Ω146æSEC. 343. Funds provided in this Act for bo-
nuses and cash awards for employees of the Department of
Transportation shall be reduced by $513,604 which limits
fiscal year 1997 obligation authority to no more than
$25,448,300: Provided, That this provision shall be applied
to funds for Senior Executive Service bonuses, merit pay,
and other bonuses and cash awards.
Ω147æSEC. 344. Hereinafter, the National Passenger
Railroad Corporation shall be exempted from any State or
local law relating to the payment or delivery of abandoned
or unclaimed personal property to any government author-
ity, including any provision for the enforcement thereof,
with respect to passenger rail tickets for which no refund
has been or may be claimed, and such law shall not apply
to funds held by Amtrak as a result of the purchase of tickets
after April 30, 1972 for which no refund has been claimed.
Ω148æSEC. 345. Notwithstanding any other provision
in law, of the amounts made available under the Federal
Aviation Administration’s operations account, the FAA
shall provide personnel at Dutch Harbor, Alaska to provide
real-time weather and runway observation and other such
functions to help ensure the safety of aviation operations.
Ω149æSEC. 346. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.
(a) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section—
(1) the term ‘‘agency’’ means the following agen-
cies of the Department of Transportation:
(A) the United States Coast Guard;
(B) the Research and Special Programs Ad-
ministration;
(C) the St. Lawrence Seaway Development
Corporation;
(D) the Office of the Secretary;
(E) the Federal Railroad Administration;
and
(F) any other agency of the Department
with respect to employees of such agency in posi-
tions targeted for reduction under the National
Performance Review;
(2) the term ‘‘employee’’ means an employee (as
defined by section 2105 of title 5, United States Code)
who is employed by the agency serving under an ap-
pointment without time limitation, and has been cur-
rently employed for a continuous period of at least 3
years, but does not include—
(A) a reemployed annuitant under sub-
chapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of title
5, United States Code, or another retirement sys-
tem for employees of the agency;
(B) an employee having a disability on the
basis of which such employee is or would be eli-
gible for disability retirement under the applica-
ble retirement system referred to in subpara-
graph (A);
(C) an employee who is in receipt of a spe-
cific notice of involuntary separation for mis-
conduct or unacceptable performance;
(D) an employee who, upon completing an
additional period of service as referred to in sec-
tion 3(b)(2)(B)(ii) of the Federal Workforce Re-
structuring Act of 1994 (5 U.S.C. 5597 note),
would qualify for a voluntary separation incen-
tive payment under section 3 of such Act;
(E) an employee who has previously re-
ceived any voluntary separation incentive pay-
ment by the Federal Government under this sec-
tion or any other authority and has not repaid
such payment;
(F) an employee covered by statutory reem-
ployment rights who is on transfer to another or-
ganization; or
(G) any employee who, during the twenty
four month period preceding the date of separa-
tion, has received a recruitment or relocation
bonus under section 5753 of title 5, United
States Code, or who, within the twelve month pe-
riod preceding the date of separation, received a
retention allowance under section 5754 of title 5,
United States Code.
(b) AGENCY STRATEGIC PLAN.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency, prior
to obligating any resources for voluntary separation
incentive payments, shall submit to the House and
Senate Committees on Appropriations and the Com-
mittee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of
the House of Representatives a strategic plan outlin-
ing the intended use of such incentive payments and
a proposed organizational chart for the agency once
such incentive payments have been completed.
(2) CONTENTS.—The agency’s plan shall in-
clude—
(A) the positions and functions to be re-
duced or eliminated, identified by organizational
unit, geographic location, occupational category
and grade level;
(B) the number and amounts of voluntary
separation incentive payments to be offered; and
(C) a description of how the agency will op-
erate without the eliminated positions and func-
tions.
(c) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE VOLUNTARY SEPARATION
INCENTIVE PAYMENTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—A voluntary separation incen-
tive payment under this section may be paid by an
agency to any employee only to the extent necessary
to eliminate the positions and functions identified by
the strategic plan.
