257 
‘‘(IV) The durability of roadways 
and subgrade with respect to flamma-
bility and hydrostatic forces. 
‘‘(V) Strategies to mitigate the 
costs associated with vulnerabilities in 
Federal evacuation routes, with re-
spect to overcrowding and inundation. 
‘‘(ii) ACTIVITIES.—A tier 1 transpor-
tation center receiving a grant under this 
section with a focus area described in sub-
paragraph (C) may— 
‘‘(I) establish best practices; 
‘‘(II) develop modeling tools; and 
‘‘(III) carry out other activities 
and develop technology that addresses 
the planning considerations described 
in clause (i).’’. 
SEC. 7011. PRE-DISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION PILOT PRO-
GRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 125 of title 23, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(h) PRE-DISASTER HAZARD MITIGATION PILOT 
PROGRAM.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab-
lish a pre-disaster mitigation program for the pur-
pose of mitigating future hazards posed to Federal- 
aid highways. 
‘‘(2) DISTRIBUTION
OF
FUNDS.—Every 6 
months, the Secretary shall total the amount of 
funds made available to each State, territory, Tribe, 
or other eligible entity under the emergency relief 
program during the preceding 6 months and remit 
an additional 5 percent from the Highway Trust 
Fund to such State, territory, Tribe, or other eligible 
entity for eligible activities described in paragraph 
(3). 
‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Funds made avail-
able under paragraph (2) shall be used for mitiga-
tion projects and activities that the Secretary deter-
mines are cost effective and which substantially re-
duce the risk of, or increase resilience to, future 
damage as a result of natural disasters, such as by 
flood, hurricane, tidal wave, earthquake, wildfire, se-
vere storm, or landslide by upgrading existing assets 
to meet or exceed design standards adopted by the 
Federal Highway Administration by means of the 
following: 
‘‘(A) Relocating or elevating roadways. 
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‘‘(B) Increasing the size or number of 
drainage structures, including culverts. 
‘‘(C) Installing mitigation measures to pre-
vent the impairment of transportation assets as 
a result of the intrusion of floodwaters. 
‘‘(D) Improving bridges to expand water 
capacity and prevent flooding. 
‘‘(E) Deepening channels to prevent asset 
inundation and improve drainage. 
‘‘(F) improving strength of natural fea-
tures adjacent to highway right-of-way to pro-
mote additional flood storage. 
‘‘(G) Installing or upgrading tide gates 
and flood gates. 
‘‘(H) Stabilizing slide areas or slopes. 
‘‘(I) Installing seismic retrofits for bridges. 
‘‘(J) Adding scour protection at bridges. 
‘‘(K) Adding scour, stream stability, coast-
al, or other hydraulic countermeasures, includ-
ing riprap. 
‘‘(L) Installing intelligent transportation 
system equipment to monitor infrastructure 
quality. 
‘‘(M) Any other protective features as de-
termined by the Secretary. 
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260 
‘‘(4) REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit to 
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works of the Senate, and 
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans-
portation of the Senate an annual report detailing— 
‘‘(A) a description of the activities carried 
out under the pilot program; 
‘‘(B) an evaluation of the effectiveness of 
the pilot program in meeting purposes described 
in paragraph (1); and 
‘‘(C) policy recommendations to improve 
the effectiveness of the pre-disaster mitigation 
pilot program.’’. 
(b) SUNSET.—The amendments made by this section 
shall be repealed on the date that is 5 years after the date 
of enactment of this Act. 
TITLE VIII—FREIGHT RAIL 
MANUFACTURING 
SEC. 8001. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘A Future for Freight 
Rail Manufacturing Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘AFFRM Act 
of 2021’’. 
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261 
SEC. 8002. REQUIREMENTS FOR RAILROAD FREIGHT CARS 
ENTERING SERVICE IN THE UNITED STATES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, any Association of Amer-
ican Railroads (in this title referred to as ‘‘AAR’’) ap-
proved railroad freight car manufactured on or after such 
date may operate on the United States rail interchange 
system only if— 
(1) the railroad freight car is manufactured or 
assembled or substantially transformed by a quali-
fied builder in a qualified facility; 
(2) none of the sensitive technology located on 
the railroad freight car, including components nec-
essary to the functionality of the sensitive tech-
nology, originates or is sourced from a country spec-
ified in section 8004 or a State-Owned Enterprise; 
and 
(3) none of the content of the railroad freight 
car that originates from a country specified in sec-
tion 8004 or a State-Owned Enterprise has been de-
termined by a recognized court or administrative 
agency of competent jurisdiction and legal authority 
to have violated or infringed valid U.S. intellectual 
property rights of another including such a finding 
by a Federal district court under the Patent Act or 
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the U.S. International Trade Commission under sec-
tion 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. 
(b) CONTENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Any Railroad Freight Car 
Manufacturer and AAR approved railroad freight 
car manufactured on or after such date may operate 
on the United States rail interchange system only if 
the railroad freight car has a content percentage 
that originates from a country specified in section 
8004 or a State-Owned Enterprise of— 
(A) beginning on the date of enactment of 
this Act, not more than 20 percent; and 
(B) beginning on the date that is 24 
months after the date of enactment of this Act, 
not more than 15 percent. 
(2) APPLICATION OF LAW.—The content per-
centages specified in this section apply notwith-
standing any conflict with the provisions of chapter 
4 of the Agreement between the United States of 
American, the United Mexican States, and Canada 
(Dec. 13, 2019). 
SEC. 8003. REGULATIONS; PENALTIES. 
(a) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Transportation shall issue such regulations as are nec-
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263 
essary to carry out this Act, including for the monitoring, 
enforcement, and sensitive technology requirements of this 
title. 
