I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4714 
To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize appropriations for 
the National Transportation Safety Board for fiscal years 2011 through 
2014, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 2, 2010 
Mr. OBERSTAR (for himself, Mr. MICA, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. PETRI, Mr. 
DEFAZIO, Ms. NORTON, and Mr. CUMMINGS) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infra-
structure 
A BILL 
To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize appro-
priations for the National Transportation Safety Board 
for fiscal years 2011 through 2014, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘National Transportation Safety Board Reauthorization 
Act of 2010’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.— 
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Amendments to title 49, United States Code. 
Sec. 3. Definitions. 
Sec. 4. General organization. 
Sec. 5. Administrative. 
Sec. 6. Recordings, transcripts, and investigations. 
Sec. 7. Training. 
Sec. 8. Reports and studies. 
Sec. 9. Authorization of appropriations. 
Sec. 10. Accident investigation authority. 
Sec. 11. Maritime casualty investigations. 
Sec. 12. Inspections and autopsies. 
Sec. 13. Discovery and use of cockpit and surface vehicle recordings and tran-
scripts. 
Sec. 14. Family assistance. 
Sec. 15. Coast Guard notification. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 49, UNITED STATES CODE. 
Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 
of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi-
sion of law, the reference shall be considered to be made 
to a section or other provision of title 49, United States 
Code. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 1101 is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 1101. Definitions 
‘‘(a) ACCIDENT DEFINED.—In this chapter, the term 
‘accident’— 
‘‘(1) means an event associated with the oper-
ation of a vehicle, aircraft, or pipeline, which results 
in damage to or destruction of the vehicle, aircraft 
or pipeline, or which results in the death of or seri-
ous injury to any person, regardless of whether the 
initiating event is accidental or otherwise; and 
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‘‘(2) may include an incident that does not in-
volve destruction or damage of a vehicle, aircraft, or 
pipeline, but affects transportation safety, as the 
Board prescribes by regulation. 
‘‘(b) APPLICABILITY
OF DEFINITIONS
IN OTHER 
LAWS.—The definitions contained in section 2101(17a) of 
title 46 and section 40102(a) of this title apply to this 
chapter.’’. 
SEC. 4. GENERAL ORGANIZATION. 
The last sentence of section 1111(d) is amended by 
striking ‘‘absent’’ and inserting ‘‘unavailable’’. 
SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATIVE. 
(a) ADDITIONAL POWERS.— 
(1) AUTHORITY
OF
BOARD
TO
ENTER
INTO 
CONTRACTS AND OTHER AGREEMENTS WITH NON-
PROFIT
ENTITIES.—Section 
1113(b)(1)(H) 
is 
amended by inserting ‘‘and other agreements’’ after 
‘‘contracts’’. 
(2) AUTHORITY OF BOARD TO ENTER INTO AND 
PERFORM
CONTRACTS, AGREEMENTS, LEASES, OR 
OTHER
TRANSACTIONS.—Section 
1113(b)(1) 
is 
amended— 
(A) by striking paragraph (1)(I) and in-
serting the following: 
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‘‘(I) negotiate, enter into, and perform con-
tracts, agreements, leases, or other transactions with 
individuals, private entities, departments, agencies, 
and instrumentalities of the Government, State and 
local governments, and governments of foreign coun-
tries on such terms and conditions as the Chairman 
of the Board considers appropriate to carry out the 
functions of the Board and require that such entities 
provide appropriate consideration for the reasonable 
costs of any facilities, goods, services, or training 
provided by the Board.’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) The Authority of the Board to enter into leases 
shall be limited to the provision of special use space re-
lated to an accident investigation, or for general use space, 
at an average annual rental cost of not more than 
$300,000 for any individual property.’’. 
(3) AUTHORITY
OF
OTHER
FEDERAL
AGEN-
CIES.—Section 1113(b)(2) is amended to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(2) AUTHORITY OF OTHER FEDERAL AGEN-
CIES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
the head of a Federal department, agency, or instru-
mentality may transfer to or receive from the Board, 
with or without reimbursement, supplies, personnel, 
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services, and equipment (other than administrative 
supplies and equipment).’’. 
