[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2451 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2451

   To amend title 23 and title 49, United States Code, to strengthen 
          domestic content standards, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 19, 2015

Mr. Lipinski (for himself, Mr. Joyce, Mr. Higgins, Mrs. Lawrence, Mrs. 
    Bustos, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Norton, and Mrs. Dingell) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 
                           and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 23 and title 49, United States Code, to strengthen 
          domestic content standards, 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 ``Buy America Update Act''.

SEC. 2. FHWA DOMESTIC CONTENT STANDARDS IMPROVEMENT.

    (a) CMAQ Loophole.--Section 313(b) of title 23, United States Code, 
is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4);
            (2) in paragraph (2) by striking ``or''; and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
            ``(3) that when procuring rolling stock under this 
        chapter--
                    ``(A) the cost of components and subcomponents 
                produced in the United States is more than 60 percent 
                of the cost of all components of the rolling stock; and
                    ``(B) final assembly of the rolling stock has 
                occurred in the United States; or''.
    (b) Rule Reevaluation.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall review the 
regulations found in section 635.410 of title 23, Code of Federal 
Regulations, or any similar successor regulations, to determine whether 
manufactured products other than those containing steel and iron should 
be considered for the purposes of domestic content preferences.

SEC. 3. COMPONENT REQUIREMENTS AND VERIFICATION.

    (a) Auditing and Certification Modernization.--
            (1) Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of 
        this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall--
                    (A) initiate a rulemaking to develop audit 
                procedures for the agency to review offeror and 
                recipient compliance with domestic content provisions; 
                and
                    (B) issue guidance on best practices for pre-award 
                and post-delivery audits by recipients under section 
                5323(m) of title 49, United States Code.
            (2) In developing the guidance required under paragraph 
        (1)(B), the Secretary shall consider best practices for--
                    (A) proper and sufficient documentation requests 
                from bidders by recipients under section 5323(m) of 
                such title to support certification of compliance;
                    (B) proper and sufficient documentation requests 
                from bidders by recipients under section 5323(m) of 
                such title to support pre-award and post-delivery 
                audits;
                    (C) determining the timing and requirements for 
                post-delivery audit; and
                    (D) verifying the origin of supplier components and 
                subcomponents.
    (b) Component Guidance.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall initiate a rulemaking to 
further develop standards under section 5323(j) of title 49, United 
States Code, for measuring the percentage value of a component relative 
to the entire procurement.

SEC. 4. RAIL BUY AMERICA MODERNIZATION.

    Section 24305(f) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(5) Before seeking a waiver request under paragraph (4), Amtrak 
shall contract with the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
to conduct a supplier scouting process for domestic suppliers that can 
provide the compliant products for which a waiver will be sought. Upon 
conclusion of the supplier scouting process for a particular component, 
material, or subcomponent, Amtrak shall submit to the Secretary a 
scouting report along with the waiver request. The Secretary shall 
consider the results of the supplier scouting before making a decision 
on Amtrak's waiver. If the Secretary decides to grant the waiver, the 
Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register a summary of the 
Scouting report and the reasons for the Secretary's decision.''.

SEC. 5. FAA BUY AMERICA MODERNIZATION.

    Section 50101 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(d) Supplier Scouting.--Before issuing a waiver under subsection 
(b), the Secretary shall--
            ``(1) consult with the National Institute of Standards and 
        Technology; and
            ``(2) begin a supplier scouting process for domestic 
        suppliers that can provide for those compliant products for 
        which a waiver will be sought.
    ``(e) Publication Required.--Upon conclusion of the supplier 
scouting process required under subsection (d)(2) for a particular 
component, material, or subcomponent, the Secretary make the results of 
the supplier scouting available to the public.''.

SEC. 6. APPLICATION OF BUY AMERICA REQUIREMENTS TO PROJECTS FINANCED 
              WITH PASSENGER FACILITY CHARGES.

    (a) In General.--Section 50101(a) of title 49, United States Code, 
is amended by inserting ``, and may approve a project under section 
40117,'' before ``only if steel''.
    (b) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (b) shall 
apply to an application submitted pursuant to section 40177(c) of title 
49, United States Code, after the date of enactment of this Act.
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