An Act to establish a Rural Transportation Advisory Task Force, and for other purposes.
PL 95-580 (S.1835), enacted 11/02/1978

PUBLIC LAW 95-580—NOV. 2, 1978 
92 STAT. 2475 
Public Law 95-
95th Congress 
580 
An Act 
To establish a Rural Transportation Advisory Task Force, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Congress 
hereby finds and declares that— 
(1) an adequate transportation system, made up of various 
modes of transportation, is essential to the overall success of the 
Nation's agriculture programs, to a sound program of rural 
development, and to the economic stability of the United States; 
(2) the economical and efficient movement of agricultural com-
modities (including forest products) and agricultural inputs has 
been impeded by a shortage of railroad freight cars and motor 
trucks and by the deteriorated condition of many rail roadbeds 
throughout the United States; 
(3) the economical and efficient movement of agricultural com-
modities (including forest products) and agricultural inputs is 
further threatened by the proposed abandonment by the railroad 
companies of thousands of miles of important railroad lines in the 
United States ; 
(4) the maintaining of an efficient and economical transporta-
tion system for agriculture and rural development in the United 
States has not received the priority attention which such system 
should have received; and 
(5) the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Trans-
portation have a responsibility to assume a more active role in 
representing the interests of agriculture and rural development in 
the United States in order to insure the availability of an adequate, 
efficient, and economical transportation system sufficient to meet 
the needs of agriculture and rural development in the United 
States. 
SEC. 2. (a) There is hereby created in accordance with the provisions 
of this section a Kural Transportation Advisory Task Force (herein-
after referred to as the "Task Force"). 
(b) The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Transporta-
tion (hereinafter referred to as the Secretaries) shall serve as Cochair-
men of the Task Force, which shall consist of fourteen members in 
addition to the Cochairmen, appointed by the Secretaries on the follow-
ing basis: 
(1) one to be selected from a list of qualified individuals recom-
mended by the Secretary of Agriculture; 
(2) one to be selected from a list of qualified individuals recom-
mended by the Secretary of Transportation; 
(3) one to be selected from a list of qualified individuals recom-
mended by the Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission ; 
(4) one to be selected from a list of qualified individuals recom-
mended by the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri-
tion, and Forestry, United States Senate; 
Nov. 2, 1978 
[S. 1835] 
Rural 
Transportation 
Advisory Task 
Force. 
Establishment. 
49 u s e 1653 
note. 
49 u s e 1653 
note. 
Cochairmen 
and membership, 
92 STAT. 2476 
PUBLIC LAW 95-580—NOV. 2, 1978 
Recommendations 
from 
congressional 
committees. 
Notice, 
publication 
in Federal 
Register. 
Travel 
allowances. 
Report, 
publication and 
dissemination. 
49 use 1653 
note. 
Submittal to 
congressional 
committees. 
(5) one to be selected from a list of qualified individuals recom-
mended by the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, United 
States House of Representatives; 
(6) three to be selected from lists of qualified individuals recom-
mended by carriers and associations of carriers, not to include 
more than one representative from each of the three transporta-
tion modes, rail, motor, and water; 
(7) four to be selected from lists of qualified individuals rec-
ommended by the agricultural community, including agricultural 
shippers and associations of shippers; and 
(8) two to be selected from lists of qualified individuals recom-
mended by the academic community. 
(c) Within fifteen days after the enactment of this section, the Secre-
taries shall solicit recommendations from the Chairman of the Inter-
state Commerce Commission; the chairman of the Committee on 
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, United States Senate; and the 
chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, United States House of 
Representatives. The Secretaries shall cause notice to be published in 
the Federal Register soliciting recommendations from which to make 
the selections required under subparts (6), (7), and (8) of subsection 
(b) of this section. 
(d) Vacancies on the Task Force shall be filled in the manner pre-
scribed for original selections. 