(b) CRITERIA ON PUBLIC HEARINGS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1113 is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(i) PUBLIC HEARINGS.— 
‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT OF CRITERIA.—The Board 
shall establish by regulation criteria to be used by 
the Board in determining, for each accident inves-
tigation and safety study undertaken by the Board, 
whether or not the Board will hold a public hearing 
on the investigation or study. 
‘‘(2) FACTORS.—In developing the criteria, the 
Board shall give priority consideration to the fol-
lowing factors: 
‘‘(A) Whether the accident has caused sig-
nificant loss of life. 
‘‘(B) Whether the accident has caused sig-
nificant property damage. 
‘‘(C) Whether the accident may involve a 
national transportation safety issue. 
‘‘(D) Whether a public hearing may pro-
vide needed information to the Board. 
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‘‘(E) Whether a public hearing may offer 
an opportunity to educate the public on a safety 
issue. 
‘‘(F) Whether a public hearing may in-
crease both the transparency of the Board’s in-
vestigative process and public confidence that 
such process is comprehensive, accurate, and 
unbiased. 
‘‘(G) Whether a public hearing is likely to 
significantly delay the conclusion of an inves-
tigation and whether the possible adverse ef-
fects of the delay on safety outweigh the bene-
fits of a public hearing.’’. 
(2) ANNUAL REPORT.—Section 1117 is amend-
ed— 
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para-
graph (5); 
(B) by striking the period at the end of 
paragraph (6) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(7) an analysis of the Board’s implementation 
of the criteria established pursuant to section 
1113(i) during the prior calendar year, including an 
explanation of any instance in which the Board did 
not hold a public hearing for an investigation of an 
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accident that has caused significant loss of life or 
property damage or that may involve a national 
transportation safety issue.’’. 
SEC. 6. RECORDINGS, TRANSCRIPTS, AND INVESTIGATIONS. 
(a) VESSEL RECORDINGS AND TRANSCRIPTS.—Sec-
tion 1114 is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(1) by striking ‘‘and (f)’’ 
and inserting ‘‘(e), and (g)’’; 
(2) in subsection (d)(1) by striking ‘‘or vessel’’; 
(3) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 
subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and 
(4) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(e) VESSEL RECORDINGS AND TRANSCRIPTS.— 
‘‘(1) CONFIDENTIALITY
OF
RECORDINGS
AND 
TRANSCRIPTS.—The Board may not disclose publicly 
any part of a vessel’s voice or video recorder record-
ing or transcript of oral communications by or 
among the crew, pilots, or docking masters of a ves-
sel, vessel traffic services, or other vessels, or be-
tween the vessel’s crew and company communication 
centers, related to an accident investigated by the 
Board. However, the Board shall make public any 
part of a transcript or any written depiction of vis-
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ual information that the Board decides is relevant to 
the accident— 
‘‘(A) if the Board holds a public hearing 
on the accident, at the time of the hearing; or 
‘‘(B) if the Board does not hold a public 
hearing, at the time a majority of the other fac-
tual reports on the accident are placed in the 
public docket. 
‘‘(2) REFERENCES TO INFORMATION IN MAKING 
SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS.—This subsection does 
not prevent the Board from referring at any time to 
voice or video recorder information in making safety 
recommendations.’’. 