(2) AMOUNT AND TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—A
voluntary separation incentive payment—
(A) shall be paid in a lump sum after the
employee’s separation;
(B) shall be paid from appropriations or
funds available for the payment of the basic pay
of the employees;
(C) shall be equal to the lesser of—
(i) an amount equal to the amount the
employee would be entitled to receive under
section 5595(c) of title 5, United States
Code; or
(ii) an amount determined by an agen-
cy head not to exceed $25,000 in fiscal year
1997, $20,000 in fiscal year 1998, $15,000
in fiscal year 1999, or $10,000 in fiscal
year 2000;
(D) shall not be a basis for payment, and
shall not be included in the computation, of any
other type of Government benefit; and
(E) shall not be taken into account in deter-
mining the amount of any severance pay to
which the employee may be entitled under section
5595 of title 5, United States Code, based on any
other separation.
(3) LIMITATION.—No amount shall be payable
under this section based on any separation occurring
before the date of the enactment of this Act, or after
September 30, 2000.
(d) ADDITIONAL AGENCY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE RE-
TIREMENT FUND.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any other pay-
ments which it is required to make under subchapter
III of chapter 83 of title 5, United States Code, an
agency shall remit to the Office of Personnel Manage-
ment for deposit in the Treasury of the United States
to the credit of the Civil Service Retirement and Dis-
ability Fund an amount equal to 15 percent of the
final basic pay of each employee of the agency who
is covered under subchapter III of chapter 83 or chap-
ter 84 of title 5, United States Code, to whom a vol-
untary separation incentive has been paid under this
section.
(2) DEFINITION.—For the purpose of paragraph
(1), the term ‘‘final basic pay’’, with respect to an
employee, means the total amount of basic pay which
would be payable for a year of service by such em-
ployee, computed using the employee’s final rate of
basic pay, and, if last serving on other than a full-
time basis, with appropriate adjustment therefor.
(e) EFFECT OF SUBSEQUENT EMPLOYMENT WITH THE
GOVERNMENT.—An individual who has received a vol-
untary separation incentive payment under this section
and accepts any employment for compensation with the
Government of the United States, or who works for any
agency of the United States Government through a personal
services contract, within 5 years after the date of the separa-
tion on which the payment is based shall be required to
pay, prior to the individual’s first day of employment, the
entire amount of the incentive payment to the agency that
paid the incentive payment.
(f) REDUCTION OF AGENCY EMPLOYMENT LEVELS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The total number of funded
employee positions in an agency shall be reduced by
one position for each vacancy created by the separa-
tion of any employee who has received, or is due to
receive, a voluntary separation incentive payment
under this section. For the purposes of this subsection,
positions shall be counted on a full-time-equivalent
basis.
(2) ENFORCEMENT.—The President, through the
Office of Management and Budget, shall monitor each
agency and take any action necessary to ensure that
the requirements of this subsection are met.
(g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect
October 1, 1996.
Ω150æSEC. 347. (a) REVIEW OF REPORTING OF EX-
CISE TAX DATA.—Prior to September 30, 1996, the Sec-
retary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Transportation
shall conduct a review of the reporting of excise tax data
by the Department of the Treasury to the Department of
Transportation for fiscal year 1994 and its impact on the
allocation of Federal aid highways. If the President certifies
that all of the following conditions are met:
(1) A significant error was made by the Treas-
ury in its estimate of Highway Trust Fund revenues
collected in fiscal year 1994.
(2) The error is fundamentally different from er-
rors routinely made in such estimates in the past.
(3) The error is significant enough to justify the
fiscal year 1997 apportionments and allocations of
Highway Trust Funds be adjusted; and finds that the
provision in subsection (b) corrects these deficiencies,
then subsection (b) will be operative.
(b) CALCULATION OF FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY APPOR-
TIONMENTS AND ALLOCATIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), for fiscal year 1997, the Secretary of
Transportation shall determine the Federal-aid high-
way apportionments and allocations to a State with-
out regard to the approximately $1,596,000,000 credit
to the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass
Transit Account) of estimated taxes paid by States
that was made by the Secretary of the Treasury for
fiscal year 1995 in correction of an accounting error
made in fiscal year 1994.
