I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3782 
To provide emergency relief for American short line railroads, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 1, 2023 
Mr. DONALDS (for himself, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. BACON, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. 
FEENSTRA, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. 
BOST, Mr. MANN, and Mr. LATURNER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-
ture 
A BILL 
To provide emergency relief for American short line railroads, 
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 ‘‘Short Line Railroad 
Relief Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SHORT LINE RAILROAD EMERGENCY RELIEF PRO-
GRAM. 
(a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of Trans-
portation, in consultation with the Administrator of the 
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Federal Railroad Administration, may make grants or 
enter into contracts and other agreements (including 
agreements with departments, agencies, and instrumental-
ities of the Federal, State, or local government) for capital 
projects to protect, repair, reconstruct, or replace short 
line railroad equipment and facilities that the Secretary 
determines is in danger of suffering catastrophic damage, 
or has suffered catastrophic damage, as a result of an 
emergency. 
(b) TERMS.—In making grants under subsection (a), 
the Secretary may make grants on a reimbursable basis 
or advance funding basis. 
(c) COORDINATION OF EMERGENCY FUNDS.—Funds 
appropriated to carry out this section shall be in addition 
to any other funds available and shall not affect the ability 
of any other agency of the Government, a State agency, 
a local governmental entity or organization, or person to 
provide any other funds otherwise authorized by law, ex-
cept that no person, business concern, or other entity shall 
receive assistance with respect to any part of a loss as 
to which such person, business concern, or other entity 
has received financial assistance under any other program 
or from insurance or any other source. 
(d) GRANT REQUIREMENTS.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—A grant awarded under this 
section that is made to address an emergency shall 
be subject to the terms and conditions the Secretary 
determines are necessary. 
(2) OVERSIGHT
FUNDS.—The Secretary may 
retain up to one-half of 1 percent of the funds ap-
propriated under this section to fund the costs of 
project management oversight by the Administrator 
of the Federal Railroad Administration. 
(3) APPLICATION OF LAW.—The provisions of 
section 24312 of title 49, United States Code, shall 
apply to entities receiving a grant under this section. 
(e) GOVERNMENT SHARE OF COSTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—A grant, contract, or other 
agreement for a capital project under this section 
shall be for not more than 80 percent of the project 
cost, as determined by the Secretary. The non-Fed-
eral share of the project cost shall be provided in 
cash, equipment, or supplies. 
(2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive, in 
whole or in part, the non-Federal share. 
(f) LIMITATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Project costs under this sec-
tion shall be limited to the scope of damage caused 
by the respective emergency. 
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(2) DETERMINATION.—In the case of a project 
that included damage preexisting the respective 
emergency, the Administrator shall make a deter-
mination on the amount or percentage of the dam-
ages preexisting such emergency. 
(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section the following defi-
nitions shall apply: 
(1) EMERGENCY.—The term ‘‘emergency’’— 
(A) has the meaning given such term in 
section 5324 of title 49, United States Code; 
and 
(B) includes a wildfire. 
(2) SHORT LINE RAILROAD.—The term ‘‘short 
line railroad’’ means a Class II railroad or a Class 
III railroad as such terms are defined by the Sur-
face Transportation Board. 
Æ 
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