[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2153 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2153

  To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Secretary of 
 Transportation to issue regulations and encourage the States to adopt 
   and implement laws prohibiting the operation of certain uncovered 
                 commercial motor vehicles on highways.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 1, 1995

 Mr. Lipinski introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the Secretary of 
 Transportation to issue regulations and encourage the States to adopt 
   and implement laws prohibiting the operation of certain uncovered 
                 commercial motor vehicles on highways.
    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 ``Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act 
of 1995''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) it is in the public interest to prohibit the operation 
        of certain uncovered commercial motor vehicles and thereby 
        reduce highway fatalities, injuries, and property damage 
        otherwise associated with such operation; and
            (2) State governments can assist the Federal Government in 
        assuring the safe operation of commercial motor vehicles by 
        enacting laws prohibiting the operation of certain uncovered 
        commercial motor vehicles.

SEC. 3. COVERED LOAD REQUIREMENT.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter III of chapter 311 of title 49, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:
``Sec. 31148. Covered load requirement
    ``(a) General Rule.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
enactment of this section, the Secretary of Transportation shall 
initiate a rulemaking proceeding for the purpose of issuing regulations 
prohibiting any person from operating, or causing to be operated, on 
any street or highway, any commercial motor vehicle with an open load 
of dirt, aggregate, garbage, tailings, wood chips, refuse, or other 
similar loose material, unless the load is secured or enclosed with a 
tarpaulin or other covering sufficient to prevent any portion of the 
material from rolling of, falling from, blowing off, dropping from, or 
otherwise escaping from the vehicle. The Secretary shall issue such 
regulations not later than 1 year after such date of enactment.
    ``(b) State Law Compatibility.--If at any time in a fiscal year 
beginning after September 30, 1997, a State does not have in effect a 
law compatible with the regulations issued by the Secretary under 
subsection (a), the Secretary, notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, shall transfer an amount equal to 1\1/2\ percent of the funds 
apportioned to the State under each of subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), and 
(b)(3) of title 23, United States Code, to the apportionment of the 
State under section 402 of title 23, United States Code. The Federal 
share of the cost of any project carried out with funds transferred 
under this section shall be 100 percent.
    ``(c) Transfer of Obligation Authority.--If the Secretary transfers 
under this section any funds to the State for a fiscal year for highway 
safety programs under section 402 of title 23, United States Code, the 
Secretary shall allocate an amount of obligation authority distributed 
for such fiscal year to the State for Federal-aid highways and highway 
safety programs for carrying out only projects under such section 402 
which is determined by multiplying--
            ``(1) the amount of the funds transferred to the 
        apportionment of such section 402 of the State under this 
        section for such fiscal year; by
            ``(2) the ratio of the amount of obligation authority 
        distributed for such fiscal year to the State for Federal-aid 
        highways and highway safety construction programs to the total 
        of the sums apportioned to the State for Federal-aid highways 
        and highway safety construction (excluding sums not subject to 
        any obligation limitation) for such fiscal year.
    ``(d) Limitation on Applicability of Highway Safety Obligations.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no limitation on the total 
obligations for highway safety programs carried out by the Federal 
Highway Administration under section 402 of title 23, United States 
Code, shall apply to funds transferred under this section to the 
apportionment of the State under such section 402.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The analysis for chapter 311 of such 
title is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 31147 
the following:

``31148. Covered load requirement.''.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    Section 31132 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(11) `aggregate' means any ore, mineral, sand, gravel, 
        shale, coal, clay, limestone, crushed stone, or other ore or 
        mineral which is mined.''.
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