Union Calendar No. 195
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2910
[Report No. 106–335]
A BILL
To amend title 49, United States Code, to author-
ize appropriations for the National Transpor-
tation Safety Board for fiscal years 2000, 2001,
and 2002, and for other purposes.
SEPTEMBER 27, 1999
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed
IB
Union Calendar No. 195
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2910
[Report No. 106–335]
To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize appropriations for
the National Transportation Safety Board for fiscal years 2000, 2001,
and 2002, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 22, 1999
Mr. SHUSTER (for himself, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. DUNCAN, and Mr. LIPINSKI)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure
SEPTEMBER 27, 1999
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 September 22, 1999]
A BILL
To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize appro-
priations for the National Transportation Safety Board
for fiscal years 2000, 2001, and 2002, 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; REFERENCES.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Na-
tional Transportation Safety Board Amendments Act of
1999’’.
(b) REFERENCES.—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 sec-
tion or other provision of law, the reference shall be consid-
ered to be made to a section or other provision of title 49,
United States Code.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
Section 1101 is amended to read as follows:
‘‘§ 1101. Definitions
‘‘Section 2101(17a) of title 46 and section 40102(a)
of this title apply to this chapter. In this chapter, the term
‘accident’ includes damage to or destruction of vehicles in
surface or air transportation or pipelines, regardless of
whether the initiating event is accidental or otherwise.’’.
SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO AGREEMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1113(b)(1)(I) is amended
to read as follows:
‘‘(I) negotiate and enter into agreements with
private entities and departments, agencies, and in-
strumentalities of the Government, State and local
governments, and governments of foreign countries for
the provision of technical services or training in acci-
dent investigation theory and technique, and require
that such entities provide appropriate consideration
for the reasonable costs of any goods, services, or
training provided by the Board.’’.
(b) DEPOSIT
OF AMOUNTS.—Section 1113(b)(2) is
amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘and section 1114(a)’’ before ‘‘to
be credited’’; and
(2) by inserting ‘‘as offsetting collections’’ before
the period at the end.
SEC. 4. OVERTIME PAY.
Section 1113 is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(g) OVERTIME PAY.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the requirements
of this section and notwithstanding paragraphs (1)
and (2) of section 5542(a) of title 5, for an employee
of the Board whose basic pay is at a rate which
equals or exceeds the minimum rate of basic pay for
GS–10 of the General Schedule, the Board may estab-
lish an overtime hourly rate of pay for the employee
with respect to work performed at the scene of an ac-
cident (including travel to or from the scene) and
other work that is critical to an accident investiga-
tion in an amount equal to one and one-half times
the hourly rate of basic pay of the employee. All of
such amount shall be considered to be premium pay.
‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON OVERTIME PAY TO AN EM-
PLOYEE.—An employee of the Board may not receive
overtime pay under paragraph (1), for work per-
formed in a calendar year, in an amount that exceeds
15 percent of the annual rate of basic pay of the em-
ployee for such calendar year.
‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON TOTAL AMOUNT OF OVER-
TIME PAY.—The Board may not make overtime pay-
ments under paragraph (1), for work performed in a
calendar year, in a total amount that exceeds
$570,000.
‘‘(4) BASIC PAY DEFINED.—In this subsection,
the term ‘basic pay’ includes any applicable locality-
based comparability payment under section 5304 of
title 5 (or similar provision of law) and any special
rate of pay under section 5305 of title 5 (or similar
provision of law).
‘‘(5) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than January
31, 2001, and annually thereafter, the Board shall
transmit to Congress a report identifying the total
amount of overtime payments made under this sub-
section in the preceding fiscal year and the number
of employees whose overtime pay under this subsection
was limited in such fiscal year as a result of the 15
percent limit established by paragraph (2).’’.
SEC. 5. RECORDERS.
(a) COCKPIT VIDEO RECORDINGS.—Section 1114(c) is
amended—
(1) in the subsection heading by striking
‘‘VOICE’’;
(2) in paragraphs (1) and (2) by striking ‘‘cock-
pit voice recorder’’ and inserting ‘‘cockpit voice or
video recorder’’; and
(3) in the second sentence of paragraph (1) by
inserting ‘‘or any written depiction of visual infor-
mation’’ after ‘‘transcript’’.