(e) INIembers of the Task Force who are full-time officers or 
employees of the United States shall receive no additional pay on 
account of this service on the Task Force. AVhile away from their homes 
or regular places of business in the performance of services for the 
Task Force, members of the Task Force shall be allowed travel 
expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in the same manner 
as persons employed intermittently in the Government service are 
allowed expenses under section 5703 of title 5, United States Code. 
(f) The Task Force shall be dissolved forty-five days after the 
pulalication of the final report required under section 4 of this Act. 
(g) The Secretaries shall furnish such supplies and clerical, admin-
istrative, and other support as they deem necessary to enable the Task 
Force to carry out its responsibilities. 
SEC. 3. (a) The Task Force may compile and publish an initial 
report which, if published, shall include recommendations for deter-
mining the essential transportation needs of agriculture on a con-
tinuing basis, for establishing a national agricultural transportation 
policy, and for methods of identifying impediments to a railroad 
transportation system adequate to meet the essential needs of the 
agriculture industry of the United States. Such report, if published, 
shall also include, but shall not be limited to, maps which identify the 
locations in the several .IBtates which the Task Force, on the basis of 
the importance of such locations within agricultural producing, mar-
keting, or consuming areas, determines should receive railroad service: 
Provided^ That this directive is not to be construed as requiring 
comprehensive line-by-line analyses of all branch lines. 
(b) The report authorized in section 3(a) shall, if published, be 
published not later than one hundred and eighty days after the date of 
enactment of this Act. The Task Force shall submit copies of such 
report, if published, to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry of the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of the House 
of Representatives and shall provide for the widespread public dis-
semination of such report throughout the United States as soon as 
practicable after its publication. 
PUBLIC LAW 95-580—NOV. 2, 1978 
92 STAT. 2477 
(c) Within ninety days after the publication of the initial report 
described in section -^(a), or if such report is not published, within 
two hundred and seventy days after enactment of this Act, the Task 
Force shall announce dates for and hold public hearings at various 
locations throughout the United States, take such testimony and 
receive such evidence as it considers advisable for the purpose of 
obtaining the views of interested persons on such initial report or, 
if such report is not published, on recommendations for the final 
report requiied under this Act. 
(d) Within one hundred and twenty days after the publication of 
the initial report described in section 8(a) or, if such report is not 
published, within three hundred days after enactment of this Act, 
the Task Force shall prepare and publish a summary of the testimony 
presented at such hearings, and shall provide for the widespread 
public dissemination of such summary as soon as possible following 
the publication thereof. 
SEC. 4. (a) The Task Force shall prepare and publish, within four 
hundred and twenty days aftei- tlie date of enactment of this Act, a 
final report including recommendations for determining the essential 
needs of agriculture on a continuing basis, for establishing a national 
agricultural transpoitation policy, for methods of identifying impedi-
ments to a railroad ti-ansportation adequate to meet the essential needs 
of the agriculture industry, and containing specific recommendations 
for a railroad transportation system adequate to meet the essential 
needs of the agriculture industry of the United States. In preparing 
such final report, the Task Force shall take into consideration the 
testimony i-eceived at the public hearing required under this Act. 
(b) Copies of such final report shall be submitted to the Committee 
on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, the Committee 
on Agriculture of the House of Representatives, and the Chairman 
of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The Task Force shall pro-
vide for the widespread public dissemination of such final report. 
SEC. .5. The provisions of this Act shall become effective October 1. 
1978. 
Approved November 2, 1978. 
Public hearings. 
Testimony 
summary, 
publication. 
Final report, 
publication. 
49 use 1653 
note. 
Submittal to 
congressional 
committees and 
ICC. 
Effective date. 
49 u s e 1653 
note. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 
HOUSE REPORT No. 95-1600, accompanying H.R. 12917 (Comm. on Agriculture). 
SENATE REPORT No. 95-923 (Comm. on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 124 (1978): 
June 8, considered and passed Senate. 
Oct. 3, 4, H.R. 12917 considered and passed House; passage vacated, and 
S. 1835, amended, passed in lieu. 
Oct. 15, Senate concurred in House amendment.