I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4361
To provide for the security of public transportation systems in the United 
States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 13, 2004
Ms. NORTON (for herself, Mr. TURNER of Texas, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of 
California, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. DICKS, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Ms. 
HARMAN, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. ANDREWS, Ms. LOFGREN, 
Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. PASCRELL, 
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. 
LANGEVIN, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. CHANDLER, Mrs. MALONEY, and 
Mr. MATSUI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To provide for the security of public transportation systems 
in the United States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Transit and Rail 
Awareness and Investments for National Security Act of 
2004’’ or the ‘‘Safe TRAINS Act’’.
SEC. 2. HOMELAND SECURITY PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION 
GRANTS. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary of Homeland 
Security is authorized to make grants for the purpose of 
improving the security of public transportation systems 
against acts of terrorism. The grant program shall be ad-
ministered by the Under Secretary for Border and Trans-
portation Security—
(1) in consultation with the Director of the Of-
fice of Domestic Preparedness, to ensure that the 
program is consistent with other Department of 
Homeland Security grant programs; 
(2) with the Assistant Secretary for Infrastruc-
ture Protection to ensure that grant awards are con-
sistent with critical infrastructure risk assessments 
and protective priorities as they relate to public 
transportation; and 
(3) with the Under Secretary for Science and 
Technology to ensure that technology aspects of 
grant proposals are feasible and generally consistent 
with existing technologies and standards. 
(b) CONSIDERATIONS.—Among the considerations on 
which grants shall be awarded are the following: 
(1) Risk of terrorism, including threat assess-
ment, vulnerabilities of public transportation sys-
tems, potential effects of acts of terrorism against
public transportation systems, and past acts of ter-
rorism against modes of transportation. 
(2) Merits of the proposed projects to increase 
national security, based on a consideration of—
(A) threats; 
(B) vulnerabilities; 
(C) consequences, including human casual-
ties and economic impacts; 
(D) consequence management; 
(E) the likelihood that such projects would 
have been pursued in the normal course of busi-
ness and in the absence of national security 
considerations; and 
(F) feasibility, based on the technical and 
operational merits of the projects. 
(c) ALLOWABLE USE
OF FUNDS.—Grants made 
under this section shall be used for the purposes of—
(1) support for increased capital investments in 
cameras, close-circuit television, and other surveil-
lance systems; 
(2) increased capital investment in command, 
control, and communications systems, including in-
vestments for redundancy and interoperability and 
for improved situational awareness, such as emer-
gency call boxes and vehicle locator systems;
(3) increased training, including for carrying 
out exercises under section 3, and technical support 
for public transportation employees, especially for 
security awareness, prevention, emergency response, 
including evacuation, and decontamination; 
(4) expanded deployment of equipment and 
other measures, including canine detection teams, 
for the detection of explosives and chemical, biologi-
cal, radiological, and nuclear agents; 
(5) capital improvements and operating activi-
ties, including personnel expenditures, to increase 
the physical security of stations, vehicles, bridges, 
and tunnels; 
(6) capital improvements and operating activi-
ties to improve passenger survivability in the event 
of an attack, including improvements in ventilation, 
drainage, fire safety technology, emergency commu-
nications 
systems, 
lighting 
systems, 
passenger 
egress, and accessibility by emergency response per-
sonnel; 
(7) acquisition of emergency response and sup-
port equipment, including fire suppression and de-
contamination equipment; and
(8) expansion of employee education and public 
awareness campaigns regarding security on public 
transportation systems. 
(d) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.—Grants shall be made 
available under this section directly to owners, operators, 
and providers of public transportation systems. Owners, 
operators, and providers of infrastructure over which pub-
lic transportation operates, but which is not primarily 
used for public transportation, may also be eligible for 
grants at the discretion of the Secretary. 
(e) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The Secretary shall adopt 
necessary procedures, including audits, to ensure that 
grants made under this section are expended in accord-
ance with the purposes of this Act and the priorities and 
other criteria developed by the Secretary. If the Secretary 
determines that a recipient has used any portion of the 
grant funds received under this section for a purpose other 
than the allowable uses specified for that grant under this 
section, the grantee shall return any amount so used to 
the Treasury of the United States. 