(b) SURFACE
VEHICLE
RECORDINGS
AND
TRAN-
SCRIPTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1114 is amended—
(A) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e)
as subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(d) SURFACE VEHICLE RECORDINGS
AND TRAN-
SCRIPTS.—
‘‘(1) CONFIDENTIALITY
OF
RECORDINGS.—The
Board may not disclose publicly any part of a surface
vehicle voice or video recorder recording or transcript
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1154 is amended—
(A) in the section heading by striking
‘‘cockpit voice and other material’’ and
inserting ‘‘cockpit and surface vehicle
recordings and transcripts’’;
(B) in subsection (a)—
(i) by striking ‘‘cockpit voice recorder’’
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘cockpit
or surface vehicle recorder’’;
(ii) by striking ‘‘section 1114(c)’’ each
place it appears and inserting ‘‘section
1114(c) or 1114(d)’’; and
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(6) In this subsection—
‘‘(A) the term ‘recorder’ means a voice or video
recorder; and
‘‘(B) the term ‘transcript’ includes any written
depiction of visual information obtained from a video
recorder.’’.
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions for chapter 11 is amended by striking the item
relating to section 1154 and inserting the following:
‘‘1154. Discovery and use of cockpit and surface vehicle recordings and tran-
scripts.’’.
(d) REQUIREMENTS FOR INSTALLATION AND USE OF
RECORDING DEVICES.—Section 329 is amended by adding
at the end the following:
‘‘(e) REQUIREMENTS FOR INSTALLATION AND USE OF
RECORDING DEVICES.—A requirement for the installation
and use of an automatic voice, video, or data recording de-
vice on an aircraft, vessel, or surface vehicle shall not be
construed to be the collection of information for the purpose
of any Federal law or regulation, if the requirement—
‘‘(1) meets a safety need for the automatic re-
cording of realtime voice or data experience that is re-
stricted to a fixed period of the most recent operation
of the aircraft, vessel, or surface vehicle;
‘‘(2) does not place a periodic reporting burden
on any person; and
‘‘(3) does not necessitate the collection and pres-
ervation of data separate from the device.’’.
SEC. 6. PRIORITY OF INVESTIGATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1131(a)(2) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘(2) An investigation’’ and in-
serting ‘‘(2)(A) Subject to the requirements of this
paragraph, an investigation’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(B) If the Attorney General, in consultation with the
Chairman of the Board, determines and notifies the Board
that circumstances reasonably indicate that the accident
may have been caused by an intentional criminal act, the
Board shall relinquish investigative priority to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation. The relinquishment of investiga-
tive priority by the Board shall not otherwise affect the au-
thority of the Board to continue its investigation under this
section.
‘‘(C) If a law enforcement agency suspects and notifies
the Board that an accident being investigated by the Board
under paragraph (1)(A)–(D) may have been caused by an
intentional criminal act, the Board, in consultation with
the law enforcement agency, shall take necessary actions to
ensure that evidence of the criminal act is preserved.’’.
(b) REVISION OF 1977 AGREEMENT.—Not later than
1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the National
Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation shall revise their 1977 agreement on the inves-
tigation of accidents to take into account the amendments
made by this Act.
SEC. 7. PUBLIC AIRCRAFT INVESTIGATION CLARIFICATION.
Section 1131(d) is amended by striking ‘‘1134(b)(2)’’
and inserting ‘‘1134(a), (b), (d), and (f)’’.
SEC. 8. AUTHORITY OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 11 of
subtitle II is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘§ 1137. Authority of the Inspector General
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General of the De-
partment of Transportation, in accordance with the mission
of the Inspector General to prevent and detect fraud and
abuse, shall have authority to review only the financial
management and business operations of the National
Transportation Safety Board, including internal account-
ing and administrative control systems, to determine com-
pliance with applicable Federal laws, rules, and regula-
tions.
‘‘(b) DUTIES.—In carrying out this section, the In-
spector General shall—
‘‘(1) keep the Chairman of the Board and Con-
gress fully and currently informed about problems re-
lating to administration of the internal accounting
and administrative control systems of the Board;
‘‘(2) issue findings and recommendations for ac-
tions to address such problems; and
‘‘(3) report periodically to Congress on any
progress made in implementing actions to address
such problems.
‘‘(c) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—In carrying out this
section, the Inspector General may exercise authorities
granted to the Inspector General under subsections (a) and
(b) of section 6 of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5
U.S.C. App.).
‘‘(d) REIMBURSEMENT.—The Inspector General shall
be reimbursed by the Board for the costs associated with
carrying out activities under this section.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sections
for such subchapter is amended by adding at the end the
following:
‘‘1137. Authority of the Inspector General.’’.
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
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 $57,000,000 for fis-
cal year 2000, $65,000,000 for fiscal year 2001, and
$72,000,000 for fiscal year 2002. Such sums remain avail-
able until expended.’’.
SEC. 10. TERMINAL DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR.
If the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration determines that it would enhance aviation safety,
the Administrator shall install a Terminal Doppler Weath-
er Radar at the site of the former United States Coast
Guard Air Station Brooklyn at Floyd Bennett Field in
King’s County, New York.