I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 188 
To require that the Amtrak Board of Directors comply with the open meetings 
requirements of section 552b of title 5, United States Code, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 3, 2025 
Mr. NEHLS (for himself and Mr. GRAVES) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To require that the Amtrak Board of Directors comply with 
the open meetings requirements of section 552b of title 
5, United States Code, 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 ‘‘Amtrak Transparency 
and Accountability for Passengers and Taxpayers Act’’. 
SEC. 2. OPEN MEETINGS. 
Section 24301(e) of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended— 
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(1) by striking ‘‘Section 552 of title 5, this 
part’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (3), sections 552 and 552b of title 5, this 
part’’; 
(2) in the second sentence by striking ‘‘Section 
552 of title 5, United States Code, applies’’ and in-
serting the following: 
‘‘(2) TIMING OF APPLICATION.—Except as pro-
vided in paragraph (3), sections 552 and 552b of 
title 5 apply’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) SCOPE OF APPLICATION.— 
‘‘(A) INFORMATION.—The requirements of 
the second sentence of section 552b(b) of title 
5 shall not apply to any portion of an Amtrak 
meeting and subsections (d) and (e) of section 
552b of title 5 shall not apply to any informa-
tion pertaining to any portion of an Amtrak 
meeting otherwise required by section 552b of 
title 5 to be disclosed to the public in any case 
in which Amtrak properly determines that such 
portion or portions of the meeting or the disclo-
sure of such information is likely to involve— 
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‘‘(i) contract negotiations, including 
negotiations for contract procurements and 
agreements, the disclosure of which would 
imperil or compromise the competitive po-
sition of Amtrak; 
‘‘(ii) collective bargaining agreements 
or any terms and conditions that are pro-
posed for inclusion in any collective bar-
gaining agreement, including the negotia-
tion of terms and conditions with employ-
ees or representatives of employees of Am-
trak; and 
‘‘(iii) with respect to any individual 
who is a prospective officer, employee, or 
contractor or an officer, employee, or con-
tractor employed or appointed by Amtrak, 
matters involving the employment, appoint-
ment, termination of employment, terms 
and conditions of employment, evaluation 
of the performance of, promotion or dis-
ciplining of any such individual, unless all 
such individuals whose rights could be ad-
versely affected request in writing that the 
matter or matters be discussed at a public 
meeting. 
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‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL APPLICATION.—In addi-
tion to the information described in subpara-
graph (B), the information described in section 
552b(c) shall apply to Amtrak meetings.’’. 
Æ 
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