(f) PROCEDURES
FOR GRANT AWARD.—The Sec-
retary shall prescribe procedures and schedules for the 
awarding of grants under this section, including applica-
tion and qualification procedures, and a record of decision 
on applicant eligibility. The Secretary shall issue a final
rule establishing the procedures not later than 90 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act. 
(g) COST SHARE.—Grants made under this section 
shall account for no more than—
(1) 85 percent for fiscal year 2005; 
(2) 80 percent for fiscal year 2006; and 
(3) 75 percent for fiscal year 2007, 
of the expense of the purposes for which the grants are 
used. 
(h) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 
out the purposes of this section—
(1) $1,200,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; 
(2) $900,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and 
(3) $700,000,000 for fiscal year 2007. 
Amounts appropriated pursuant to this subsection shall 
remain available until expended. 
SEC. 3. TRAINING EXERCISES. 
(a) GUIDELINES.—Not later than 4 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 
Security shall publish guidelines for the conduct by recipi-
ents of grants under section 2 of appropriate exercises for 
emergency response and public transportation employee 
training purposes.
sponse plans. If the recipient revises an emergency 
response plan as a result of an exercise under this 
subsection, the recipient shall transmit the revised 
plan to the Secretary not later than 6 months after 
the exercise. 
(d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 
provide technical assistance in the design, preparation for, 
and conduct of emergency response exercises. 
(e) USE OF PLANS.—The Secretary shall ensure that 
information submitted to the Secretary under this section 
is protected from any form of disclosure that might com-
promise public transportation security or trade secrets. 
Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, the Secretary 
may use such information, on a nonattributed basis unless 
otherwise agreed to by the source of the information, to 
aid in developing recommendations, best practices, and 
materials for use by public transportation authorities to 
improve security practices and emergency response capa-
bilities. 
SEC. 4. SECURITY BEST PRACTICES. 
The Secretary of Homeland Security shall, not later 
than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
develop, disseminate to appropriate owners, operators, and 
providers of public transportation systems, public trans-
portation employees and employee representatives, and
Federal, State, and local officials, and transmit to the 
Congress a report containing best practices for the secu-
rity of public transportation systems. In developing best 
practices, the Secretary shall be responsible for consulting 
with and collecting input from owners, operators, and pro-
viders of public transportation systems, public transpor-
tation employee representatives, first responders, industry 
associations, private sector experts, academic experts, and 
appropriate Federal, State, and local officials. 
SEC. 5. PUBLIC AWARENESS. 
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall de-
velop a national plan for public outreach and awareness. 
Such plan shall be designed to increase awareness of 
measures that the general public, public transportation 
passengers, and public transportation employees can take 
to increase public transportation system security. Such 
plan shall also provide outreach to owners, operators, pro-
viders, and employees of public transportation systems to 
improve their awareness of available technologies, ongoing 
research and development efforts, and available Federal 
funding sources to improve public transportation security. 
Not later than 9 months after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary shall implement the plan developed 
under this section.
SEC. 6. SECURITY PLAN. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 
Security, in coordination with the Secretary of Transpor-
tation and in accordance with the Memorandum of Agree-
ment executed under section 7, shall develop a strategic 
plan for the security of the Nation’s public transportation 
systems and transmit to Congress a report containing a 
summary of that plan. Such plan shall—
(1) include a comprehensive assessment of risks 
to the Nation’s public transportation systems, in-
cluding an assessment of threats of terrorist attack, 
vulnerabilities against terrorist attack, and human, 
economic, and national security consequences of ter-
rorist attack; 
(2) take into account actions taken or planned 
by both public and private entities to address identi-
fied security issues; 
(3) describe measures for prevention, protec-
tion, and preparedness, including recommended ac-
tions and best practices (as described in section 4); 
(4) make prioritized recommendations for im-
proving public transportation system security; 
(5) identify specific actions the Federal Govern-
ment should take to provide increased security sup-
port for public transportation systems, both gen-
erally and in periods of high or severe threat levels 
of alert; 
(6) identify measures for coordinating initia-
tives undertaken by the public and private sectors to 
increase security of public transportation systems; 
(7) contain an estimate of the cost to imple-
ment measures, recommendations, and best prac-
tices, and other actions contained within the plan; 
(8) identify milestones and timeframes for im-
plementing measures, recommendations, and best 
practices, and other actions contained within the 
plan; and 
(9) identify methods for measuring progress 
against the plan and communicating such progress 
to owners, operators, and providers of public trans-
portation systems and to Congress. 
