[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6707 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6707

To require Surface Transportation Board consideration of the impacts of 
   certain railroad transactions on local communities, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 31, 2008

 Mr. Oberstar (for himself, Ms. Bean, Mrs. Biggert, Mr. Visclosky, Mr. 
       Foster, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Roskam, Mr. Hobson, Mr. Neal of 
  Massachusetts, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. Kagen, Mr. Kind, Ms. 
 Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Castor, Ms. Berkley, Ms. Hooley, Mr. Braley of 
  Iowa, Ms. Pryce of Ohio, Mr. Gilchrest, Mr. LaHood, and Mr. Cramer) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                   Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require Surface Transportation Board consideration of the impacts of 
   certain railroad transactions on local communities, 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 ``Taking Responsible Action for 
Community Safety Act''.

SEC. 2. EFFECT OF MERGERS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND RAIL PASSENGER 
              TRANSPORTATION.

    Section 11324 of title 49, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking the last sentence and inserting 
                ``The Board shall hold public hearings on the proposed 
                transaction, including public hearings in the affected 
                communities, unless the Board determines that public 
                hearings are not necessary in the public interest.'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by striking ``which involves the merger or 
                control of at least two Class I railroads,'' and 
                inserting ``with respect to a transaction that involves 
                at least one Class I railroad,'';
                    (B) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph 
                (4);
                    (C) by striking the period at the end of paragraph 
                (5) and inserting a semicolon; and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraphs:
            ``(6) the safety and environmental effects of the proposed 
        transaction, including the effects on local communities, such 
        as public safety, grade crossing safety, hazardous materials 
        transportation safety, emergency response time, noise, and 
        socioeconomic impacts; and
            ``(7) the effect of the proposed transaction on intercity 
        rail passenger transportation and commuter rail passenger 
        transportation, as defined by section 24102 of this title.'';
            (3) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), (e), and (f) as 
        subsections (d), (e), (f), and (g) and inserting a new 
        subsection (c) as follows:
    ``(c) The Board shall approve and authorize a transaction under 
this section when it finds the transaction is consistent with the 
public interest. The Board shall not approve a transaction described in 
subsection (b) if it finds that the transaction's adverse impacts on 
safety and on the affected communities, as defined under subsection 
(b), outweigh the transportation benefits of the transaction. The Board 
may impose conditions governing a transaction under this section, 
including conditions to mitigate the effects of the transaction on 
local communities.'';
            (4) in subsection (d), as redesignated, by striking ``The 
        Board shall approve'' and all that follows through ``the 
        transaction, including'' and insert ``The conditions the Board 
        may impose under this section include''; and
            (5) in subsection (e), as redesignated, by striking ``the 
        merger or control of at least two Class I railroads, as defined 
        by the Board'' and inserting ``a transaction described in 
        subsection (b)''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made in this Act shall be applied to all 
transactions that have not been approved by the Board as of August 1, 
2008.
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