[Congressional Bills 103th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 4545 Introduced in House (IH)] 103d CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 4545 To amend the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 8, 1994 Mr. Swift (by request) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970, 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 ``Federal Railroad Safety Authorization Act of 1994''. SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. Section 214(a) of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 444(a)) is amended by inserting after the first sentence the following new sentence: ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act not to exceed $68,289,000 for fiscal year 1995 and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 1996, 1997, and 1998.''. SEC. 3. HOURS OF SERVICE PILOT PROJECTS. The Hours of Service Act (45 U.S.C. 61 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section: ``SEC. 7. HOURS OF SERVICE PILOT PROJECTS. ``(a) A railroad or railroads and all labor organizations representing any class or craft of directly affected covered service employees of the railroad or railroads, may jointly petition the Secretary of Transportation for approval of a waiver, in whole or in part, of compliance with this Act, to enable the establishment of one or more pilot projects to demonstrate the possible benefits of implementing alternatives to the strict application of the requirements of this Act to such class or craft of employees, including requirements concerning maximum on-duty and minimum off-duty periods. Based on such a joint petition, the Secretary may, after notice and opportunity for comment, waive in whole or in part compliance with this Act for a period of no more than two years, if the Secretary determines that such waiver of compliance is in the public interest and is consistent with railroad safety. Any such waiver may, based on a new petition, be extended for additional periods of up to two years, after notice and opportunity for comment. An explanation of any waiver granted under this section shall be published in the Federal Register. ``(b) The Secretary shall submit to Congress, no later than 18 months after the granting of the first waiver under subsection (a), a report that explains and analyzes the effectiveness of any pilot projects established pursuant to waivers that were granted under subsection (a) at least 12 months before the date such report is due under this subsection. ``(c) For purposes of this section, the term `directly affected covered service employees' means covered service employees to whose hours of service the terms of the waiver petitioned for specifically apply.''. SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO THE HOURS OF SERVICE ACT. Section 5(a)(1) of the Hours of Service Act (45 U.S.C. 64a(a)(1)) is amended by inserting ``or that violates any provision of a waiver applicable to that person that has been granted under section 7 of this Act,'' after ``or that violates any other provision of this Act,''. SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT TO THE FEDERAL RAILROAD SAFETY ACT OF 1970. Section 209(f) of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 438(f)) is amended by inserting ``this title or any of the laws transferred to the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Transportation by subsection (e) (1), (2), and (6)(A) of section 6 of the Department of Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. App. 1655(e) (1), (2), and (6)(A), or'' after ``individual's violation of''. SEC. 6. BIENNIAL REPORTING ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FEDERAL RAILROAD SAFETY ACT OF 1970. (a) Section 211 of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 440) is amended by striking in its heading ``annual'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``biennial''. (b) Section 211(a) of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 440(a)) is amended by striking ``on or before July 1 of each year a comprehensive report on the administration of this title for the preceding calendar year'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``every two years, on or before July 1 of the year due, a comprehensive report on the administration of this title for the preceding two calendar years''. (c) Section 211(a)(1) of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 440(a)(1)) is amended by striking ``occurring in such year'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``occurring during each of the two preceding calendar years, by calendar year''. (d) Paragraphs (2), (3), and (6) of section 211(a) of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 440(a)(2), (3), and (6)) are amended by striking ``year'' each place it appears and inserting in lieu thereof ``years''. (e) Paragraphs (9) and (10) of section 211(a) of the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 440(a)(9) and (10)) are amended by striking ``during the preceding calendar year'' each place it appears and inserting in lieu thereof ``during the preceding two calendar years''. <all>