I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4545
To amend the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 8, 1994
Mr. SWIFT (by request) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970, 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 ‘‘Federal Railroad Safe-
ty Authorization Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
Section 214(a) of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of
1970 (45 U.S.C. 444(a)) is amended by inserting after
the first sentence the following new sentence: ‘‘There are
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act not
to exceed $68,289,000 for fiscal year 1995 and such sums
as may be necessary for fiscal years 1996, 1997, and
1998.’’.
SEC. 3. HOURS OF SERVICE PILOT PROJECTS.
The Hours of Service Act (45 U.S.C. 61 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 7. HOURS OF SERVICE PILOT PROJECTS.
‘‘(a) A railroad or railroads and all labor organiza-
tions representing any class or craft of directly affected
covered service employees of the railroad or railroads, may
jointly petition the Secretary of Transportation for ap-
proval of a waiver, in whole or in part, of compliance with
this Act, to enable the establishment of one or more pilot
projects to demonstrate the possible benefits of imple-
menting alternatives to the strict application of the re-
quirements of this Act to such class or craft of employees,
including requirements concerning maximum on-duty and
minimum off-duty periods. Based on such a joint petition,
the Secretary may, after notice and opportunity for com-
ment, waive in whole or in part compliance with this Act
for a period of no more than two years, if the Secretary
determines that such waiver of compliance is in the public
interest and is consistent with railroad safety. Any such
waiver may, based on a new petition, be extended for addi-
tional periods of up to two years, after notice and oppor-
tunity for comment. An explanation of any waiver granted
under this section shall be published in the Federal Reg-
ister.
‘‘(b) The Secretary shall submit to Congress, no later
than 18 months after the granting of the first waiver
under subsection (a), a report that explains and analyzes
the effectiveness of any pilot projects established pursuant
to waivers that were granted under subsection (a) at least
12 months before the date such report is due under this
subsection.
‘‘(c) For purposes of this section, the term ‘directly
affected covered service employees’ means covered service
employees to whose hours of service the terms of the waiv-
er petitioned for specifically apply.’’.
SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO THE HOURS OF
SERVICE ACT.
Section 5(a)(1) of the Hours of Service Act (45
U.S.C. 64a(a)(1)) is amended by inserting ‘‘or that vio-
lates any provision of a waiver applicable to that person
that has been granted under section 7 of this Act,’’ after
‘‘or that violates any other provision of this Act,’’.
SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT TO THE FEDERAL RAIL-
ROAD SAFETY ACT OF 1970.
Section 209(f) of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of
1970 (45 U.S.C. 438(f)) is amended by inserting ‘‘this
title or any of the laws transferred to the jurisdiction of
the Secretary of Transportation by subsection (e) (1), (2),
and (6)(A) of section 6 of the Department of Transpor-
tation Act (49 U.S.C. App. 1655(e) (1), (2), and (6)(A),
or’’ after ‘‘individual’s violation of’’.
SEC. 6. BIENNIAL REPORTING ON IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE FEDERAL RAILROAD SAFETY ACT OF
1970.
(a) Section 211 of the Federal Railroad Safety Act
of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 440) is amended by striking in its
heading ‘‘ANNUAL’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘BIEN-
NIAL’’.
(b) Section 211(a) of the Federal Railroad Safety Act
of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 440(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘on
or before July 1 of each year a comprehensive report on
the administration of this title for the preceding calendar
year’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘every two years, on
or before July 1 of the year due, a comprehensive report
on the administration of this title for the preceding two
calendar years’’.
(c) Section 211(a)(1) of the Federal Railroad Safety
Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 440(a)(1)) is amended by striking
‘‘occurring in such year’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘oc-
curring during each of the two preceding calendar years,
by calendar year’’.
(d) Paragraphs (2), (3), and (6) of section 211(a)
of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C.
440(a)(2), (3), and (6)) are amended by striking ‘‘year’’
each place it appears and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘years’’.
(e) Paragraphs (9) and (10) of section 211(a) of the
Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 440(a)(9)
and (10)) are amended by striking ‘‘during the preceding
calendar year’’ each place it appears and inserting in lieu
thereof ‘‘during the preceding two calendar years’’.
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