IIA

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2178

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 22, 1993

Received

NOVEMBER 23, 1993

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and

Transportation

AN ACT

To amend the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act to

authorize appropriations for fiscal years 1994, 1995,

1996, and 1997, 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 AND REFERENCE.

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

5 ‘‘Hazardous Materials Transportation Act Amendments of

6 1993’’.

7 (b) REFERENCE.—Whenever in this Act an amend8 ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment

9 to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference
2

•HR 2178 RFS

1 shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi2 sion of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act.

3 SEC. 2. REGISTRATION.

4 Section 106(c) (49 U.S.C. App. 1805(c)) is amended

5 by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘(16) AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY TO WAIVE

7 MANDATORY FILING REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary

8 may waive the filing of a registration statement, or

9 the payment of a fee, required under this subsection,

10 or both, for any person not domiciled in the United

11 States who solely offers hazardous materials for

12 transportation to the United States from a place

13 outside the United States if the country of which

14 such person is a domiciliary does not require persons

15 domiciled in the United States who solely offer haz16 ardous materials for transportation to the foreign

17 country from places in the United States to file reg18 istration statements, or to pay fees, for making such

19 an offer.’’.

20 SEC. 3. TIME FOR SECRETARIAL ACTION.

21 (a) SECTION 107.—Section 107(a) (49 U.S.C. App.

22 1806(a)) is amended by inserting at the end the following:

23 ‘‘The Secretary shall issue or renew the exemption for

24 which an application was filed or deny such issuance or

25 renewal within 180 days of the first day of the month fol-
3

•HR 2178 RFS

1 lowing the date of the filing of such application or the

2 Secretary shall publish a statement in the Federal Reg3 ister of the reason why the Secretary’s decision on the ex4 emption is delayed with an estimate of the additional time

5 necessary before the decision is made.’’

6 (b) SECTION 112.—Section 112(c)(1) (49 U.S.C.

7 App. 1811(c)(1)) is amended by inserting after the second

8 sentence the following: ‘‘The Secretary shall issue a deci9 sion on an application for a determination within 180 days

10 of the date of the publication of the notice of having re11 ceived such application or the Secretary shall publish a

12 statement in the Federal Register of the reason why the

13 Secretary’s decision on the application is delayed with an

14 estimate of the additional time necessary before the deci15 sion is made.’’

16 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

17 Section 115(a) (49 U.S.C. App. 1812(a)) is amended

18 to read as follows:

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro20 priated for carrying out this title (other than sections 117,

21 117A, 118, and 121) not to exceed $18,000,000 for fiscal

22 year 1994, $18,540,000 for fiscal year 1995, $19,100,000

23 for fiscal year 1996, and $19,670,000 for fiscal year

24 1997.’’.
4

•HR 2178 RFS

1 SEC. 5. TRAINING.

2 (a) SUPPLEMENTAL PUBLIC SECTOR TRAINING

3 GRANTS.—Section 117A (49 U.S.C. App. 1815) is amend4 ed by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘(j) SUPPLEMENTAL TRAINING GRANTS.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In order to further the pur7 poses of subsection (b), relating to training public

8 sector employees to respond to accidents and inci9 dents involving hazardous materials, the Secretary

10 shall make grants to national nonprofit employee or11 ganizations engaged solely in fighting fires for the

12 purpose of training individuals with statutory re13 sponsibility to respond to hazardous materials acci14 dents and incidents.

15 ‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds granted to an or16 ganization under this subsection may be used—

17 ‘‘(A) to identify regions or locations in

18 which fire departments are in need of hazard19 ous materials training;

20 ‘‘(B) to prioritize such needs and develop

21 a means for evaluating specific training needs;

22 ‘‘(C) to train instructors to conduct haz23 ardous materials response training programs

24 and evaluate the efficacy of such training pro25 grams;
5

•HR 2178 RFS

1 ‘‘(D) to purchase training equipment for

2 such training programs; and

3 ‘‘(E) to disseminate on a nationwide basis

4 the data developed, and the findings derived

5 from projects carried out, under this subsection.

6 ‘‘(3) USE OF TRAINING COURSES.—The Sec7 retary may only make a grant to an organization

8 under this subsection in a fiscal year if the organiza9 tion enters into an agreement with the Secretary to

10 use in such fiscal year—

11 ‘‘(A) a course or courses developed or iden12 tified under section 117A(g); or

13 ‘‘(B) other courses which the Secretary de14 termines are consistent with the objectives of

15 this subsection;

16 for training individuals with statutory responsibility

17 to respond to accidents and incidents involving haz18 ardous materials.

