 Administrator for Railroad Safety of the Federal 

23 Railroad Administration, or designee. 

24 ‘‘(G) The Assistant Administrator for Secu25 rity Policy and Industry Engagement of the 


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1 Transportation Security Administration, or des2 ignee. 

3 ‘‘(H) The Assistant Commandant for Re4 sponse Policy of the Coast Guard, or designee. 

5 ‘‘(I) The Assistant Administrator for the Of6 fice of Solid Waste and Emergency Response of 

7 the Environmental Protection Agency, or des8 ignee. 

9 ‘‘(J) Such other qualified individuals as the 

10 co-chairpersons shall jointly appoint as soon as 

11 practicable after the date of the enactment of the 

12 RESPONSE Act of 2016 from among the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(i) Members of the National Advisory 

15 Council that have the requisite technical 

16 knowledge and expertise to address rail 

17 emergency response issues, including mem18 bers from the following disciplines: 

19 ‘‘(I) Emergency management and 

20 emergency response providers, includ21 ing fire service, law enforcement, haz22 ardous materials response, and emer23 gency medical services. 

24 ‘‘(II) State, local, and tribal gov25 ernment officials. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) Individuals who have the req2 uisite technical knowledge and expertise to 

3 serve on the RESPONSE Subcommittee, in4 cluding at least 1 representative from each 

5 of the following: 

6 ‘‘(I) The rail industry. 

7 ‘‘(II) Rail labor 

8 ‘‘(III) Persons who offer oil for 

9 transportation by rail. 

10 ‘‘(IV) The communications indus11 try. 

12 ‘‘(V) Emergency response pro13 viders, including individuals nomi14 nated by national organizations rep15 resenting State and local governments 

16 and emergency responders. 

17 ‘‘(VI) Emergency response train18 ing providers. 

19 ‘‘(VII) Representatives from tribal 

20 organizations. 

21 ‘‘(VIII) Technical experts. 

22 ‘‘(IX) 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 co-chairpersons consider ap4 propriate. 

5 ‘‘(3) CO-CHAIRPERSONS.—The members described 

6 in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2) shall 

7 serve as the co-chairpersons of the RESPONSE Sub8 committee. 

9 ‘‘(4) INITIAL MEETING.—The initial meeting of 

10 the RESPONSE Subcommittee shall take place not 

11 later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the 

12 RESPONSE Act of 2016. 

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

14 RESPONSE Subcommittee and the program offices 

15 for emergency responder training and resources shall 

16 consult with other relevant agencies and groups, in17 cluding entities engaged in federally funded research 

18 and academic institutions engaged in relevant work 

19 and research, which are not represented on the RE20 SPONSE Subcommittee to consider new and devel21 oping technologies and methods that may be beneficial 

22 to preparedness and response to rail hazardous mate23 rials incidents. 

24 ‘‘(6) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The RESPONSE 

25 Subcommittee shall develop recommendations, as apVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:56 Nov 14, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S546.RH S546

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1 propriate, for improving emergency responder train2 ing and resource allocation for hazardous materials 

3 incidents involving railroads after evaluating the fol4 lowing topics: 

5 ‘‘(A) The quality and application of train6 ing for State and local emergency responders re7 lated to rail hazardous materials incidents, in8 cluding training for emergency responders serv9 ing small communities near railroads, including 

10 the following: 

11 ‘‘(i) Ease of access to relevant training 

12 for State and local emergency responders, 

13 including an analysis of— 

14 ‘‘(I) the number of individuals 

15 being trained; 

16 ‘‘(II) the number of individuals 

17 who are applying; 

18 ‘‘(III) whether current demand is 

19 being met; 

20 ‘‘(IV) current challenges; and 

21 ‘‘(V) projected needs. 

22 ‘‘(ii) Modernization of training course 

23 content related to rail hazardous materials 

24 incidents, with a particular focus on fluc25 tuations in oil shipments by rail, including 


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1 regular and ongoing evaluation of course 

2 opportunities, adaptation to emerging 

3 trends, agency and private sector outreach, 

4 effectiveness and ease of access for State and 

5 local emergency responders. 

6 ‘‘(iii) Identification of overlap in 

7 training content and identification of op8 portunities to develop complementary 

9 courses and materials among governmental 

10 and nongovernmental entities. 

