I
Union Calendar No. 353
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3159
[Report No. 104–682]
To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize appropriations for
fiscal years 1997, 1998, and 1999 for the National Transportation Safety
Board, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 26, 1996
Mr. SHUSTER (for himself, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. LIPINSKI, Ms.
MOLINARI, and Mr. WISE) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
JULY 17, 1996
Additional sponsor: Ms. BROWN of Florida
JULY 17, 1996
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 26, 1996]
A BILL
To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize appro-
priations for fiscal years 1997, 1998, and 1999 for the
National Transportation Safety Board, 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 ‘‘National Transportation
Safety Board Amendments of 1996’’.
SEC. 2. TERMS OF OFFICE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1111(d) of title 49, United
States Code, is amended by striking the third sentence and
inserting the following: ‘‘The term of office of the Chairman
shall be 4 years and the term of the Vice Chairman shall
be 2 years.’’.
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub-
section (a) shall only apply to persons designated as Chair-
man of the National Transportation Safety Board after the
date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.
Section 1114 of title 49, United States Code, is amend-
ed—
(1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘(b) and (c)’’
and inserting ‘‘(b), (c), and (e)’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(e) FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, neither the Board, nor any agency
receiving information from the Board, shall disclose
records or information relating to its participation in
foreign aircraft accident investigations; except that—
‘‘(A) the Board shall release records per-
taining to such an investigation when the coun-
try conducting the investigation issues its final
report or 2 years following the date of the acci-
dent, whichever occurs first; and
‘‘(B) the Board may disclose records and
information when authorized to do so by the
country conducting the investigation.
‘‘(2) SAFETY
RECOMMENDATIONS.—Nothing in
this subsection shall restrict the Board at any time
from referring to foreign accident investigation infor-
mation in making safety recommendations.’’.
SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION OF IN-
FORMATION.
Section 1114(b) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(3) PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION OF
INFORMATION.—Notwithstanding any other provision
of law, neither the Board, nor any agency receiving
information from the Board, shall disclose voluntarily
provided safety-related information if that informa-
tion is not related to the exercise of the Board’s acci-
dent or incident investigation authority under this
chapter and if the Board finds that the disclosure of
the information would inhibit the voluntary provision
of that type of information.’’.
SEC. 5. TRAINING.
Section 1115 of title 49, United States Code, is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(d) TRAINING
OF BOARD EMPLOYEES
AND OTH-
ERS.—The Board may conduct training of its employees
in those subjects necessary for the proper performance of
accident investigations. The Board may also authorize at-
tendance at courses given under this subsection by other
governmental personnel, personnel of foreign governments,
and personnel from industry or otherwise who have a re-
quirement for accident investigation training. The Board
may require non-Board personnel to reimburse some or all
of the training costs, and amounts so reimbursed shall be
credited to the appropriation of the ‘National Transpor-
tation Safety Board, Salaries and Expenses’ as offsetting
collections.’’.
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
Section 1118(a) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’; and
(2) by inserting before the period at the end of
the first sentence the following: ‘‘, $40,300,000 for fis-
cal year 1997, $42,400,000 for fiscal year 1998, and
$44,500,000 for fiscal year 1999’’.
SEC. 7. REPORTS ON SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS.
Section 1135(d) of title 49, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘January 1’’ and inserting ‘‘Jan-
uary 31’’;
(2) by inserting ‘‘or any other officer of the De-
partment of Transportation’’ after ‘‘to the Secretary’’;
and
(3) by inserting ‘‘or such officer’s’’ after ‘‘the
Secretary’s’’.