19 ‘‘(4) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—The Secretary

20 may impose such additional terms and conditions on

21 grants to be made under this subsection as the Sec22 retary determines are necessary to protect the inter23 ests of the United States and to carry out the objec24 tives of this subsection.
6

•HR 2178 RFS

1 ‘‘(k) REPORTS.—Not later than September 30, 1997,

2 the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the

3 allocation and uses of training grants authorized under

4 subsection (b) for fiscal years 1993 through fiscal year

5 1996 and grants authorized under subsection (j) and sec6 tion 118 for fiscal years 1995 and 1996. Such report shall

7 identify the ultimate recipients of training grants and in8 clude a detailed accounting of all grant expenditures by

9 grant recipients, the number of employees trained under

10 the grant programs, and an evaluation of the efficacy of

11 training programs carried out.’’.

12 (b) FUNDING.—Section 117A(i)(2) (49 U.S.C. App.

13 1815(i)(2)) is amended—

14 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A) GENERAL PROGRAM.—’’

15 before ‘‘There’’;

16 (2) by indenting subparagraph (A), as so des17 ignated, and moving subparagraph (A) 2 ems to the

18 right; and

19 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub20 paragraph:

21 ‘‘(B) SUPPLEMENTAL PROGRAM.—

22 ‘‘(i) FROM FEES.—There shall be

23 available to the Secretary for carrying out

24 subsection (j), from amounts in the ac25 count established pursuant to subsection
7

•HR 2178 RFS

1 (h), $250,000 per fiscal year for each of

2 fiscal years 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998.

3 ‘‘(ii) FROM GENERAL REVENUES.—In

4 addition to amounts made available under

5 clause (i), there is authorized to be appro6 priated to the Secretary for carrying out

7 subsection (j) $1,000,000 per fiscal year

8 for each of fiscal years 1995, 1996, 1997,

9 and 1998.’’.

10 (c) HAZMAT EMPLOYEE TRAINING PROGRAM.—Sec11 tion 118 (49 U.S.C. App. 1816) is amended—

12 (1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘may’’ and in13 serting ‘‘shall, subject to the availability of funds

14 under subsection (d),’’;

15 (2) in subsection (b) by striking ‘‘National’’ and

16 all that follows through ‘‘Labor’’ and inserting ‘‘Sec17 retary’’;

18 (3) in subsection (c) by inserting ‘‘hazmat em19 ployee’’ after ‘‘nonprofit’’; and

20 (4) by striking subsection (d) and inserting the

21 following:

22 ‘‘(d) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro23 priated to the Secretary to carry out this section

24 $3,000,000 per fiscal year for each of fiscal years 1995,

25 1996, 1997, and 1998.’’.
8

•HR 2178 RFS

1 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 117A(h)

2 (49 U.S.C. App. 1815(h)) is amended—

3 (1) in paragraph (2)(H) by striking ‘‘and sec4 tion 118’’;

5 (2) in paragraph (6)(B)(i) by striking ‘‘and sec6 tion 118’’; and

7 (3) in paragraph (6)(B)(iii) by striking ‘‘and

8 section 118’’.

9 SEC. 6. COMPUTERIZED TELECOMMUNICATION DATA CEN10 TER PILOT PROJECTS.

11 (a) GRANTS.—The Secretary of Transportation may

12 make grants to 1 or more persons, including a State or

13 local government or department, agency, or instrumental14 ity thereof, to carry out a pilot project to demonstrate the

15 feasibility of establishing and operating computerized tele16 communications emergency response information tech17 nologies that are used—

18 (1) to identify the contents of shipments of haz19 ardous materials transported by motor carriers;

20 (2) to permit retrieval of data on shipments of

21 hazardous materials transported by motor carriers;

22 (3) to link systems that identify, store, and

23 allow the retrieval of data for emergency response to

24 incidents and accidents involving transportation of

25 hazardous materials by motor carrier; and
9

•HR 2178 RFS

1 (4) to provide information to facilitate re2 sponses to accidents and incidents involving hazard3 ous materials shipments by motor carriers either di4 rectly or through linkage with other systems.

