[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8699 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8699

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require certain recipients of 
Federal assistance for public transit systems to establish a program to 
collect data on passenger harassment on public transit systems, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 7, 2026

     Mr. Min (for himself, Ms. Norton, and Mr. Johnson of Georgia) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                   Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 49, United States Code, to require certain recipients of 
Federal assistance for public transit systems to establish a program to 
collect data on passenger harassment on public transit systems, 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 ``Safe Transit for All Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF ASSAULTS ON TRANSIT PASSENGERS IN PUBLIC 
              TRANSPORTATION SAFETY PROGRAM.

    (a) Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan.--Section 5329(d) of 
title 49, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (I)(ii) by striking the period 
                and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(J) in the case of a recipient receiving 
                assistance under section 5307 that is serving an 
                urbanized area with a population of 200,000 or more, a 
                program to collect data on street harassment on public 
                transit systems targeted at passengers, including--
                            ``(i) establishing accessible digital and 
                        in-person reporting mechanisms to collect data 
                        from passengers who have experienced or 
                        witnessed an incident of street harassment on a 
                        public transit system operated by the 
                        recipient, including the ability to collect 
                        data on--
                                    ``(I) the frequency, type, 
                                location, and time of the incident 
                                experienced or witnessed by the 
                                passenger, including whether such 
                                street harassment was verbal 
                                harassment, a physical assault, or a 
                                sexual assault;
                                    ``(II) the demographic information 
                                of the passenger or passengers that 
                                experienced the incident, including 
                                race, ethnicity, religion, age, 
                                disability, income, primary language, 
                                sex, and sexual orientation;
                                    ``(III) the actual or perceived 
                                characteristics that may have served as 
                                the basis for the incident; and
                                    ``(IV) the impact of the incident 
                                on the passenger, including whether and 
                                in what way street harassment affects 
                                the use of public transit by the 
                                passenger;
                            ``(ii) collecting data and conducting 
                        outreach in multiple languages to understand 
                        safety concerns and experiences of passengers 
                        with limited English language proficiency;
                            ``(iii) in a timely manner after data is 
                        collected pursuant to clauses (i) and (ii), 
                        publishing on a publicly available website the 
                        data collected, excluding any personally 
                        identifiable information; and
                            ``(iv) establishing protocols for 
                        responding to reports of street harassment 
                        received through the reporting mechanisms 
                        established in clause (i).''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) Definition of street harassment.--In this subsection, 
        the term `street harassment' means any word, gesture, or other 
        action directed at an individual because of an actual or 
        perceived personal characteristic of the individual, including 
        a characteristic protected under title VI or VII of the Civil 
        Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) or the Age 
        Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et 
        seq.), in a public place, without the consent of the 
        individual, in which the individual experiences such word, 
        gesture, or action as intimidating or threatening to the safety 
        of the individual.''.
    (b) National Transit Database.--Section 5335 of title 49, United 
States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2) by striking ``and'';
                    (B) in paragraph (3) by striking the period and 
                inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) any data on street harassment of passengers collected 
        by the recipient pursuant to section 5329(d).''.
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