I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 505 
To establish a Hazardous Materials Information Advisory Committee to de-
velop standards for the use of electronic shipping papers for the transpor-
tation of hazardous materials, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 22, 2015 
Mr. LIPINSKI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To establish a Hazardous Materials Information Advisory 
Committee to develop standards for the use of electronic 
shipping papers for the transportation of hazardous ma-
terials, 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 ‘‘Developing Standards 
for Electronic Shipping Papers Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The impacts of hazardous materials trans-
portation incidents can be mitigated by effective re-
sponse strategies, equipment, and training. 
(2) Shipping papers and manifests are essential 
tools for responding to incidents involving hazardous 
materials as they provide the disclosures needed to 
determine the proper response strategy. 
(3) While physical shipping papers must con-
tinue to be required under law in order to ensure 
that redundancies are in place to protect the safety 
of first responders, there should be efforts to mod-
ernize how hazardous materials information is dis-
seminated. 
(4) The HM–ACCESS Program authorized in 
section 33005 of MAP–21 (49 U.S.C. 5121 note) is 
an important step for developing additional, innova-
tive methods for disseminating hazardous material 
information electronically, but the pilot tests will not 
be completed until October 2015. 
(5) As transporters of hazardous materials in 
commerce deploy these innovative technologies on 
their own, efforts should be undertaken to ensure 
that best practices and voluntary standards are 
available until the HM–ACCESS pilot and subse-
quent rulemakings are completed so that trans-
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porters of hazardous materials will have guidelines 
to assist with their modernization effort while ensur-
ing that first responders will have access to stand-
ardized information platforms and systems. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COMMERCE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIAL.— 
The terms ‘‘commerce’’ and ‘‘hazardous material’’ 
have the meanings given such terms in section 5102 
of title 49, United States Code. 
(2) ELECTRONIC SHIPPING PAPER.—The term 
‘‘electronic shipping paper’’ means an electronic 
version of the physical shipping paper that is— 
(A) designed to convey the most current 
available hazard information required to be dis-
closed under section 5110(a) of title 49, United 
States Code; and 
(B) capable of being accessed instanta-
neously by emergency responders during an in-
cident involving hazardous material being trans-
ported in commerce. 
SEC. 4. HAZARDOUS MATERIALS INFORMATION ADVISORY 
COMMITTEE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor-
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tation shall establish a Hazardous Materials Information 
Advisory Committee composed of members appointed by 
the Secretary. 
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—Members appointed by the Sec-
retary under subsection (a) shall represent the following 
individuals and entities: 
(1) Fire services personnel and management. 
(2) Law enforcement and other appropriate en-
forcement personnel. 
(3) Other emergency response providers. 
(4) Persons who transport hazardous material 
by air, highway, rail, or water. 
(5) Persons who offer hazardous material in 
commerce for transport by air, highway, rail, or 
water. 
(6) Employees of persons who transport or 
offer for transportation hazardous material in com-
merce by air, highway, rail, or water. 
(7) The Coast Guard and other relevant agen-
cies. 
(8) Other individuals and entities determined 
appropriate by the Secretary. 
(c) DUTIES.—Not later than 120 days after the es-
tablishment of the Hazardous Materials Information Advi-
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sory Committee under subsection (a), the Committee 
shall— 
(1) develop a voluntary standard for the use of 
electronic shipping papers until a rulemaking has 
been completed; 
(2) establish a standardized curriculum for 
training first responders and enforcement officials in 
the use of electronic shipping papers and other alter-
native means of communicating hazardous materials 
information; 
(3) provide recommendations and best practices 
for the use of electronic shipping papers by first re-
sponders in varying circumstances and locations; 
(4) provide recommendations and best practices 
to assist persons transporting hazardous materials 
in commerce in implementing electronic shipping pa-
pers; and 
(5) assess potential issues during deployment 
phases, including first responder training, technology 
procurement issues and budget limitations, and bio-
metrics. 
(d) REQUIREMENTS.—In developing the best prac-
tices, standards, and findings under subsection (c), the 
Hazardous Materials Information Advisory Committee 
shall take into consideration— 
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(1) the scalability of information in its presen-
tation to determine the most efficient means of con-
veying necessary information for emergency response 
personnel while allowing access to ancillary informa-
tion relating to the transport of hazardous materials 
in order to ensure that information conveyed fits the 
intended need and the varying levels of first re-
sponder training; 
(2) access issues and spectrum issues for rural 
responders; 
(3) standardization of information to equipment 
to ensure consistency across modes; 
(4) providing data security and protection from 
unwanted manipulation in order to preserve the in-
tegrity of data entered by transporters of hazardous 
materials and accessed by bona fide first responders; 
(5) the need to develop a National Deployment 
Standard on biometrics and identifiers to ensure se-
cure access for first responders; 
(6) the potential for the deployment of fail-safe 
redundancies linked to State, regional, and local 911 
emergency centers; 
(7) the timing of implementation and methods 
for funding the implementation of electronic ship-
ping papers devices and training; 
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(8) updates and revisions to the Emergency Re-
sponse Guidebooks; 
(9) existing technologies that are employed vol-
untarily by persons who transport hazardous mate-
rials in commerce by air, highway, rail, and water; 
and 
(10) the results of pilot tests being conducted 
in accordance with section 33005 of MAP–21 (49 
U.S.C. 5121 note) and any interim recommendations 
issued by the persons administering such pilot tests. 
(e) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The Secretary may provide 
travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, 
to a member appointed under subsection (b)(1), (b)(2), 
or (b)(3) in accordance with applicable provisions under 
subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code. 
(f) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Hazardous Materials Infor-
mation Advisory Committee shall transmit to the Com-
mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 
of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate, a report listing 
the best practices, standards, and findings developed 
under subsection (c). 
Æ 
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