H. R. 2095—95 
‘‘(11) periodic updates of the plan, especially related to 
project budget and project schedule, financing, and ridership 
estimates; and 
‘‘(12) the recipient’s commitment to submit periodically a 
project budget and project schedule to the Secretary. 
‘‘(b) SECRETARIAL OVERSIGHT.— 
‘‘(1) The Secretary may use no more than 1 percent of 
amounts made available in a fiscal year for capital projects 
under this chapter to enter into contracts to oversee the 
construction of such projects. 
‘‘(2) The Secretary may use amounts available under para-
graph (1) of this subsection to make contracts for safety, 
procurement, management, and financial compliance reviews 
and audits of a recipient of amounts under paragraph (1). 
‘‘(3) The Federal Government shall pay the entire cost 
of carrying out a contract under this subsection. 
‘‘(c) ACCESS TO SITES AND RECORDS.—Each recipient of assist-
ance under this chapter shall provide the Secretary and a contractor 
the Secretary chooses under subsection (b) of this section with 
access to the construction sites and records of the recipient when 
reasonably necessary. 
‘‘§ 24404. Use of capital grants to finance first-dollar liability 
of grant project 
‘‘Notwithstanding the requirements of section 24402 of this 
chapter, the Secretary of Transportation may approve the use of 
a capital assistance grant under this chapter to fund self-insured 
retention of risk for the first tier of liability insurance coverage 
for rail passenger service associated with the grant, but the coverage 
may not exceed $20,000,000 per occurrence or $20,000,000 in aggre-
gate per year. 
‘‘§ 24405. Grant conditions 
‘‘(a) BUY AMERICA.—(1) The Secretary of Transportation may 
obligate an amount that may be appropriated to carry out this 
chapter for a project only if the steel, iron, and manufactured 
goods used in the project are produced in the United States. 
‘‘(2) The Secretary of Transportation may waive paragraph 
(1) of this subsection if the Secretary finds that— 
‘‘(A) applying paragraph (1) would be inconsistent with 
the public interest; 
‘‘(B) the steel, iron, and goods produced in the United 
States are not produced in a sufficient and reasonably available 
amount or are not of a satisfactory quality; 
‘‘(C) rolling stock or power train equipment cannot be 
bought and delivered in the United States within a reasonable 
time; or 
‘‘(D) including domestic material will increase the cost of 
the overall project by more than 25 percent. 
‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, in calculating the compo-
nents’ costs, labor costs involved in final assembly shall not be 
included in the calculation. 
‘‘(4) If the Secretary determines that it is necessary to waive 
the application of paragraph (1) based on a finding under paragraph 
(2), the Secretary shall, before the date on which such finding 
takes effect—
H. R. 2095—96 
‘‘(A) publish in the Federal Register a detailed written 
justification as to why the waiver is needed; and 
‘‘(B) provide notice of such finding and an opportunity 
for public comment on such finding for a reasonable period 
of time not to exceed 15 days. 
‘‘(5) Not later than December 31, 2012, the Secretary shall 
submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report on any waivers 
granted under paragraph (2). 
‘‘(6) The Secretary of Transportation may not make a waiver 
under paragraph (2) of this subsection for goods produced in a 
foreign country if the Secretary, in consultation with the United 
States Trade Representative, decides that the government of that 
foreign country— 
‘‘(A) has an agreement with the United States Government 
under which the Secretary has waived the requirement of this 
subsection; and 
‘‘(B) has violated the agreement by discriminating against 
goods to which this subsection applies that are produced in 
the United States and to which the agreement applies. 
‘‘(7) A person is ineligible to receive a contract or subcontract 
made with amounts authorized under this chapter if a court or 
department, agency, or instrumentality of the Government decides 
the person intentionally— 
‘‘(A) affixed a ‘Made in America’ label, or a label with 
an inscription having the same meaning, to goods sold in or 
shipped to the United States that are used in a project to 
which this subsection applies but not produced in the United 
States; or 
‘‘(B) represented that goods described in subparagraph (A) 
of this paragraph were produced in the United States. 
‘‘(8) The Secretary may not impose any limitation on assistance 
provided under this chapter that restricts a State from imposing 
more stringent requirements than this subsection on the use of 
articles, materials, and supplies mined, produced, or manufactured 
in foreign countries in projects carried out with that assistance 
or restricts a recipient of that assistance from complying with 
those State-imposed requirements. 
‘‘(9) The Secretary may allow a manufacturer or supplier of 
steel, iron, or manufactured goods to correct after bid opening 
any certification of noncompliance or failure to properly complete 
the certification (but not including failure to sign the certification) 
under this subsection if such manufacturer or supplier attests under 
penalty of perjury that such manufacturer or supplier submitted 
an incorrect certification as a result of an inadvertent or clerical 
error. The burden of establishing inadvertent or clerical error is 
on the manufacturer or supplier. 
‘‘(10) A party adversely affected by an agency action under 
this subsection shall have the right to seek review under section 
702 of title 5. 
‘‘(11) The requirements of this subsection shall only apply to 
projects for which the costs exceed $100,000. 
