[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4545 Introduced in House (IH)]

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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Railroad Safety 
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 organizations 
representing any class or craft of directly affected covered service 
employees of the railroad or railroads, may jointly petition the 
Secretary of Transportation for approval 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 
implementing alternatives to the strict application of the requirements 
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 
comment, 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 additional periods of up to two years, after notice and 
opportunity for comment. An explanation of any waiver granted under 
this section shall be published in the Federal Register.
    ``(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 waiver 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 violates 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 RAILROAD 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 
Transportation 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 ``biennial''.
    (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 ``occurring 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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