(b) PARTY REPRESENTATIVES TO NTSB INVESTIGA-
TIONS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Section 1114 is further 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(h) PARTY REPRESENTATIVES TO NTSB INVES-
TIGATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) PROHIBITION ON DISCLOSURE OF INFOR-
MATION.—A party representative to an accident in-
vestigation of the Board is prohibited from dis-
closing, orally or in written form, investigative infor-
mation, as defined by the Board, to anyone who is 
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not an employee of the Board or who is not a party 
representative to such investigation, except— 
‘‘(A) as provided in paragraph (2); or 
‘‘(B) at the conclusion of the fact finding 
stage of an investigation, which the investi-
gator-in-charge shall announce by formal post-
ing of a notice in the publicly available inves-
tigation docket. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—If the investigator-in-charge 
determines that a disclosure of information related 
to an accident investigation is necessary to prevent 
additional accidents, to address a perceived safety 
deficiency, or to assist in the conduct of the inves-
tigation, the investigator-in-charge may at any time 
authorize in writing a party representative to dis-
close such information under conditions approved by 
the investigator-in-charge. Such conditions shall en-
sure that, until the posting of a formal notice de-
scribed in paragraph (1)(B), or until the information 
disclosed pursuant to this paragraph becomes pub-
licly available by any other means, neither the entity 
represented by the party representative nor any 
other person may use such information in prepara-
tion for the prosecution of any claim or defense in 
litigation in connection with the accident being in-
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vestigated or to make or deny any insurance claim 
in connection with such accident. 
‘‘(3) COMPLIANCE.—The Board shall require 
any individual who is a party representative to an 
investigation of the Board to sign a party agreement 
that includes language informing the individual of 
the prohibition in paragraph (1). 
‘‘(4) REPRESENTATIVES
OF
FEDERAL
AGEN-
CIES.—Paragraph (3) shall not apply to an indi-
vidual who is a representative of the Secretary of 
Transportation, the Secretary of the department in 
which the Coast Guard is operating, or any other 
Federal department, agency, or instrumentality par-
ticipating in the investigation and deemed by the 
Board to be performing a law enforcement or similar 
function. 
‘‘(5) PARTY
REPRESENTATIVE
DEFINED.—In 
this subsection, the term ‘party representative’ 
means an individual representing a party to an in-
vestigation pursuant to section 831.11 of title 49, 
Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on the date 
of enactment of this subsection.’’. 
(2) CIVIL PENALTY.—Section 1151 is amend-
ed— 
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(A) in the section heading by striking 
‘‘Aviation enforcement’’ and inserting 
‘‘Enforcement’’; and 
(B) 
by 
inserting 
‘‘1114(h),’’ 
before 
‘‘1132,’’ in each of subsections (a), (b)(1), and 
(c). 
(3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis 
for chapter 11 is amended by striking the item relat-
ing to section 1151 and inserting the following: 
‘‘1151. Enforcement.’’. 
(c) GAO STUDY OF PARTY PROCESS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Comptroller General 
shall conduct a study on the use of party representa-
tives in investigations conducted by the National 
Transportation Safety Board. 
(2) CONTENTS.—In conducting the study, the 
Comptroller General shall examine, at a minimum— 
(A) whether the composition of the party 
representatives should be broadened to include 
on-going representatives from other entities 
that could provide independent, technically 
qualified representatives to a Board investiga-
tion; 
(B) whether the participation of party rep-
resentatives in a Board investigation results in 
any unfair advantages for the entities rep-
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resented by the party representatives while the 
Board is conducting the investigation; 
(C) whether the use of party representa-
tives leads to bias in the outcome of a Board 
investigation; and 
(D) whether Board investigations would be 
compromised in any way absent the participa-
tion and expertise of party representatives. 
(3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 18 
months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Comptroller General shall submit to the Committee 
on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 
of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report 
on the results of the study conducted under this sub-
section, including any recommendations for improve-
ments in the Board’s use of the party representative 
process. 
SEC. 7. TRAINING. 
Section 1115(d) is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘theory and techniques and on 
transportation safety methods to advance Board 
safety recommendations’’ before the period at the 
end of the first sentence; 
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(2) by inserting ‘‘or who influence the course of 
transportation safety through support or adoption of 
Board safety recommendations’’ before the period at 
the end of the second sentence; and 
(3) by inserting ‘‘under section 1118(c)(2)’’ be-
fore the period at the end of the third sentence. 
SEC. 8. REPORTS AND STUDIES. 
(a) 
STUDIES
AND
INVESTIGATIONS.—Section 
1116(b) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘carry out’’ 
and inserting ‘‘conduct’’; and 
(2) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(3) prescribe requirements for persons report-
ing accidents, as defined in section 1101(a), that 
may be investigated by the Board under this chap-
ter;’’. 