(b) COMPLIANCE.—A Railroad Freight Car Manufac-
turer will certify such manufacturer is meeting the re-
quirements of this Act and noncompliant railroad freight 
cars may not be registered under the AAR Umler system. 
(c) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Any railroad freight car 
manufacturer that has manufactured a railroad freight 
car for the North American Interchange system that the 
Secretary of Transportation determines, after written no-
tice and an opportunity for a hearing, has violated this 
Act is liable to the United States Government for a civil 
penalty of at least $150,000 but not more than $500,000 
for each violation for each such railroad freight car and 
thereafter barred from release of such railroad freight car 
for operation on the North American Interchange system. 
The noncompliant railroad freight car may re-enter service 
upon re-certification from the railroad freight car manu-
facturer after paying the civil penalty and meeting compli-
ance of this title. 
SEC. 8004. COUNTRY SPECIFIED. 
A country specified in this section is a country that— 
(1) is identified by the Department of Com-
merce as a nonmarket economy country (as defined 
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264 
in section 771(18) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 
U.S.C. 1677(18))) as of the date of enactment of 
this Act; and 
(2)(A) was identified by the United States 
Trade Representative in the most recent report re-
quired by section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 
U.S.C. 2242) as a priority watch country or watch 
country; or 
(B) is subject to monitoring by the Trade Rep-
resentative under section 306 of the Trade Act of 
1974 (19 U.S.C. 2416). 
SEC. 8005. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title: 
(1) CONTENT.—The term ‘‘content’’ means the 
net cost of the railroad freight car less the cost of 
sensitive technology. 
(2) CONTROL.—The term ‘‘control’’ means the 
power, whether direct or indirect and whether or not 
exercised, through the ownership of a majority or a 
dominant minority of the total outstanding voting 
interest in an entity, representation on the board of 
directors of an entity, proxy voting on the board of 
directors of an entity, a special share in the entity, 
a contractual arrangement with the entity, a formal 
or informal arrangement to act in concert with an 
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entity, or any other means, to determine, direct, 
make decisions, or cause decisions to be made for 
the entity. 
(3) COST
OF
SENSITIVE
TECHNOLOGY.—The 
term ‘‘cost of sensitive technology’’ means the aggre-
gate cost of the sensitive technology located on the 
railroad freight car. 
(4) NET COST.—The term ‘‘net cost’’ means 
the net cost as defined in chapter 4 of the United 
States–Mexico–Canada Free Trade Agreement or 
any subsequent free trade agreement between the 
United States, Mexico, and Canada. 
(5) 
ORIGINATE; 
ORIGINATING.—The 
terms 
‘‘originate’’ and ‘‘originating’’ mean the country or 
origin of a part, component, subassembly or finished 
product as defined in chapter 4 of the United 
States-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement or any 
subsequent free trade agreement between the United 
States, Mexico, and Canada. 
(6) QUALIFIED FACILITY.—The term ‘‘qualified 
facility’’ means a facility that is not under the con-
trol of a State-Owned Enterprise. 
(7) QUALIFIED RAILROAD FREIGHT CAR BUILD-
ER.—The term ‘‘qualified railroad freight rail car 
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builder’’ means a builder that is not under the con-
trol of a State-Owned Enterprise. 
(8) RAILCAR
COMPONENT
SUPPLIER.—The 
term ‘‘railcar component supplier’’ means an enter-
prise that supplies railroad freight car components 
for the manufacturing of railroad freight cars. 
(9) RAILROAD FREIGHT CAR.—The term ‘‘rail-
road freight car’’ means a car designed to carry 
freight, or railroad personnel, by rail and includes— 
(A) box car; 
(B) refrigerator car; 
(C) ventilator car; 
(D) stack car or intermodal well; 
(E) gondola car; 
(F) hopper car; 
(G) auto rack car; 
(H) flat car; 
(I) special car; 
(J) caboose car; 
(K) tank car; and 
(L) yard car. 
(10) 
RAILROAD
FREIGHT
CAR
MANUFAC-
TURER.—The term ‘‘railroad freight rail car manu-
facturer’’ is defined as a builder of railroad freight 
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rail cars as defined in the definition of railroad 
freight car. 
(11) 
SENSITIVE
TECHNOLOGY.—The 
term 
‘‘sensitive technology’’ means any device embedded 
with 
electronics, 
software, 
sensors, 
or 
other 
connectivity, except those freight rail parts as de-
fined as ‘‘safety-critical’’ in section 236.903 of title 
49, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 
regulations, that enables the device to connect, col-
lect, or exchange data, including— 
(A) onboard telematics; 
(B) remote monitoring software; 
(C) firmware; 
(D) analytics; 
(E) GPS satellite and cellular location 
tracking systems; 
(F) event status sensors; 
(G) predictive component condition and 
performance monitoring sensors; and 
(H) similar sensitive technologies embed-
ded into freight railcar components and sub-
assemblies. 
(12) STATE-OWNED
ENTERPRISE.—The term 
‘‘state-owned enterprise’’ means— 
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(A) an entity that is owned by or under 
the control of a national, provincial, or local 
government of a country or an agency of such 
government of a country as described in section 
8004; or 
(B) an individual acting under the direc-
tion or control of a government or agency de-
scribed in subparagraph (A). 
(13) 
SUBSTANTIALLY
TRANSFORMED.—The 
term ‘‘substantially transformed’’ means a compo-
nent undergoes an applicable change in tariff classi-
fication as a result of the manufacturing process as 
outlined in chapter 4 and related Annexes of the 
United States-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agree-
ment or any subsequent free trade agreement be-
tween the United States, Mexico, and Canada. 
Æ 
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