in effect for not less than 90 days after the interstate 
Compact is amended pursuant to section 103. 
SEC. 403. FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION REVIEW. 
The Administrator of the Federal Transit Adminis-
tration shall conduct a review with respect to competitive 
grant programs administered by the Federal Transit Ad-
ministration to identify alternative criteria that may be 
used in addition to, or in lieu of, minimum capital costs 
for transit grants awarded by the Administration. The 
purpose of such a review is to establish criteria that will 
incentivize efficiency within the entities applying for grant 
funds. The Administrator shall review any relevant per-
formance metrics, including— 
(1) system expenses relative to vehicle revenue 
hours; 
(2) cost per passenger mile; 
(3) cost inefficiencies associated with inad-
equate planning for procurement of equipment such 
as railcars and buses; and 
(4) overall safety, including number of accidents 
or injuries system-wide. 
SEC. 404. METRO REFORM COMMISSION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Upon enactment of this Act, 
there is established a Metro Reform Commission. 
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(b) PURPOSE.—The Commission will serve as an 
intergovernmental body whose purpose is to— 
(1) share information and provide a forum 
through which proposals to improve the Authority 
may be debated; and 
(2) keep Congress and other relevant stake-
holders informed of the progress of the efforts by 
the Signatories to amend the interstate Compact 
and increase efficiencies within the Authority. 
(c) MAKEUP.—The makeup of the Commission shall 
be as follows: 
(1) The Governor of Virginia. 
(2) The Governor of Maryland. 
(3) The Mayor of the District of Columbia. 
(4) The Secretary of Transportation. 
(5) The General Manager of the Authority. 
(6) 1 member of the National Academy for 
Public Administration contracted under section 402 
of this Act. 
(7) 8 Members of the House of Representatives 
appointed by the Speaker of the House, 5 of which 
shall be from the majority, and 3 of which shall be 
from the minority. 
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(8) 3 Members of the Senate appointed by the 
majority leader, 2 of which shall be from the major-
ity, and 1 of which shall be from the minority. 
(d) DESIGNEES.—Any member of the Commission 
may select an individual to serve as a designee on the 
Commission. 
(e) CHAIR.—The Chair shall be named by the Speak-
er of the House of Representatives. 
(f) MEETINGS.— 
(1) FREQUENCY.—The Commission shall meet 
subject to the call of the Chair. 
(2) OUTSIDE PARTICIPANTS.—The members of 
the Commission may vote with not less than 10 
votes to invite outside guests, including stakeholders, 
subject matter experts, community leaders, elected 
officials, representatives of the business community, 
or other relevant entities to their meetings to provide 
counsel or briefings. 
(3) LOCATION.—The Chair shall name the time 
and place of meetings, which may be held in a pub-
licly or privately owned building with no expectation 
of reciprocal action or favoritism is provided to the 
individual granting permission for use of the space. 
(g) DUTIES.—The Governors of Maryland and Vir-
ginia, and the Mayor of the District of Columbia (referred 
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to in this section as the ‘‘executives’’) jointly shall develop 
a document to reflect specific amendments, deletions, ad-
ditions, or edits to the previous interstate Compact which 
governed the Authority. The executives shall provide, to 
the best of their ability, such document to the other mem-
bers of the Commission upon request, but at least as often 
as the Commission convenes. Upon agreement among the 
Signatories of a new interstate Compact, the executives 
shall provide a final version of this document to the mem-
bers of the Commission. 
(h) TERMS OF SERVICE.—The members of the Com-
mission shall serve as long as the Commission is author-
ized. If no amendments to the Compact are agreed upon 
before the political term of a Commission member expires, 
or that Commission member is defeated in a political elec-
tion, or is removed from office for any reason, his or her 
successor to such political office shall serve on the Com-
mission. 
(i) COMPENSATION.—The members of the Commis-
sion shall serve in addition to their regular professional 
duties and obligations, and shall not receive compensation 
for membership on, or participation with, the Commission. 
(j) GIFTS.—Except as provided in subsection (f)(3) 
of this section, the Commission members may not accept, 
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use, or dispose of gifts, including donations, services, prop-
erty, or tangible goods. 
(k) TERMINATION.—The Commission shall be termi-
nated after the Signatories negotiate amendments to the 
Compact, adopt such amendments, and the Congress ap-
proves such amendments. 
SEC. 405. NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA INTEREST ARBITRA-
TION STANDARDS. 
