[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 650 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 650

  To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve safety at public 
           railway-highway crossings, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 6, 1997

 Mr. Visclosky (for himself, Mr. Hostettler, Mr. Roemer, Mr. McIntosh, 
   Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mrs. Carson, Mr. Hamilton, and Mr. Pease) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                   Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve safety at public 
           railway-highway crossings, 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 ``Highway Rail Grade Crossing Safety 
Formula Enhancement Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. ALLOCATIONS OF APPORTIONED FUNDS FOR RAILWAY-HIGHWAY CROSSINGS.

    (a) Apportionment for Railway-Highway Crossings.--Section 104(b)(3) 
of title 23, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A) by striking ``For the'' and 
        inserting ``After making the set aside required by subparagraph 
        (C), for the'';
            (2) in subparagraph (B)--
                    (A) in the first sentence by striking ``this 
                paragraph'' and inserting ``subparagraph (A)''; and
                    (B) in the second sentence by striking ``this 
                paragraph'' and inserting ``subparagraph (A) or this 
                subparagraph''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) Set aside for railway-highway crossings.--For 
                fiscal year 1998, the Secretary shall--
                            ``(i) set aside 5 percent of the funds 
                        authorized for the surface transportation 
                        program to be apportioned to States to be used 
                        in accordance with section 133(d)(1)(B)(i); and
                            ``(ii) apportion the funds set aside under 
                        clause (i) among the States so that--
                                    ``(I) 25 percent is apportioned 
                                based on the ratio of the total number 
                                of accidents at public railway-highway 
                                crossings during the 3 full calendar 
                                years preceding the first day of the 
                                fiscal year in each State to that total 
                                in all States;
                                    ``(II) 25 percent is apportioned 
                                based on the ratio of the total number 
                                of fatalities at public railway-highway 
                                crossings during the 3 full calendar 
                                years preceding the first day of the 
                                fiscal year in each State to that total 
                                in all States;
                                    ``(III) 25 percent is apportioned 
                                based on the ratio, as of the first day 
                                of the fiscal year, of the number of 
                                public railway-highway crossings in 
                                each State to the number of public 
                                railway-highway crossings in all 
                                States;
                                    ``(IV) 25 percent is apportioned 
                                based on the ratio, as of the first day 
                                of the fiscal year, of the number of 
                                public railway-highway crossings with 
                                passive warning devices in each State 
                                to the number of public railway-highway 
                                crossings with passive warning devices 
                                in all States; and
                                    ``(V) notwithstanding subclauses 
                                (I) through (IV), each State receives a 
                                minimum apportionment of \1/4\ of 1 
                                percent of the funds set aside under 
                                clause (i), except that each of Hawaii, 
                                Puerto Rico, and the District of 
                                Columbia receives \1/8\ of 1 percent of 
                                the funds set aside under clause 
                                (i).''.
    (b) Allocations for Safety Programs.--Section 133(d)(1) of title 
23, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) For safety programs.--
                    ``(A) Fiscal years 1991 through 1997.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii), 
                        for each of fiscal years 1991 through 1997, 10 
                        percent of the funds apportioned to a State 
                        under section 104(b)(3)(A) for the surface 
                        transportation program for a fiscal year shall 
                        be available only to carry out sections 130 and 
                        152.
                            ``(ii) Minimum.--Of the funds required to 
                        be made available by clause (i) for a fiscal 
                        year, each State shall use an amount of the 
                        funds to carry out each of sections 130 and 152 
                        that is not less than the amount of funds 
                        apportioned to the State for fiscal year 1991 
                        under the section.
                    ``(B) Fiscal year 1998.--
                            ``(i) Railway-highway crossings.--Subject 
                        to clause (iii), for fiscal year 1998, the 
                        funds apportioned to a State under section 
                        104(b)(3)(C) shall be available only to carry 
                        out section 130.
                            ``(ii) Hazard elimination program.--Subject 
                        to clause (iii), for fiscal year 1998, 5 
                        percent of the funds apportioned to a State 
                        under section 104(b)(3)(A) for the surface 
                        transportation program for fiscal year 1998 
                        shall be available only to carry out section 
                        152.
                            ``(iii) Minimum.--To the extent necessary 
                        to ensure that the amount of funds made 
                        available for fiscal year 1998 to carry out 
                        each of sections 130 and 152 is not less than 
                        the amount of funds apportioned to the State 
                        for fiscal year 1991 under the section, each 
                        State shall use--
                                    ``(I) funds described in clause (i) 
                                to carry out section 152; and
                                    ``(II) funds described in clause 
                                (ii) to carry out section 130.''.
    (c) Technical Corrections.--Section 130 of title 23, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking subsection (f); and
            (2) by redesignating subsections (g) and (h) as subsections 
        (f) and (g), respectively.
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