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enforcement action is issued until the enforcement 
action is final; 
‘‘(2) include in each such summary identifica-
tion of the railroad carrier or person involved in the 
enforcement activity, the type of alleged violation, 
the penalty or penalties proposed, any changes in 
case status since the previous summary, the final as-
sessment amount of each penalty, and the reasons 
for a reduction in the proposed penalty, if appro-
priate; and 
‘‘(3) provide a mechanism by which a railroad 
carrier or person named in an enforcement action 
may make information, explanations, or documents 
it believes are responsive to the enforcement action 
available to the public. 
‘‘(b) ELECTRONIC AVAILABILITY.—Each summary 
under this section shall be made available to the public 
by electronic means. 
‘‘(c) RELATIONSHIP TO FOIA.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to require disclosure of information 
or records that are exempt from disclosure under section 
552 of title 5.’’. 
(b) TABLE OF SECTIONS AMENDMENT.—The table of 
sections of subchapter I of chapter 201 of title 49, United 
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States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new item: 
‘‘20118. Enforcement transparency.’’. 
SEC. 506. INTERFERING WITH OR HAMPERING SAFETY IN-
VESTIGATIONS. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Subchapter II of chapter 213 of 
title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 21312. Interfering with or hampering safety inves-
tigations 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any per-
son knowingly to interfere with, obstruct, or hamper an 
investigation by the Secretary of Transportation con-
ducted under section 20703 or 20902 of this title, or a 
railroad investigation by the National Transportation 
Safety Board under chapter 11 of this title. 
‘‘(b) INTIMIDATION AND HARASSMENT.—It shall be 
unlawful for any person, with regard to an investigation 
conducted by the Secretary under section 20703 or 20902 
of this title, or a railroad investigation by the National 
Transportation Safety Board under chapter 11 of this 
title, knowingly or intentionally to use intimidation, har-
assment, threats, or physical force toward another person, 
or corruptly persuade another person, or attempt to do 
so, or engage in misleading conduct toward another per-
son, with the intent or effect of— 
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‘‘(1) influencing the testimony or statement of 
any person; 
‘‘(2) hindering, delaying, preventing, or dis-
suading any person from— 
‘‘(A) attending a proceeding or interview 
with, testifying before, or providing a written 
statement to, a National Transportation Safety 
Board railroad investigator, a Federal railroad 
safety inspector or State railroad safety inspec-
tor, or their superiors; 
‘‘(B) communicating or reporting to a Na-
tional Transportation Safety Board railroad in-
vestigator, a Federal railroad safety inspector, 
or a State railroad safety inspector, or their su-
periors, information relating to the commission 
or possible commission of one or more violations 
of this part or of chapter 51 of this title; or 
‘‘(C) recommending or using any legal 
remedy available to the Secretary under this 
title; or 
‘‘(3) causing or inducing any person to— 
‘‘(A) withhold testimony, or a statement, 
record, document, or other object, from the in-
vestigation; 
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‘‘(B) alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal a 
statement, record, document, or other object 
with intent to impair the integrity or avail-
ability of the statement, record, document, or 
other object for use in the investigation; 
‘‘(C) evade legal process summoning that 
person to appear as a witness, or to produce a 
statement, record, document, or other object, in 
the investigation; or 
‘‘(D) be absent from an investigation to 
which such person has been summoned by legal 
process. 
‘‘(c) ELEMENTS OF VIOLATION.—(1) For the pur-
poses of this section, the testimony or statement, or the 
record, document, or other object, need not be admissible 
in evidence or free from a claim of privilege. 
‘‘(2) In a prosecution for an offense under this sec-
tion, no state of mind need be proved with respect to the 
circumstance that the investigation is being conducted by 
the Secretary under section 20703 or 20902 of this title 
or by the National Transportation Safety Board under 
chapter 11 of this title. 
‘‘(d) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—A person violating this 
section shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not 
more than 1 year, or both.’’. 
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(b) TABLE OF SECTIONS AMENDMENT.—The table of 
sections of subchapter II of chapter 213 of title 49, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new item: 
‘‘21312. Interfering with or hampering safety investigations.’’. 
SEC. 507. RAILROAD RADIO MONITORING AUTHORITY. 
Section 20107 of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) RAILROAD RADIO COMMUNICATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—To carry out the Sec-
retary’s responsibilities under this part and under 
chapter 51, the Secretary may authorize officers, 
employees, or agents of the Secretary to conduct the 
following activities in circumstances the Secretary 
finds to be reasonable: 
‘‘(A) Intercepting a radio communication, 
with or without the consent of the sender or 
other receivers of the communication, but only 
where such communication is broadcast or 
transmitted over a radio frequency which is— 
‘‘(i) authorized for use by one or more 
railroad carriers by the Federal Commu-
nications Commission; and 
‘‘(ii) primarily used by such railroad 
carriers for communications in connection 
with railroad operations. 
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‘‘(B) Communicating the existence, con-
tents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of 
the communication, subject to the restrictions 
in paragraph (3). 
‘‘(C) Receiving or assisting in receiving the 
communication (or any information therein con-
tained). 
‘‘(D) Disclosing the contents, substance, 
purport, effect, or meaning of the communica-
tion (or any part thereof of such communica-
tion) or using the communication (or any infor-
mation contained therein), subject to the re-
strictions in paragraph (3), after having re-
ceived the communication or acquired knowl-
edge of the contents, substance, purport, effect, 
or meaning of the communication (or any part 
thereof). 
‘‘(E) Recording the communication by any 
means, including writing and tape recording. 
‘‘(2) ACCIDENT
PREVENTION
AND
ACCIDENT 
INVESTIGATION.—The Secretary, and officers, em-
ployees, and agents of the Department of Transpor-
tation authorized by the Secretary, may engage in 
the activities authorized by paragraph (1) for the 
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