Sections 18301 through 18304 of chapter 183 of title 
40, United States Code, are amended to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 18301. Findings and purposes 
‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 
‘‘(1) safe, reliable, and affordable public trans-
portation at sufficient levels is essential to the eco-
nomic vitality of the national capital area and is an 
essential component of regional efforts to improve 
air quality to meet environmental requirements and 
to improve the health of both residents of and visi-
tors to the national capital area as well as to pre-
serve the beauty and dignity of the Nation’s capital; 
‘‘(2) use of mass transit by both residents of 
and visitors to the national capital area is substan-
tially affected by the prices charged for mass transit 
services, prices that are substantially affected by 
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labor costs, since more than 70 percent of operating 
costs are attributable to labor costs; 
‘‘(3) labor costs incurred in providing mass 
transit in the national capital area have increased at 
an alarming rate and are unsustainable in light of 
the financial condition of interstate Compact agen-
cies providing mass transit services in the national 
capital area; 
‘‘(4) higher operating costs incurred for public 
transit in the national capital area cannot be offset 
by increasing costs to patrons, since this often dis-
courages ridership and thus undermines the public 
interest in promoting the use of public transit; 
‘‘(5) higher operating costs incurred for public 
transit in the national capital area cannot be offset 
by service cuts since this undermines the public in-
terest in promoting the use of public transit and 
could impact public safety; 
‘‘(6) spiraling labor costs cannot be offset by 
the governmental entities that are responsible for 
subsidy payments for public transit services since 
local governments face other substantial financial 
obligations; 
‘‘(7) labor costs cannot be increased during pe-
riods of time when an interstate Compact agency op-
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erating in the national capital area providing public 
transportation is financially stressed taking into ac-
count operating costs, legacy benefit obligations, 
capital needs, and reserve levels; 
‘‘(8) imposition of mandatory standards appli-
cable to arbitrators resolving arbitration disputes in-
volving interstate Compact agencies operating in the 
national capital area will ensure that wages, bene-
fits, and other terms and conditions of employment, 
including work rules, are justified and do not ad-
versely impact the ability of the interstate Compact 
agencies to provide affordable, safe, and reliable 
public transit services at levels sufficient to serve the 
needs of the Washington metropolitan area; 
‘‘(9) Federal legislation is required to ensure 
that interest arbitration decisions do not adversely 
impact the ability of interstate Compact agencies op-
erating in the national capital area to emerge from 
periods of financial stress and avoid future periods 
of financial stress; and 
‘‘(10) Federal legislation is necessary under 
section 8 of article I of the Constitution to balance 
the need to moderate and lower labor costs while 
maintaining labor peace. 
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‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this chapter is to 
adopt standards governing arbitration that arbitrators 
must apply exclusively in resolving disputes involving 
interstate Compact agencies operating in the national cap-
ital area in order to lower operating costs and facilitate 
the provision of safe, reliable, and affordable public transit 
services at sufficient levels in the Washington metropoli-
tan area. 
‘‘§ 18302. Definitions 
‘‘In this chapter, the following definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) ARBITRATION.—The term ‘arbitration’— 
‘‘(A) means the arbitration of disputes, re-
garding the terms and conditions of employ-
ment, that is required under an interstate Com-
pact governing an interstate Compact agency 
operating in the national capital area; but 
‘‘(B) does not include the interpretation 
and application of rights arising from an exist-
ing collective bargaining agreement. 
‘‘(2) ARBITRATOR.—The term ‘arbitrator’ re-
fers to either a single arbitrator, or a board of arbi-
trators, chosen under applicable procedures. 
‘‘(3) INTERSTATE
COMPACT
AGENCY
OPER-
ATING IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA.—The term 
‘interstate Compact agency operating in the national 
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capital area’ means any interstate Compact agency 
that provides public transit services and that was es-
tablished by an interstate Compact to which the Dis-
trict of Columbia is a signatory. 
‘‘(4) FINANCIAL STRESS.—The term ‘financial 
stress’ means that at least 2 of the following 3 fi-
nancial issues are affecting an interstate Compact 
agency operating in the national capital area: 
‘‘(A) The interstate Compact agency’s 
ratio of operating revenues (excluding any sub-
sidy payment or budgetary assistance) to oper-
ating expenses (as measured on the last date of 
each fiscal year) has decreased in the aggregate 
over the preceding 2-year period. 
‘‘(B) The interstate Compact agency has 
taken at least one of the following measures 
during the preceding 2-year period: 
‘‘(i) Reduced service. 
‘‘(ii) Increased fares. 
‘‘(iii) Diverted capital funds to pay for 
operating expenses during a period in 
which the interstate Compact agency’s 
ratio of capital backlog to system value is 
greater than the average ratio of capital 
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backlog to system value for other United 
States transit systems. 
‘‘(C) It is not reasonably foreseeable that 
the interstate Compact agency will be in a state 
of good repair within the following 2 years as 
determined by the Federal Transit Administra-
tion’s Transit Economic Requirements Model or 
any other alternative model that the Federal 
Transit Administration may utilize in the fu-
ture. 
‘‘§ 18303. Standards for arbitrators 
‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘public 
welfare’ means, with respect to arbitration under an inter-
state Compact— 
‘‘(1) the ability of the interstate Compact agen-
cy to finance wages and benefits resulting from an 
arbitrator’s award consistent with its projected oper-
ating and capital budgets during the term of such 
award without adversely impacting the agency’s abil-
ity to provide safe, reliable, and affordable public 
transportation at sufficient levels; 
‘‘(2) the ability of the interstate Compact agen-
cy to finance wages and benefits resulting from an 
arbitrator’s award as set forth in subsection (c); and 
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‘‘(3) the continuity and stability of interstate 
Compact agency operations to the effect that such 
operations are not detrimental to any facet of the re-
gional economy or to the ability of employees of the 
Federal, State, or local governments to conduct busi-
ness. 
‘‘(b) FACTORS IN MAKING ARBITRATION AWARD.— 
An arbitrator rendering an arbitration award involving the 
employees of an interstate Compact agency operating in 
the national capital area must exclusively consider the fol-
lowing factors, in addition to the factors prescribed in sub-
section (c): 
‘‘(1) The existing wages, benefits, and terms 
and conditions of employment of the employees in 
the bargaining unit except that structural changes 
should be awarded to the benefit of an interstate 
Compact agency operating in the national capital 
area where such changes are consistent with the 
public welfare. 
‘‘(2) The reasonably available and ongoing fi-
nancial resources of the interstate Compact agency, 
taking into account the liabilities and obligations (in-
cluding capital needs, legacy benefit obligations, and 
reserve levels) of the interstate Compact agency, 
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