(2) ADJUSTMENTS FOR EFFECTS IN 1996.—The
Secretary of Transportation shall, for each State—
(A) determine whether the State would have
been apportioned and allocated an increased or
decreased amount for Federal-aid highways for
fiscal year 1996 if the accounting error referred
to in paragraph (1) had not been made (which
determination shall take into account the effects
of section 1003(c) of the Intermodal Surface
Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (Public
Law 102–240; 105 Stat. 1921)); and
(B) after apportionments and allocations
are determined in accordance with paragraph
(1)—
(i) adjust the amount apportioned and
allocated to the State for Federal-aid high-
ways for fiscal year 1997 by the amount of
the increase or decrease; and
(ii) adjust accordingly the obligation
limitation for Federal-aid highways distrib-
uted to the State under this Act.
(3) NO EFFECT ON 1996 DISTRIBUTIONS.—Noth-
ing in this section shall affect any apportionment, al-
location, or distribution of obligation limitation, or
reduction thereof, to a State for Federal-aid highways
for fiscal year 1996.
(4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take ef-
fect on September 30, 1996.
Ω151æSEC. 348. It is the sense of the Senate that Con-
gress should actively consider legislation to establish the
Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation as a
performance-based organization on a pilot basis beginning
in fiscal year 1998.
Ω152æSEC. 349. FEDERAL
AVIATION
ADMINISTRA-
TION PROCUREMENT.
(a) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the
Congress that the Administrator of the Federal Aviation
Administration should promote and encourage the use of
full and open competition as the preferred method of pro-
curement for the Federal Aviation Administration.
(b) INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT.—Not later than De-
cember 31, 1997, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation
Administration shall—
(1) take such action as may be necessary to pro-
vide for an independent assessment of the acquisition
management system of the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration that includes a review of any efforts of the Ad-
ministrator in promoting and encouraging the use of
full and open competition as the preferred method of
procurement with respect to any contract that in-
volves an amount greater than $50,000,000; and
(2) submit to the Congress a report on the find-
ings of that independent assessment.
(c) FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION DEFINED.—For
purposes of this section, the term ‘‘full and open competi-
tion’’ has the meaning provided that term in section 4(6)
of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C.
403(6)).
Ω153æSEC. 350. 49 U.S.C. App. 2311 is amended by
adding the following new subsection:
‘‘(D) NEBRASKA.—In addition to vehicles
which the State of Nebraska may continue to
allow to be operated under paragraphs (1)(a)
and (1)(B) of this section, the State of Nebraska
may allow longer combination vehicles that were
not in actual operation on June 1, 1991 to be
operated within its boundaries to transport
sugar beets from the field where such sugar beets
are harvested to storage, market, factory or stock-
pile or from stockpile to storage, market or fac-
tory. This provision shall expire on September
30, 1997.’’.
Ω154æSEC. 351. (a) Section 120(c) of title 23, United
States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘rail-highway cross-
ing closure,’’ after ‘‘carpooling and vanpooling,’’.
(b) Section 130 of such title is amended by adding at
the end the following:
‘‘(i) INCENTIVE PAYMENTS FOR AT-GRADE CROSSING
CLOSURES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other
provision of this section and subject to paragraphs (2)
and (3), a State may, from sums available to the
State under this section, make incentive payments to
local governments in the State upon the permanent
closure by such governments of public at-grade rail-
way-highway crossings under the jurisdiction of such
governments.
‘‘(2) INCENTIVE
PAYMENTS
BY
RAILROADS.—A
State may not make an incentive payment under
paragraph (1) to a local government with respect to
the closure of a crossing unless the railroad owning
the tracks on which the crossing is located makes an
incentive payment to the government with respect to
the closure.
‘‘(3) AMOUNT OF STATE PAYMENT.—The amount
of the incentive payment payable to a local govern-
ment by a State under paragraph (1) with respect to
a crossing may not exceed the lesser of—
‘‘(A) the amount of the incentive payment
paid to the government with respect to the cross-
ing by the railroad concerned under paragraph
(2); or
‘‘(B) $7,500.
‘‘(4) USE OF STATE PAYMENTS.—A local govern-
ment receiving an incentive payment from a State
under paragraph (1) shall use the amount of the in-
centive payment for transportation safety improve-
ments.’’.
Ω155æSEC. 352. LIMITATION ON FUNDS USED TO EN-
FORCE
REGULATIONS
REGARDING
ANIMAL
FATS AND VEGETABLE OILS.
