SAFE TRAINS Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2062 To increase the security of United States rail infrastructure along the North American Interchange Service to the direct and indirect supply of U.S. military and related institutions, to facilitate cross-border trade among the United States, Mexico, or Canada, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 15, 2021 Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To increase the security of United States rail infrastructure along the North American Interchange Service to the direct and indirect supply of U.S. military and related institutions, to facilitate cross-border trade among the United States, Mexico, or Canada, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping America’s 4 Foreign Enemies Through Rail And Infrastructure Na- 5 tional Security Act’’ or the ‘‘SAFE TRAINS Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2062.IS S2062 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2062 IS SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR RAILROAD FREIGHT CARS EN- 1 TERING SERVICE IN THE UNITED STATES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 207 of title 49, United 3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘§ 20704. Requirements for railroad freight cars en- 6 tering service in the United States 7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 ‘‘(1) COMPONENT.—The term ‘component’ 9 means a part or subassembly of a railroad freight 10 car. 11 ‘‘(2) CONTROL.—The term ‘control’ means the 12 power, whether direct or indirect and whether or not 13 exercised, through the ownership of a majority or a 14 dominant minority of the total outstanding voting 15 interest in an entity, representation on the board of 16 directors of an entity, proxy voting on the board of 17 directors of an entity, a special share in the entity, 18 a contractual arrangement with the entity, a formal 19 or informal arrangement to act in concert with an 20 entity, or any other means, to determine, direct, 21 make decisions, or cause decisions to be made for 22 the entity. 23 ‘‘(3) COST OF SENSITIVE TECHNOLOGY.—The 24 term ‘cost of sensitive technology’ means the aggre- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2062.IS S2062 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2062 IS gate cost of the sensitive technology located on a 1 railroad freight car. 2 ‘‘(4) COUNTRY OF CONCERN.—The term ‘coun- 3 try of concern’ means a country that— 4 ‘‘(A) is identified by the Department of 5 Commerce as a nonmarket economy country (as 6 defined in section 771(18) of the Tariff Act of 7 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(18))) as of the date of 8 the enactment of the SAFE TRAINS Act; 9 ‘‘(B) was identified by the United States 10 Trade Representative in the most recent report 11 required under section 182 of the Trade Act of 12 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2242) as a foreign country in- 13 cluded on the priority watch list (as defined in 14 subsection (g)(3) of such section); and 15 ‘‘(C) is subject to monitoring by the Trade 16 Representative under section 306 of the Trade 17 Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2416). 18 ‘‘(5) NET COST.—The term ‘net cost’ has the 19 meaning given such term in chapter 4 of the 20 USMCA or in any subsequent free trade agreement 21 between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. 22 ‘‘(6) QUALIFIED FACILITY.—The term ‘quali- 23 fied facility’ means a facility that is not owned or 24 under the control of a state-owned enterprise. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2062.IS S2062 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2062 IS ‘‘(7) QUALIFIED MANUFACTURER.—The term 1 ‘qualified manufacturer’ means a railroad freight car 2 manufacturer that is not owned or under the control 3 of a state-owned enterprise. 4 ‘‘(8) RAILROAD FREIGHT CAR.—The term ‘rail- 5 road freight car’ means a car designed to carry 6 freight or railroad personnel by rail, including— 7 ‘‘(A) a box car; 8 ‘‘(B) a refrigerator car; 9 ‘‘(C) a ventilator car; 10 ‘‘(D) an intermodal well car; 11 ‘‘(E) a gondola car; 12 ‘‘(F) a hopper car; 13 ‘‘(G) an auto rack car; 14 ‘‘(H) a flat car; 15 ‘‘(I) a special car; 16 ‘‘(J) a caboose car; 17 ‘‘(K) a tank car; and 18 ‘‘(L) a yard car. 19 ‘‘(9) SENSITIVE TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘sen- 20 sitive technology’ means any device embedded with 21 electronics, software, sensors, or other connectivity, 22 that enables the device to connect to, collect data 23 from, or exchange data with another device, includ- 24 ing— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2062.IS S2062 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2062 IS ‘‘(A) onboard telematics; 1 ‘‘(B) remote monitoring software; 2 ‘‘(C) firmware; 3 ‘‘(D) analytics; 4 ‘‘(E) GPS satellite and cellular location 5 tracking systems; 6 ‘‘(F) event status sensors; 7 ‘‘(G) predictive component condition and 8 performance monitoring sensors; and 9 ‘‘(H) similar sensitive technologies embed- 10 ded into freight railcar components and sub- 11 assemblies. 12 ‘‘(10) STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISE.—The term 13 ‘state-owned enterprise’ means— 14 ‘‘(A) an entity that is owned by, or under 15 the control of, a national, provincial, or local 16 government of a country of concern, or an 17 agency of such government; or 18 ‘‘(B) an individual acting under the direc- 19 tion or influence of a government or agency de- 20 scribed in subparagraph (A). 21 ‘‘(11) SUBSTANTIALLY TRANSFORMED.—The 22 term ‘substantially transformed’ means a component 23 of a railroad freight car that undergoes an applica- 24 ble change in tariff classification as a result of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2062.IS S2062 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2062 IS manufacturing process, as described in chapter 4 1 and related annexes of the USMCA or in any subse- 2 quent free trade agreement between the United 3 States, Mexico, and Canada. 4 ‘‘(12) USMCA.