5 (b) SELECTION OF CARRIERS.—The pilot project to

6 be carried out under this section must involve 2 or more

7 motor carriers of property. One of the motor carriers se8 lected to participate in the project must be a carrier that

9 transports mostly hazardous materials. The other motor

10 carrier selected must be a regular-route common carrier

11 that specializes in transporting less than truck-load ship12 ments. The motor carriers selected may be engaged in

13 multimodal movements of hazardous materials with other

14 motor carriers, rail carriers, or water carriers.

15 (c) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—The Secretary may

16 impose such terms and conditions on grants to be made

17 under this section as the Secretary determines are nec18 essary to protect the interests of the United States and

19 to carry out the objectives of this section.

20 (d) COORDINATION.—To the maximum extent prac21 ticable, the Secretary of Transportation shall coordinate

22 a pilot project to be carried out under this section with

23 any existing Federal, State, and local government projects

24 and private projects which are similar to the pilot project

25 to be carried out under this section. The Secretary may
10

•HR 2178 RFS

1 require that a pilot project under this section be carried

2 out in conjunction with such similar Federal, State, and

3 local government projects and private projects.

4 (e) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the cost

5 of a pilot project carried out under this section shall be

6 100 percent, unless the grantee selected to carry out such

7 project agrees to a lower Federal share.

8 (f) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 1997, the

9 Secretary of Transportation shall transmit to Congress a

10 report on the results of pilot projects carried out under

11 this section.

12 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

13 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

14 $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1995 and 1996. Such

15 sums shall remain available until expended.

16 SEC. 7. STUDY OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS TRANSPOR17 TATION BY MOTOR CARRIERS NEAR FED18 ERAL PRISONS.

19 (a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Transportation shall

20 conduct a study to determine the safety considerations of

21 transporting hazardous materials by motor carriers in

22 close proximity to Federal prisons, particularly those hous23 ing maximum security prisoners. Such study shall include

24 an evaluation of the ability of such facilities and the des25 ignated local planning agencies to safely evacuate such
11

•HR 2178 RFS

1 prisoners in the event of an emergency and any special

2 training, equipment, or personnel that would be required

3 by such facility and the designated local emergency plan4 ning agencies to carry out such evacuation. Such study

5 shall not apply to or address issues concerning rail trans6 portation of hazardous materials.

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

8 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor9 tation shall transmit to Congress a report on the results

10 of the study conducted under this section, along with the

11 Secretary’s recommendations for any legislative or regu12 latory changes to enhance the safety regarding the trans13 portation of hazardous materials by motor carriers near

14 Federal prisons.

15 SEC. 8. USE OF FIBRE DRUM PACKAGING.

16 (a) INITIATION OF RULEMAKING PROCEEDING.—Not

17 later than the 60th day following the date of the enact18 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall

19 initiate a rulemaking proceeding to determine whether the

20 requirements of section 105(a) of the Hazardous Materials

21 Transportation Act as they pertain to openhead fiber

22 drum packaging can be met for the domestic transpor23 tation of liquid hazardous materials (with respect to those

24 classifications of liquid hazardous materials transported

25 by such drums pursuant to regulations in effect on Sep-
12

•HR 2178 RFS

1 tember 30, 1991) with standards other than the perform2 ance oriented packaging standards adopted under docket

3 number HM–181 contained in part 178 of title 49, Code

4 of Federal Regulations.

5 (b) ISSUANCE OF STANDARDS.—If the Secretary of

6 Transportation determines, as a result of the rulemaking

7 proceeding initiated under subsection (a), that a packag8 ing standard other than the performance oriented packag9 ing standards referred to in subsection (a) will provide an

10 equal or greater level of safety for the domestic transpor11 tation of liquid hazardous materials than would be pro12 vided if such performance oriented packaging standards

13 were in effect, the Secretary shall issue regulations which

14 implement such other standard and which take effect be15 fore October 1, 1996.

16 (c) COMPLETION OF RULEMAKING PROCEEDING.—

17 The rulemaking proceeding initiated under subsection (a)

18 shall be completed before October 1, 1995.