(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary shall begin 
implementation of the plan not later than 3 months after 
its development. 
(c) 
CONSULTATION; 
USE
OF
EXISTING
RE-
SOURCES.—In developing the plan under this section, the 
Secretary shall be responsible for consulting with and col-
lecting input from owners, operators, and providers of 
public transportation systems, public transportation em-
ployee representatives, first responders, industry associa-
tions, private sector experts, academic experts, and appro-
priate Federal, State, and local officials. 
(d) FORMAT.—The Secretary may submit the report 
in both classified and unclassified formats if the Secretary 
considers that such action is appropriate or necessary. 
(e) 2-YEAR UPDATES.—The Secretary, in consulta-
tion with the Secretary of Transportation, shall update the 
plan every 2 years, as necessary, and transmit such up-
dated report to Congress. 
SEC. 7. MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT. 
Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the 
Secretary of Transportation shall execute a Memorandum 
of Agreement governing the roles and responsibilities of 
the Department of Homeland Security and the Depart-
ment of Transportation, respectively, in addressing secu-
rity matters for public transportation systems, including 
the process the departments will follow to promote com-
munications, efficiency, and nonduplication of effort. Such 
Memorandum of Agreement shall also establish a formal 
mechanism to ensure coordination and the timely sharing 
of expertise and information between the Department of 
Homeland Security and the Department of Transpor-
tation, as appropriate, in public transportation security.
SEC. 8. NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SECURITY CENTERS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Homeland 
Security shall establish more than 1 but not more than 
4 National Transportation Security Centers at institutions 
of higher education to assist in carrying out this Act and 
to conduct research and education, and to develop or pro-
vide professional training, including the training of public 
transportation employees and public transportation-re-
lated professionals, with emphasis on utilization of intel-
ligent transportation systems, technologies, and architec-
tures. 
(b) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall designate the 
Centers according to the following selection criteria: 
(1) The demonstrated commitment of the insti-
tution to transportation security issues. 
(2) The use of and experience with partnerships 
with other institutions of higher education, Federal 
laboratories, or other nonprofit laboratories. 
(3) Capability to conduct both practical and 
theoretical research and technical systems analysis. 
(4) Utilization of intelligent transportation sys-
tem technologies and architectures. 
(5) Ability to develop professional training pro-
grams. 
(6) Capability and willingness to conduct edu-
cation of transportation security professionals.
(7) Such other criteria that the Secretary may 
designate. 
(c) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall provide such 
funding as is necessary to the National Transportation Se-
curity Centers established under subsection (a) to carry 
out this section. 
SEC. 9. WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—No employee or other person may 
be harassed, prosecuted, held liable, or discriminated 
against in any way—
(1) because that person—
(A) has commenced or caused to be com-
menced, or is about to commence; 
(B) has testified or is about to testify at; 
or 
(C) has assisted or participated in, or is 
about to assist or participate in any manner in, 
a proceeding or any other action to enhance public 
transportation security; or 
(2) because that person has refused to violate 
or assist in the violation of any law, rule, or regula-
tion related to public transportation security. 
(b) APPLICATION OF SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002 
AMENDMENTS.—
(1) CIVIL ACTION TO PROTECT AGAINST RETAL-
IATION IN FRAUD CASES.—Section 1514A of title 
18, United States Code, shall apply to subsection (a) 
of this section as if—
(A) an act or refusal to act described in 
subsection (a) were described in such section 
1514A; and 
(B) a violation of subsection (a) were a 
violation of such section 1514A(a). 
(2) RETALIATING AGAINST A WITNESS, VICTIM, 
OR INFORMANT.—Section 1513(e) of title 18, United 
States Code, shall apply to a violation of subsection 
(a) of this section as if the violation of subsection 
(a) were a violation of such section 1513. 
SEC. 10. DEFINITION. 
For the purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘public transportation employees’’ 
means security personnel, dispatchers, vehicle and 
vessel operators, other onboard employees, mainte-
nance and support personnel, and other appropriate 
employees of owners, operators, and providers of 
public transportation systems; and 
(2) the term ‘‘public transportation systems’’ 
means passenger, commuter, and light rail, including
Amtrak and subways, buses, commuter ferries, and 
other modes of public transit.
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