—The term ‘USMCA’ has the 5 meaning given such term in section 3 of the United 6 States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation 7 Act (19 U.S.C. 4502). 8 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR RAILROAD FREIGHT CARS 9 ENTERING SERVICE IN THE UNITED STATES.— 10 ‘‘(1) LIMITATION ON RAILROAD FREIGHT 11 CARS.—A railroad freight car wholly manufactured 12 on or after the date that is 1 year after the date of 13 the enactment of the SAFE TRAINS Act may only 14 operate on the United States freight railroad inter- 15 change system if— 16 ‘‘(A) the railroad freight car is manufac- 17 tured, assembled, and substantially trans- 18 formed, as applicable, by a qualified manufac- 19 turer in a qualified facility; 20 ‘‘(B) none of the sensitive technology lo- 21 cated on the railroad freight car, including com- 22 ponents necessary to the functionality of the 23 sensitive technology, originates from a country 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2062.IS S2062 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2062 IS of concern or is sourced from a state-owned en- 1 terprise; and 2 ‘‘(C) none of the content of the railroad 3 freight car, excluding sensitive technology, 4 originates from a country of concern or is 5 sourced from a state-owned enterprise that has 6 been determined by a recognized court or ad- 7 ministrative agency of competent jurisdiction 8 and legal authority to have violated or infringed 9 valid United States intellectual property rights 10 of another, including such a finding by a Fed- 11 eral district court under title 35 or the United 12 States International Trade Commission under 13 section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 14 U.S.C. 1337). 15 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON RAILROAD FREIGHT CAR 16 CONTENT.— 17 ‘‘(A) PERCENTAGE LIMITATION.—Not 18 later than 1 year after the date of the enact- 19 ment of the SAFE TRAINS Act, a railroad 20 freight car may operate on the United States 21 freight railroad interchange system only if— 22 ‘‘(i) not more than 20 percent of the 23 content of the railroad freight car, cal- 24 culated by the net cost of all components 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2062.IS S2062 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2062 IS of the car and excluding the cost of sen- 1 sitive technology, originates from a country 2 of concern or is sourced from a state- 3 owned enterprise; or 4 ‘‘(ii) not later than 2 years after the 5 date of the enactment of the SAFE 6 TRAINS Act, the percentage described in 7 clause (i) is not more than 15 percent. 8 ‘‘(B) CONFLICT.—The percentages speci- 9 fied in subparagraph (A) shall apply notwith- 10 standing any apparent conflict with the provi- 11 sions of chapter 4 of the USMCA. 12 ‘‘(c) REGULATIONS AND PENALTIES.— 13 ‘‘(1) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—Not later than 14 1 year after the date of the enactment of the SAFE 15 TRAINS Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall 16 issue such regulations as are necessary to carry out 17 this section, including regulations necessary for the 18 monitoring, enforcement, and sensitive technology 19 requirements under this section. 20 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.—To be eligible 21 to provide a railroad freight car for operation on the 22 United States freight railroad interchange system, 23 the manufacturer of such car shall annually certify 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2062.IS S2062 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2062 IS to the Secretary that any railroad freight cars so 1 provided meets the requirements under this section. 2 ‘‘(3) COMPLIANCE.— 3 ‘‘(A) VALID CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.— 4 At the time a railroad freight car begins oper- 5 ation on the United States freight railroad 6 interchange system, the manufacturer of such 7 railroad freight car shall have valid certification 8 described in paragraph (2) for the year in 9 which such car begins operation. 10 ‘‘(B) REGISTRATION OF NONCOMPLIANT 11 CARS PROHIBITED.—A railroad freight car 12 manufacturer may not register, or cause to be 13 registered, a railroad freight car that does not 14 comply with the requirements under this section 15 in the Association of American Railroad’s 16 Umler system. 17 ‘‘(4) CIVIL PENALTIES.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A railroad freight car 19 manufacturer that has manufactured a railroad 20 freight car for operation on the United States 21 freight railroad interchange system that the 22 Secretary of Transportation determines, after 23 written notice and an opportunity for a hearing, 24 has violated this section is liable to the United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2062.IS S2062 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2062 IS States Government for a civil penalty of at least 1 $100,000, but not more than $250,000, for 2 each such violation for each railroad freight car. 3 ‘‘(B) PROHIBITION FOR VIOLATIONS.—The 4 Secretary of Transportation may prohibit a rail- 5 road freight car manufacturer with respect to 6 which the Secretary has assessed more than 3 7 violations under subparagraph (A) from pro- 8 viding additional railroad freight cars for oper- 9 ation on the United States freight railroad 10 interchange system until the Secretary deter- 11 mines— 12 ‘‘(i) such manufacturer is in compli- 13 ance with this section; and 14 ‘‘(ii) all civil penalties assessed to 15 such manufacturer pursuant to subpara- 16 graph (A) have been paid in full.’’. 17 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The chapter analysis 18 for chapter 207 of title 49, United States Code, is amend- 19 ed by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘20704. Requirements for railroad freight cars entering service in the United States.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:53 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2062.IS S2062 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS