Railroad Responsibility Act of 2025

Bill: 119-hr-341
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Davidson, Warren [R-OH-8]
Introduced: 2025-01-13
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Latest action: action_date: 2025-01-14
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.

Summaries:
action_date: 2025-01-13
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Railroad Responsibility Act of 2025</strong></p><p>This bill provides states with the authority to adopt or enact any law, regulation, order, or other requirement limiting the duration that a railroad carrier may block a grade rail crossing. Specifically, this bill states that federal transportation laws do not preempt a state from adopting or enacting these limits.&nbsp;</p><p>As background, state and federal courts have generally found that state laws regarding obstructed crossings are preempted by one or more federal laws, thereby&nbsp;rendering the state laws&nbsp;unenforceable.</p>

tv_txt: I 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 341 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 13, 2025 Mr. Davidson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide States the authority to limit blocking grade rail crossings, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Railroad Responsibility Act of 2025 . 2. State authority to limit blocking grade rail crossings (a) General jurisdiction of Surface Transportation Board Section 10501(c)(3) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: (C) State authority To limit blocking grade rail crossings Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this title does not preempt a State from the adoption or enactment of any law, regulation, order, or other requirement related to limiting the duration that a railroad carrier may block a grade rail crossing. . (b) Preemption Section 20106(a) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: (3) State authority To limit blocking grade rail crossings (A) In general Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this title does not preempt a State from the adoption or enactment of any law, regulation, order, or other requirement related to limiting the duration that a railroad carrier may block a grade rail crossing. (B) State defined In this paragraph, the term State means a State of the United States and the District of Columbia. .