H. R. 3159
One Hundred Fourth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
the third day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six
An Act
To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize appropriations for fiscal years
1997, 1998, and 1999 for the National Transportation Safety Board, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
TITLE I—NTSB AMENDMENTS
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘National Transportation Safety
Board Amendments of 1996’’.
SEC. 102. FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.
Section 1114 of title 49, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘(b) and (c)’’ in subsection (a) and inserting
‘‘(b), (c), and (e)’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(e) FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, neither the Board, nor any agency receiving information
from the Board, shall disclose records or information relating
to its participation in foreign aircraft accident investigations;
except that—
‘‘(A) the Board shall release records pertaining to such
an investigation when the country conducting the investiga-
tion issues its final report or 2 years following the date
of the accident, whichever occurs first; and
‘‘(B) the Board may disclose records and information
when authorized to do so by the country conducting the
investigation.
‘‘(2) SAFETY
RECOMMENDATIONS.—Nothing in this sub-
section shall restrict the Board at any time from referring
to foreign accident investigation information in making safety
recommendations.’’.
SEC. 103. PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION.
Section 1114(b) of title 49, United States Code, is amended
by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(3) PROTECTION OF VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION OF INFORMA-
TION.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, neither the
Board, nor any agency receiving information from the Board,
shall disclose voluntarily provided safety-related information
if that information is not related to the exercise of the Board’s
H. R. 3159—2
accident or incident investigation authority under this chapter
and if the Board finds that the disclosure of the information
would inhibit the voluntary provision of that type of informa-
tion.’’.
SEC. 104. TRAINING.
Section 1115 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by
adding at the end the following:
‘‘(d) TRAINING
OF
BOARD
EMPLOYEES
AND
OTHERS.—The
Board may conduct training of its employees in those subjects
necessary for the proper performance of accident investigation.
The Board may also authorize attendance at courses given
under this subsection by other government personnel, personnel
of foreign governments, and personnel from industry or
otherwise who have a requirement for accident investigation
training. The Board may require non-Board personnel to
reimburse some or all of the training costs, and amounts so
reimbursed shall be credited to the appropriation of the
‘National Transportation Safety Board, Salaries and Expenses’
as offsetting collections.’’.
SEC. 105. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
Section 1118(a) of title 49, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’; and
(2) by inserting before the period at the end of the first
sentence the following: ‘‘, $42,400,00 for fiscal year 1997,
$44,400,000 for fiscal year 1998, and $46,600,000 for fiscal
year 1999.’’.
TITLE II—INTERMODAL
TRANSPORTATION
SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Intermodal Safe Container
Transportation Amendments Act of 1996’’.
SEC. 202. AMENDMENT OF TITLE 49, UNITED STATES CODE.
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this title
an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment
to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall
be considered to be made to a section or other provision of title
49 of the United States Code.
SEC. 203. DEFINITIONS.
Section 5901 (relating to definitions) is amended—
(1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
‘‘(1) except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the defini-
tions in sections 10102 and 13102 of this title apply.’’;
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as paragraphs
(7) and (8), respectively; and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following:
‘‘(6) ‘gross cargo weight’ means the weight of the cargo,
packaging materials (including ice), pallets, and dunnage.’’.
SEC. 204. NOTIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION.
(a) PRIOR NOTIFICATION.—Subsection (a) of section 5902 (relat-
ing to prior notification) is amended—