I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1691 
To clarify the application of section 14501(d) of title 49, United States 
Code, to prevent the imposition of unreasonable transportation terminal fees. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 3, 2011 
Ms. RICHARDSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To clarify the application of section 14501(d) of title 49, 
United States Code, to prevent the imposition of unrea-
sonable transportation terminal fees. 
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 ‘‘Prevention of Unrea-
sonable Fees Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Several airports and other transportation 
terminals continue to charge or have imposed fees 
on all for-hire vehicles, regardless of whether the ve-
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hicle is providing interstate or intrastate transpor-
tation. 
(2) The imposition of such fees unreasonably 
burdens direct for-hire vehicles, many of whom are 
small businesses struggling to survive in these dif-
ficult economic times. 
SEC. 3. PREVENTION OF UNREASONABLE FEES. 
Section 14501(d) of title 49, United States Code is 
amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘on account of 
the fact that a motor vehicle’’ and inserting ‘‘to be 
paid with respect to a motor vehicle that’’; 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as 
paragraph (3) and (4), respectively; 
(3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(2) TRANSPORTATION TERMINAL FEES PRO-
HIBITED.—An operator of a transportation terminal 
that, at any time after the date of enactment of the 
Prevention of Unreasonable Fees Act, uses any Fed-
eral funds for the construction, expansion, renova-
tion, or other capital improvement of such transpor-
tation terminal, or for the purchase or lease of any 
equipment installed in such transportation terminal 
or on its property, may not charge any fee to a pro-
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vider of prearranged ground transportation service 
described in paragraph (1), except— 
‘‘(A) a fee charged to the general public 
for access to, or use of, any part of the trans-
portation terminal; 
‘‘(B) a fee for the availability of ancillary 
facilities at the transportation terminal that is 
reasonable in relation to the costs of operating 
the ancillary facilities; or 
‘‘(C) a fee for such access, use, or avail-
ability that the Secretary has approved in ad-
vance after making a determination that the fee 
is 
reasonable, 
nonburdensome, 
nondiscrim-
inatory, necessary, and appropriate to the pro-
vision of prearranged ground transportation 
service.’’; 
(4) by amending paragraph (3), as redesig-
nated, to read as follows: 
‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(A) ANCILLARY
FACILITIES.—The term 
‘ancillary facilities’ includes restrooms, vending 
machines, monitoring facilities that advise par-
ties accessing the transportation terminal of ar-
rivals or departures of aircraft, buses, trains, 
ships, or boats, and such other facilities deter-
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mined by the Secretary to be necessary, appro-
priate, desirable, or useful to the business of 
providing prearranged ground transportation 
service. 
‘‘(B) INTERMEDIATE STOP.—The term ‘in-
termediate stop’, with respect to transportation 
by a motor carrier, means a pause in the trans-
portation in order for 1 or more passengers to 
engage in personal or business activity if the 
driver providing the transportation to such pas-
sengers does not, before resuming the transpor-
tation of at least 1 of such passengers, provide 
transportation to any other person not included 
among the passengers being transported when 
the pause began. 
‘‘(C) TRANSPORTATION
TERMINAL.—The 
term ‘transportation terminal’ means any air-
port, port facility for ships or boats, train sta-
tion, or bus terminal, including any principal 
building and all ancillary buildings, roads, run-
ways, and other facilities.’’; and 
(5) in paragraph (4), as redesignated— 
(A) in subparagraph (B)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘an airport, train, or 
bus’’ and inserting ‘‘a transportation’’; and 
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(ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 
subparagraph (D); 
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 
the following: 
‘‘(C) as prohibiting or restricting a trans-
portation terminal operator from requiring vehi-
cles that cannot safely use parking facilities 
that are otherwise available to the general pub-
lic to use segregated facilities, if the fee for 
such facilities is not more than the amount 
charged to the public for similar facilities;’’; 
(D) in subparagraph (D), as redesignated, 
by striking the period at the end and inserting 
‘‘; or’’; and 
(E) by inserting after subparagraph (D), 
as redesignated, the following: 
‘‘(E) as restricting the right of any State 
or political subdivision of a State to require a 
license or fee (other than a fee by a transpor-
tation terminal operator prohibited under para-
graph (2)) with respect to a vehicle that is pro-
viding transportation not described in para-
graph (1).’’. 
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SEC. 4. REGULATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor-
tation shall promulgate regulations to carry out the provi-
sions of section 14501(d) of title 49, United States Code, 
as amended by section 3. 
(b) PROVISIONS.—The regulations promulgated pur-
suant to subsection (a) shall include— 
(1) a comprehensive list of the ancillary facili-
ties determined by the Secretary to be necessary, ap-
propriate, desirable, and useful to the business of 
the provision of prearranged ground transportation 
service; 
(2) a schedule of suggested fees that— 
(A) may be charged for such ancillary fa-
cilities by any transportation terminal operator 
to a provider of prearranged ground transpor-
tation service for the availability of the ancillary 
facility; and 
(B) are determined by the Secretary to be 
reasonable in relation to the costs of operating 
the ancillary facility; 
(3) a requirement that any fee proposed by a 
transportation terminal operator for the availability 
of an ancillary facility may not be greater than the 
fee for such ancillary facility provided in the sched-
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ule described in paragraph (2), unless the fee is ap-
proved in advance by the Secretary after a public 
hearing and determination that the proposed fee and 
the amount of the fee for the availability of such an-
cillary facility at such transportation terminal— 
(A) is reasonable in relation to the costs of 
operating the ancillary facility; and 
(B) 
otherwise 
complies 
with 
section 
14501(d) of title 49, United States Code; and 
(4) such other provisions as the Secretary de-
termines to be necessary or appropriate to carry out 
such section 14501(d) in a manner that prevents the 
imposition by a transportation terminal operator 
of— 
(A) fees to be paid by or with respect to 
a motor vehicle that is providing prearranged 
ground transportation service; or 
(B) any other discriminatory or punitive 
action or measure against, or with respect to, a 
motor vehicle that is providing prearranged 
ground transportation service. 
Æ 
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