(b) EVALUATION AND AUDIT.—Section 1138(a) is 
amended by striking ‘‘conducted at least annually, but 
may be’’. 
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1118(a) is amended to 
read as follows: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro-
priated for the purposes of this chapter— 
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‘‘(1) $117,368,000 for fiscal year 2011; 
‘‘(2) $120,258,000 for fiscal year 2012; 
‘‘(3) $122,187,000 for fiscal year 2013; and 
‘‘(4) $124,158,000 for fiscal year 2014. 
Such sums shall remain available until expended.’’. 
(b) FEES, REFUNDS, REIMBURSEMENTS, AND AD-
VANCES.—Section 1118(c) is amended— 
(1) by striking the subsection heading and in-
serting the following: ‘‘FEES, REFUNDS, REIM-
BURSEMENTS, AND ADVANCES’’; 
(2) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘and reimbursements’’ and 
inserting ‘‘reimbursements, and advances’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘services’’ and inserting 
‘‘activities, services, and facilities’’; 
(3) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 
(A) by striking ‘‘or reimbursement’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘reimbursement, or advance’’; and 
(B) in each of subparagraphs (A) and (B) 
by striking ‘‘activities’’ and all that follows be-
fore the semicolon and inserting ‘‘activities, 
services, or facilities for which the fee, refund, 
reimbursement, or advance is associated’’; 
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(4) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para-
graph (4); 
(5) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(3) ANNUAL RECORD OF COLLECTIONS.—The 
Board shall maintain an annual record of collections 
received under paragraph (2).’’; and 
(6) in paragraph (4) (as redesignated by para-
graph (4) of this subsection) by inserting ‘‘or ad-
vance’’ after ‘‘fee’’. 
SEC. 10. ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION AUTHORITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1131(a)(1) is amended— 
(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) 
by striking ‘‘cause or probable cause’’ and inserting 
‘‘causes or probable causes’’; 
(2) in subparagraph (C) by striking ‘‘a fatality 
or substantial property damage’’ and inserting ‘‘a 
fatality (other than a fatality involving a trespasser) 
or substantial property damage’’; 
(3) in subparagraph (E) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
(4) in subparagraph (F) by striking the period 
at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 
(5) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(G) an accident in response to an international 
request and delegation under appropriate inter-
national conventions, coordinated through the De-
partment of State and accepted by the Board; and 
‘‘(H) each accident involving a commercial 
space launch vehicle.’’. 
(b) AUTHORITIES OF OTHER AGENCIES.—The sec-
ond sentence of section 1131(a)(3) is amended by insert-
ing ‘‘or relevant to’’ after ‘‘developed about’’. 
(c) ACCIDENTS NOT INVOLVING GOVERNMENT MIS-
FEASANCE
OR
NONFEASANCE.—Section 
1131(c) 
is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) AUTHORITY
OF
BOARD
REPRESENTA-
TIVE.—In the case of a delegation of authority 
under paragraph (1), the Secretary, or a person des-
ignated by the Secretary, shall have the authority of 
the Board, on display of appropriate credentials and 
written notice of inspection authority, to enter prop-
erty where the aircraft accident has occurred or 
wreckage from the accident is located and to gather 
evidence in support of a Board investigation, in ac-
cordance with rules the Board may prescribe.’’. 
(d) INCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS.—Section 1131 is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(f) INCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS.— 
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‘‘(1) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—Not 
later than 90 days after the issuance of final regula-
tions under section 1101(a)(2), the Chairman of the 
Board shall seek to enter into a memorandum of un-
derstanding with the Secretary of Transportation 
and the head of each modal administration of the 
Department of Transportation that sets forth— 
‘‘(A) an understanding of the conditions 
under which the Board will conduct an incident 
investigation that involves the applicable mode 
of transportation; and 
‘‘(B) the roles and responsibilities of the 
parties to the memorandum when the Board is 
conducting an incident investigation. 