11 ‘‘(iv) Online training platforms, train12 the-trainer, and mobile training options. 

13 ‘‘(B) The availability and effectiveness of 

14 Federal, State, local, and nongovernmental fund15 ing levels related to training emergency respond16 ers for rail hazardous materials incidents, in17 cluding emergency responders serving small com18 munities near railroads, including— 

19 ‘‘(i) identifying overlap in resource al20 locations; 

21 ‘‘(ii) identifying cost savings measures 

22 that can be implemented to increase train23 ing opportunities; 

24 ‘‘(iii) leveraging government funding 

25 with nongovernmental funding to enhance 


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1 training opportunities and fill existing 

2 training gaps; 

3 ‘‘(iv) adaptation of priority settings 

4 for agency funding allocations in response 

5 to emerging trends; 

6 ‘‘(v) historic levels of funding across 

7 Federal agencies for rail hazardous mate8 rials incident response and training, in9 cluding funding provided by the private sec10 tor to public entities or in conjunction with 

11 Federal programs; and 

12 ‘‘(vi) current funding resources across 

13 agencies. 

14 ‘‘(C) The strategy for integrating com15 modity flow studies, mapping, and rail and haz16 ardous materials databases for State and local 

17 emergency responders and increasing the rate of 

18 access to the individual responder in existing or 

19 emerging communications technology. 

20 ‘‘(7) REPORT.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

22 after the date of the enactment of the RE23 SPONSE Act of 2016, the RESPONSE Sub24 committee shall submit a report to the National 

25 Advisory Council that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) includes the recommendations de2 veloped under paragraph (6); 

3 ‘‘(ii) specifies the timeframes for im4 plementing any such recommendations that 

5 do not require congressional action; and 

6 ‘‘(iii) identifies any such recommenda7 tions that do require congressional action. 

8 ‘‘(B) REVIEW.—Not later than 30 days 

9 after receiving the report under subparagraph 

10 (A), the National Advisory Council shall begin a 

11 review of the report. The National Advisory 

12 Council may ask for additional clarification, 

13 changes, or other information from the RE14 SPONSE Subcommittee to assist in the approval 

15 of the recommendations. 

16 ‘‘(C) RECOMMENDATION.—Once the Na17 tional Advisory Council approves the rec18 ommendations of the RESPONSE Sub19 committee, the National Advisory Council shall 

20 submit the report to— 

21 ‘‘(i) the co-chairpersons of the RE22 SPONSE Subcommittee; 

23 ‘‘(ii) the head of each other agency rep24 resented on the RESPONSE Subcommittee; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the Committee on Homeland Se2 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Sen3 ate; 

4 ‘‘(iv) the Committee on Commerce, 

5 Science, and Transportation of the Senate; 

6 ‘‘(v) the Committee on Homeland Secu7 rity of the House of Representatives; and 

8 ‘‘(vi) the Committee on Transportation 

9 and Infrastructure of the House of Rep10 resentatives. 

11 ‘‘(8) INTERIM ACTIVITY.— 

12 ‘‘(A) UPDATES AND OVERSIGHT.—After the 

13 submission of the report by the National Advi14 sory Council under paragraph (7), the Adminis15 trator shall— 

16 ‘‘(i) provide annual updates to the con17 gressional committees referred to in para18 graph (7)(C) regarding the status of the im19 plementation of the recommendations devel20 oped under paragraph (6); and 

21 ‘‘(ii) coordinate the implementation of 

22 the recommendations described in para23 graph (6)(G)(i), as appropriate. 

24 ‘‘(B) SUNSET.—The requirements of sub25 paragraph (A) shall terminate on the date that 


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1 is 2 years after the date of the submission of the 

2 report required under paragraph (7)(A). 

3 ‘‘(9) TERMINATION.—The RESPONSE Sub4 committee shall terminate not later than 90 days 

5 after the submission of the report required under 

6 paragraph (7)(C).’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 632 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 546 

[Report No. 114–808] 

A BILL 

To establish the Railroad Emergency Services Preinvolving railroads, and for other purposes. sources relating to hazardous materials incidents tions on emergency responder training and re- tional Advisory Council to provide recommenda- Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Na- uation (RESPONSE) Subcommittee under the paredness, Operational Needs, and Safety EvalNOVEMBER 14, 2016 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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