None of the funds made available in this Act may be
used by the Coast Guard to issue, implement, or enforce
a regulation or to establish an interpretation or guideline
under the Edible Oil Regulatory Reform Act (Public Law
104–55) or the amendments made by that Act that does not
recognize and provide for, with respect to fats, oils, and
greases (as described in that Act or the amendments made
by that Act) differences in—
(1) physical, chemical, biological, and other rel-
evant properties; and
(2) environmental effects.
Ω156æSEC. 353. (a) In cases where an emergency
ocean condition causes erosion of a bank protecting a scenic
highway or byway, fiscal year 1996 or fiscal year 1997 Fed-
eral Highway Administration Emergency Relief funds can
be used to halt the erosion and stabilize the bank if such
action is necessary to protect the highway from imminent
failure and is less expensive than highway relocation.
(b) In cases where an emergency condition causes in-
undation of a roadway or saturation of the subgrade with
further erosion due to abnormal freeze/thaw cycles and
damage caused by traffic, fiscal year 1996 or fiscal year
1997 Federal Highway Administration Emergency Relief
funds can be used to repair such roadway.
(c) Not more than $8,000,000 in Federal Highway
Administration Emergency Relief funds may be used for
each of the conditions referenced in subsections (a) and
(b).
Ω157æSEC. 354. THE RAILROAD SAFETY INSTITUTE.
Of the money available to the Federal Rail Adminis-
tration up to $500,000 shall be made available to establish
and operate the Institute for Railroad Safety as authorized
by the Swift Rail Development Act of 1994.
Ω158æSEC. 355. TRAIN WHISTLE REQUIREMENTS.
No funds shall be made available to implement the reg-
ulations issued under section 20153(b) of title 49, United
States Code, requiring audible warnings to be sounded by
a locomotive horn at highway-rail grade crossings, unless—
(1) in implementing the regulations or providing
an exception to the regulations under section 20153(c)
of such title, the Secretary of Transportation takes
into account, among other criteria—
(A) the interests of the communities that
have in effect restrictions on the sounding of a
locomotive horn at highway-rail grade crossings
as of July 30, 1996; and
(B) the past safety record at each grade
crossing involved; and
(2) whenever the Secretary determines that sup-
plementary safety measures (as that term is defined
in section 20153(a) of title 49, United States Code)
are necessary to provide an exception referred to in
paragraph (1), the Secretary—
(A) having considered the extent to which
local communities have established public aware-
ness initiatives and highway-rail crossing traffic
law enforcement programs allows for a period of
not to exceed 3 years, beginning on the date of
that determination, for the installation of those
measures; and
(B) works in partnership with affected com-
munities to provide technical assistance and to
develop a reasonable schedule for the installation
of those measures.
Ω159æSEC. 356. No funds appropriated under this Act
shall be used to levy penalties prior to September 1, 1997,
on the States of Maine or New Hampshire based on non-
compliance with Federal vehicle weight limitations.
TITLE IV—MISCELLANEOUS HIGHWAY
PROVISIONS
Ω160æSEC. 401. Notwithstanding any other provision
of law, semitrailer units operating in a truck tractor-
semitrailer combination whose semitrailer unit is more
than
forty-eight
feet
in
length
and
truck
tractor-
semitrailer-trailer
combinations
specified
in
section
31111(b)(1) of title 49, United States Code, may not oper-
ate on United States Route 15 in Virginia between the
Maryland border and the intersection with United States
Route 29.
Ω161æSEC. 402. Item 30 of the table contained in
section 1107(b) of the Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act of 1991 (105 Stat. 2050), relating to Mo-
bile, Alabama, is amended in the second column by insert-
ing after ‘‘Alabama’’ the following: ‘‘and for feasibility
studies, preliminary engineering, and construction of a
new bridge and approaches over the Mobile River’’.
Ω162æSEC. 403. Item 94 of the table contained in
section 1107(b) of the Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act of 1991 (105 Stat. 2052), relating to St.
Thomas, Virgin Islands, is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘St. Thomas,’’; and
(2) by inserting after ‘‘the island’’ the follow-
ing: ‘‘of St. Thomas and improvements to the VIPA