I 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4370 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 16, 2009 Mr. Gonzalez (for himself and Ms. Norton) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To require railroad carriers to prepare and maintain a plan for notifying local emergency responders before transporting hazardous materials through their jurisdictions.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Safe Transportation of Hazardous Materials Act of 2009.

2.

Notification requirement

Every railroad carrier engaged in the transportation of hazardous materials shall transmit to the Secretary of Transportation, and annually update, a plan for providing at least 48 hours notification to local emergency responders before transporting hazardous materials through their jurisdictions within 48 hours of a request for such information from those local emergency responders. This plan may include notification by means of county or State government agencies.

3.

Demonstration

The Secretary of Transportation shall establish a requirement that railroad carriers periodically demonstrate to the Secretary that the procedures set forth in the plan transmitted under section 2 are adequate to provide appropriate notice to those local emergency responders if they request this information as described in section 2.

4.

Definitions

For purposes of this Act— (1)the term hazardous materials means materials designated under section 5103(a) of title 49, United States Code; and (2)the term emergency responder means State and local emergency preparedness personnel described in section 613(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5196b(a)).