‘‘(b) OPERATORS DEEMED RAIL CARRIERS AND EMPLOYERS FOR 
CERTAIN PURPOSES.—A person that conducts rail operations over 
rail infrastructure constructed or improved with funding provided 
in whole or in part in a grant made under this chapter shall
H. R. 2095—97 
be considered a rail carrier as defined in section 10102(5) of this 
title for purposes of this title and any other statute that adopts 
that definition or in which that definition applies, including— 
‘‘(1) the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. 231 
et seq.); 
‘‘(2) the Railway Labor Act (43 U.S.C. 151 et seq.); and 
‘‘(3) the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (45 U.S.C. 
351 et seq.). 
‘‘(c) GRANT CONDITIONS.—The Secretary shall require as a 
condition of making any grant under this chapter for a project 
that uses rights-of-way owned by a railroad that— 
‘‘(1) a written agreement exist between the applicant and 
the railroad regarding such use and ownership, including— 
‘‘(A) any compensation for such use; 
‘‘(B) assurances regarding the adequacy of infrastruc-
ture capacity to accommodate both existing and future 
freight and passenger operations; 
‘‘(C) an assurance by the railroad that collective bar-
gaining 
agreements 
with 
the 
railroad’s 
employees 
(including terms regulating the contracting of work) will 
remain in full force and effect according to their terms 
for work performed by the railroad on the railroad transpor-
tation corridor; and 
‘‘(D) an assurance that an applicant complies with 
liability requirements consistent with section 28103 of this 
title; and 
‘‘(2) the applicant agrees to comply with— 
‘‘(A) the standards of section 24312 of this title, as 
such section was in effect on September 1, 2003, with 
respect to the project in the same manner that Amtrak 
is required to comply with those standards for construction 
work financed under an agreement made under section 
24308(a) of this title; and 
‘‘(B) the protective arrangements established under sec-
tion 504 of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory 
Reform Act of 1976 (45 U.S.C. 836) with respect to 
employees affected by actions taken in connection with 
the project to be financed in whole or in part by grants 
under this chapter. 
‘‘(d) REPLACEMENT
OF EXISTING INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL 
SERVICE.— 
‘‘(1) COLLECTIVE
BARGAINING
AGREEMENT
FOR
INTERCITY 
PASSENGER RAIL PROJECTS.—Any entity providing intercity pas-
senger railroad transportation that begins operations after the 
date of enactment of this Act on a project funded in whole 
or in part by grants made under this chapter and replaces 
intercity rail passenger service that was provided by Amtrak, 
unless such service was provided solely by Amtrak to another 
entity, as of such date shall enter into an agreement with 
the authorized bargaining agent or agents for adversely affected 
employees of the predecessor provider that— 
‘‘(A) gives each such qualified employee of the prede-
cessor provider priority in hiring according to the 
employee’s seniority on the predecessor provider for each 
position with the replacing entity that is in the employee’s 
craft or class and is available within 3 years after the 
termination of the service being replaced;
H. R. 2095—98 
‘‘(B) establishes a procedure for notifying such an 
employee of such positions; 
‘‘(C) establishes a procedure for such an employee to 
apply for such positions; and 
‘‘(D) establishes rates of pay, rules, and working condi-
tions. 
‘‘(2) IMMEDIATE REPLACEMENT SERVICE.— 
‘‘(A) NEGOTIATIONS.—If the replacement of preexisting 
intercity rail passenger service occurs concurrent with or 
within a reasonable time before the commencement of the 
replacing entity’s rail passenger service, the replacing 
entity shall give written notice of its plan to replace existing 
rail passenger service to the authorized collective bar-
gaining agent or agents for the potentially adversely 
affected employees of the predecessor provider at least 
90 days before the date on which it plans to commence 
service. Within 5 days after the date of receipt of such 
written notice, negotiations between the replacing entity 
and the collective bargaining agent or agents for the 
employees of the predecessor provider shall commence for 
the purpose of reaching agreement with respect to all mat-
ters set forth in subparagraphs (A) through (D) of para-
graph (1). The negotiations shall continue for 30 days or 
until an agreement is reached, whichever is sooner. If 
at the end of 30 days the parties have not entered into 
an agreement with respect to all such matters, the unre-
solved issues shall be submitted for arbitration in accord-
ance with the procedure set forth in subparagraph (B). 
‘‘(B) ARBITRATION.—If an agreement has not been 
entered into with respect to all matters set forth in sub-
paragraphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (1) as described 
in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, the parties shall 
select an arbitrator. If the parties are unable to agree 
upon the selection of such arbitrator within 5 days, either 
or both parties shall notify the National Mediation Board, 
which shall provide a list of seven arbitrators with experi-
ence in arbitrating rail labor protection disputes. Within 
5 days after such notification, the parties shall alternately 
strike names from the list until only 1 name remains, 
and that person shall serve as the neutral arbitrator. 
Within 45 days after selection of the arbitrator, the arbi-
trator shall conduct a hearing on the dispute and shall 
render a decision with respect to the unresolved issues 
among the matters set forth in subparagraphs (A) through 
(D) of paragraph (1). The arbitrator shall be guided by 
prevailing national standard rates of pay, benefits, and 
working conditions for comparable work. This decision shall 
be final, binding, and conclusive upon the parties. The 
salary and expenses of the arbitrator shall be borne equally 
by the parties; all other expenses shall be paid by the 
party incurring them. 
‘‘(3) SERVICE COMMENCEMENT.—A replacing entity under 
this subsection shall commence service only after an agreement 
is entered into with respect to the matters set forth in subpara-
graphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (1) or the decision of 
the arbitrator has been rendered.