[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 505 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 505

 To establish a Hazardous Materials Information Advisory Committee to 
  develop standards for the use of electronic shipping papers for the 
     transportation of hazardous materials, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 22, 2015

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish a Hazardous Materials Information Advisory Committee to 
  develop standards for the use of electronic shipping papers for the 
     transportation of hazardous materials, 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 ``Developing Standards for Electronic 
Shipping Papers Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The impacts of hazardous materials transportation 
        incidents can be mitigated by effective response strategies, 
        equipment, and training.
            (2) Shipping papers and manifests are essential tools for 
        responding to incidents involving hazardous materials as they 
        provide the disclosures needed to determine the proper response 
        strategy.
            (3) While physical shipping papers must continue to be 
        required under law in order to ensure that redundancies are in 
        place to protect the safety of first responders, there should 
        be efforts to modernize how hazardous materials information is 
        disseminated.
            (4) The HM-ACCESS Program authorized in section 33005 of 
        MAP-21 (49 U.S.C. 5121 note) is an important step for 
        developing additional, innovative methods for disseminating 
        hazardous material information electronically, but the pilot 
        tests will not be completed until October 2015.
            (5) As transporters of hazardous materials in commerce 
        deploy these innovative technologies on their own, efforts 
        should be undertaken to ensure that best practices and 
        voluntary standards are available until the HM-ACCESS pilot and 
        subsequent rulemakings are completed so that transporters of 
        hazardous materials will have guidelines to assist with their 
        modernization effort while ensuring that first responders will 
        have access to standardized information platforms and systems.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Commerce and hazardous material.--The terms 
        ``commerce'' and ``hazardous material'' have the meanings given 
        such terms in section 5102 of title 49, United States Code.
            (2) Electronic shipping paper.--The term ``electronic 
        shipping paper'' means an electronic version of the physical 
        shipping paper that is--
                    (A) designed to convey the most current available 
                hazard information required to be disclosed under 
                section 5110(a) of title 49, United States Code; and
                    (B) capable of being accessed instantaneously by 
                emergency responders during an incident involving 
                hazardous material being transported in commerce.

SEC. 4. HAZARDOUS MATERIALS INFORMATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall establish a 
Hazardous Materials Information Advisory Committee composed of members 
appointed by the Secretary.
    (b) Membership.--Members appointed by the Secretary under 
subsection (a) shall represent the following individuals and entities:
            (1) Fire services personnel and management.
            (2) Law enforcement and other appropriate enforcement 
        personnel.
            (3) Other emergency response providers.
            (4) Persons who transport hazardous material by air, 
        highway, rail, or water.
            (5) Persons who offer hazardous material in commerce for 
        transport by air, highway, rail, or water.
            (6) Employees of persons who transport or offer for 
        transportation hazardous material in commerce by air, highway, 
        rail, or water.
            (7) The Coast Guard and other relevant agencies.
            (8) Other individuals and entities determined appropriate 
        by the Secretary.
    (c) Duties.--Not later than 120 days after the establishment of the 
Hazardous Materials Information Advisory Committee under subsection 
(a), the Committee shall--
            (1) develop a voluntary standard for the use of electronic 
        shipping papers until a rulemaking has been completed;
            (2) establish a standardized curriculum for training first 
        responders and enforcement officials in the use of electronic 
        shipping papers and other alternative means of communicating 
        hazardous materials information;
            (3) provide recommendations and best practices for the use 
        of electronic shipping papers by first responders in varying 
        circumstances and locations;
            (4) provide recommendations and best practices to assist 
        persons transporting hazardous materials in commerce in 
        implementing electronic shipping papers; and
            (5) assess potential issues during deployment phases, 
        including first responder training, technology procurement 
        issues and budget limitations, and biometrics.
    (d) Requirements.--In developing the best practices, standards, and 
findings under subsection (c), the Hazardous Materials Information 
Advisory Committee shall take into consideration--
            (1) the scalability of information in its presentation to 
        determine the most efficient means of conveying necessary 
        information for emergency response personnel while allowing 
        access to ancillary information relating to the transport of 
        hazardous materials in order to ensure that information 
        conveyed fits the intended need and the varying levels of first 
        responder training;
            (2) access issues and spectrum issues for rural responders;
            (3) standardization of information to equipment to ensure 
        consistency across modes;
            (4) providing data security and protection from unwanted 
        manipulation in order to preserve the integrity of data entered 
        by transporters of hazardous materials and accessed by bona 
        fide first responders;
            (5) the need to develop a National Deployment Standard on 
        biometrics and identifiers to ensure secure access for first 
        responders;
            (6) the potential for the deployment of fail-safe 
        redundancies linked to State, regional, and local 911 emergency 
        centers;
            (7) the timing of implementation and methods for funding 
        the implementation of electronic shipping papers devices and 
        training;
            (8) updates and revisions to the Emergency Response 
        Guidebooks;
            (9) existing technologies that are employed voluntarily by 
        persons who transport hazardous materials in commerce by air, 
        highway, rail, and water; and
            (10) the results of pilot tests being conducted in 
        accordance with section 33005 of MAP-21 (49 U.S.C. 5121 note) 
        and any interim recommendations issued by the persons 
        administering such pilot tests.
    (e) Travel Expenses.--The Secretary may provide travel expenses, 
including per diem in lieu of subsistence, to a member appointed under 
subsection (b)(1), (b)(2), or (b)(3) in accordance with applicable 
provisions under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States 
Code.
    (f) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Hazardous Materials Information Advisory Committee shall 
transmit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate, a report listing the best practices, 
standards, and findings developed under subsection (c).
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