‘‘(2) UPDATES AND RENEWALS.—Each memo-
randum of understanding required under paragraph 
(1) shall be updated and renewed not less than once 
every 5 years, unless parties to the memorandum 
agree that updating the memorandum is unneces-
sary. 
‘‘(3) BOARD
AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this 
paragraph negates the authority of the Board to in-
vestigate an incident. 
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‘‘(4) INCIDENT DEFINED.—In this subsection, 
the term ‘incident’ means an incident described in 
regulations issued under section 1101(a)(2).’’. 
SEC. 11. MARITIME CASUALTY INVESTIGATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 11 is amended by insert-
ing after section 1132 the following: 
‘‘§ 1132a. Maritime casualty investigations 
‘‘(a) DELEGATION
OF
AUTHORITY
TO
COAST 
GUARD.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—In an investigation of a 
major marine casualty under section 1131(a)(1)(E), 
the Board, with the consent of the Secretary of the 
department in which the Coast Guard is operating, 
may delegate to the Commandant of the Coast 
Guard full authority to obtain the facts of the cas-
ualty. In the case of such a delegation, the Com-
mandant, acting through the Commandant’s on- 
scene representative, shall have the full authority of 
the Board. 
‘‘(2) REQUIRED TRAINING, EXPERIENCE, AND 
QUALIFICATIONS.—The Board may not make a dele-
gation under paragraph (1) unless the Board deter-
mines that the Commandant’s on-scene representa-
tives have sufficient training, experience, and quali-
fications in investigation, marine casualty recon-
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struction, evidence collection and preservation, 
human factors, and documentation to act in accord-
ance with the best investigation practices of Federal 
and non-Federal entities. 
‘‘(b) NOTIFICATION AND REPORTING.—The Board 
and the Secretary shall jointly prescribe regulations gov-
erning the notification and reporting of marine casualties 
to the Board. 
‘‘(c) PARTICIPATION OF COMMANDANT IN MARINE 
INVESTIGATIONS.—The Board shall provide for the par-
ticipation of the Commandant of the Coast Guard in an 
investigation by the Board of a major marine casualty 
under section 1131(a)(1)(E) if such participation is nec-
essary to carry out the duties and powers of the Com-
mandant, except that the Commandant may not partici-
pate in establishing the probable cause of the marine cas-
ualty (other than as provided section 1131(b)).’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 
chapter 11 is amended by inserting after the item relating 
to section 1132 the following: 
‘‘Sec. 1132a. Maritime casualty investigations.’’. 
SEC. 12. INSPECTIONS AND AUTOPSIES. 
Section 1134(a) is amended in the matter preceding 
paragraph (1)— 
(1) by striking ‘‘officer or employee’’ and in-
serting ‘‘officer, employee, or Federal designee’’; and 
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(2) by inserting ‘‘in the conduct of any accident 
investigation or study’’ after ‘‘National Transpor-
tation Safety Board’’. 
SEC. 13. DISCOVERY AND USE OF COCKPIT AND SURFACE 
VEHICLE RECORDINGS AND TRANSCRIPTS. 
Section 1154(a)(1)(A) is amended by striking ‘‘; 
and’’ and inserting ‘‘; or’’. 
SEC. 14. FAMILY ASSISTANCE. 
(a) FAMILY ASSISTANCE IN COMMERCIAL AVIATION 
ACCIDENTS.—Section 41113(b)(7) is amended by insert-
ing before the period at the end the following: ‘‘, and that 
at least 60 days before the planned destruction of any un-
claimed possession of a passenger a reasonable attempt 
will be made to notify the family of the passenger’’. 
(b) FAMILY ASSISTANCE IN COMMERCIAL AVIATION 
ACCIDENTS
INVOLVING
FOREIGN
CARRIERS.—Section 
41313(c)(7) is amended by inserting before the period at 
the end the following: ‘‘, and that at least 60 days before 
the planned destruction of any unclaimed possession of a 
passenger a reasonable attempt will be made to notify the 
family of the passenger’’. 
SEC. 15. COAST GUARD NOTIFICATION. 
Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the National Transportation Safety Board and 
the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard 
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