19 (d) LIMITATIONS.—

20 (1) LIMITATION ON APPLICABILITY.—The pro21 visions of subsections (a), (b), and (c) shall not

22 apply to packaging for those hazardous materials

23 regulated by the Department of Transportation as

24 poisonous by inhalation under the Hazardous Mate25 rials Transportation Act.
13

•HR 2178 RFS

1 (2) LIMITATION OF STATUTORY CONSTRUC2 TION.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to

3 prohibit the Secretary of Transportation from issu4 ing or enforcing regulations for the international

5 transportation of hazardous materials.

6 SEC. 9. BUY AMERICA.

7 (a) COMPLIANCE WITH BUY AMERICAN ACT.—None

8 of the funds made available under this Act may be ex9 pended in violation of sections 2 through 4 of the Act of

10 March 3, 1933 (41 U.S.C. 10a–10c; popularly known as

11 the ‘‘Buy American Act’’), which are applicable to those

12 funds.

13 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS; REQUIREMENT REGARD14 ING NOTICE.—

15 (1) PURCHASE OF AMERICAN-MADE EQUIPMENT

16 AND PRODUCTS.—In the case of any equipment or

17 products that may be authorized to be purchased

18 with financial assistance provided under this Act, it

19 is the sense of Congress that entities receiving such

20 assistance should, in expending such assistance, pur21 chase only American-made equipment and products.

22 (2) NOTICE TO RECIPIENTS OF ASSISTANCE.—

23 In providing financial assistance under this Act, the

24 Secretary of Transportation shall provide to each re-
14

•HR 2178 RFS

1 cipient of the assistance a notice describing the

2 statement made in paragraph (1) by Congress.

3 (c) PROHIBITION OF CONTRACTS.—If it has been fi4 nally determined by a court or Federal agency that any

5 person intentionally affixed a label bearing a ‘‘Made In

6 America’’ inscription, or any inscription with the same

7 meaning, to any product sold in or shipped to the United

8 States that is not made in the United States, such person

9 shall be ineligible to receive any contract or subcontract

10 made with funds provided pursuant to this Act, pursuant

11 to the debarment, suspension, and ineligibility procedures

12 described in sections 9.400 through 9.409 of title 48, Code

13 of Federal Regulations.

14 (d) RECIPROCITY.—

15 (1) GENERAL RULE.—Except as provided in

16 paragraph (2), no contract or subcontract may be

17 made with funds authorized under this Act to a

18 company organized under the laws of a foreign coun19 try unless the Secretary of Transportation finds that

20 such country affords comparable opportunities to

21 companies organized under laws of the United

22 States.

23 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—

24 (A) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Secretary

25 of Transportation may waive the provisions of
15

•HR 2178 RFS

1 paragraph (1) if the products or services re2 quired are not reasonably available from compa3 nies organized under the laws of the United

4 States. Any such waiver shall be reported to

5 Congress.

6 (B) LIMITATION ON APPLICABILITY.—

7 Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the extent that

8 to do so would violate the General Agreement

9 on Tariffs and Trade or any other international

10 agreement to which the United States is a

11 party.

12 SEC. 10. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

13 (a) PACKAGING.—

14 (1) Sections 103(5)(B), 103(6)(A)(iii), and

15 109(c) (49 U.S.C. App. 1802(5)(B), 1802(6)(A)(iii),

16 1808(c)) are each amended by striking ‘‘packages’’

17 and inserting ‘‘packaging’’.

18 (2) Sections 105(a)(3), 105(a)(4)(B)(v),

19 110(a)(1), and 120 (49 U.S.C. App. 1804(a)(3),

20 1804(a)(4)(B)(v), 1809(a)(1), 1818) are each

21 amended by striking ‘‘a package or container’’ and

22 inserting ‘‘packaging and a container’’.

23 (3) Section 106(c)(1)(B) (49 U.S.C. App.

24 1805(c)(1)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘a bulk pack-
16

•HR 2178 RFS

1 age’’ and inserting ‘‘bulk packaging’’ and by striking

2 ‘‘the package’’ and inserting ‘‘the bulk packaging’’.

3 (b) OTHER.—Section 105(a)(3) (49 U.S.C. App.

4 1804(a)(3)) is amended by inserting ‘‘hazardous mate5 rials’’ after ‘‘shipped’’ and section 105(e)(1) (49 U.S.C

6 App. 1804(e)(1)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, or a compo7 nent of a container or package,’’ after ‘‘package’’.

Passed the House of Representatives November 21,

1993.

Attest: DONNALD K. ANDERSON,

Clerk.

HR 2178 RFS——2