[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 73 (Thursday, June 6, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E973]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2002

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 4, 2002

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the primary function of the 
National Transportation Safety Board primary function is to promote 
safety in transportation. The Board is responsible for the 
investigation, determination of facts, conditions, and circumstances 
and the cause or probable cause or causes of. The Board makes 
transportation safety recommendations to Federal, State, and local 
agencies and private organizations to reduce the likelihood of 
recurrences of transportation accidents. The Board issues reports and 
orders pursuant to its duties to determine the cause of transportation 
accidents and to report the facts, conditions and circumstances 
relating to such accidents.
  Since its last reauthorization in 2000, the Board has investigated 
over 6,500 accidents. The NTSB has issued over 650 safety 
recommendations. To maintain its position as the world's preeminent 
investigative agency, the NTSB must have the resources necessary to 
handle the increasingly complex accident investigations. The NTSB has 
recently broken ground for its new training academy that will teach 
state of the art investigative techniques for transportation accidents.
  Although it has no regulatory or enforcement powers, its reputation 
for impartiality and thoroughness has enabled the NTSB to achieve such 
success in shaping transportation safety improvements that more than 80 
percent of its recommendations have been adopted by those in a position 
to effect change.
  Many safety features currently incorporated into airplanes, 
automobiles, trains, pipelines and marine vessels had their genesis in 
NTSB recommendations. At an annual cost of less than 23 cents a 
citizen, the NTSB is one of the best bargains in the government.
  H.R. 4466, National Transportation Safety Board Reauthorization Act 
authorizes increased funding over the next three years: $73 million in 
FY 2003; $85 million in FY 2004; and $89.7 million in FY 2005. The bill 
also authorizes approximately $4 million per year for the training 
academy. This funding is critical to ensure that the Agency has the 
necessary resources to hire additional technical experts as well as to 
provide better training for its current workforce.
  H.R. 4466 also addresses another matter of great importance; that is, 
the DOT's notoriously slow response to NTSB's safety recommendations. 
The bill requires an annual report from DOT on the regulatory status of 
all significant safety recommendations (i.e., those on NTSB's ``most 
wanted list'') received from the NTSB. This will enable the Committee 
to keep tabs on the progress of these very important recommendations.
  One of the NTSB's core functions is to assist families of passengers 
that have been in an aviation accident. H.R. 4466 also extends the 
NTSB's family assistance responsibility to families of victims of rail 
accidents. In addition, Congress, in 2000, authorized the transfer of 
investigative priority from the NTSB to the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation in the event of an accident caused by an intentional 
criminal act. H.R. 4466 provides for the transfer of the family affairs 
responsibility to the FBI from the NTSB when investigative authority 
has been relinquished in both aviation and rail accidents.
  Having a well funded, well-trained NTSB workforce is of the utmost 
importance for the American traveling public. Accordingly, I urge my 
fellow members to strongly support the bill.




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