Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 713 To improve highway-rail grade crossing safety, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 7, 2019 Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself and Mr. SCHUMER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To improve highway-rail grade crossing safety, and for other purposes. 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 TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Highway-Rail Grade 4 Crossing Safety Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. RAILWAY-HIGHWAY CROSSING PROGRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to amounts otherwise 7 apportioned for the highway safety improvement program 8 under section 148 of title 23, United States Code, there 9 is authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000, which shall 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S713.IS S713 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 713 IS be set aside for the Railway-Highway Crossings Program 1 under section 130 of that title, for each of fiscal years 2 2020 through 2024. 3 (b) TREATMENT.—Funds made available under sub- 4 section (a) shall be administered as if apportioned under 5 chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code. 6 SEC. 3. CONSOLIDATED RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE AND SAFE- 7 TY IMPROVEMENTS. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 11102 of the FAST Act 9 (Public Law 114–94; 129 Stat. 1623) is amended— 10 (1) in subsection (a)— 11 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 12 by striking ‘‘section 24407 of title 49, United 13 States Code, (as added by section 11301 of this 14 Act)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 22907 of title 49, 15 United States Code’’; 16 (B) in paragraph (5), by striking 17 ‘‘$330,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$780,000,000’’; 18 and 19 (C) by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(6) For each of fiscal years 2021 through 21 2024, such sums as are necessary.’’; 22 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘section 23 24407’’ and inserting ‘‘section 22907’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S713.IS S713 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 713 IS (3) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(c) HIGHWAY-RAIL GRADE CROSSING SAFETY; 3 RAIL LINE RELOCATION AND IMPROVEMENT.—From the 4 amount appropriated under subsection (a), the Secretary 5 shall use, for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024— 6 ‘‘(1) $250,000,000 to carry out section 7 22907(c)(6) of title 49, United States Code; 8 ‘‘(2) $175,000,000 to carry out section 9 22907(c)(5) of title 49, United States Code; and 10 ‘‘(3) $25,000,000 to carry out section 11 22907(c)(10) of title 49, United States Code.’’. 12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 13 22907(c)(10) of title 49, United States Code, is amended 14 by inserting ‘‘, including public education and awareness 15 campaigns for highway-rail grade crossing safety’’ after 16 ‘‘rail safety’’. 17 SEC. 4. OPERATION LIFESAVER. 18 Section 206(c) of the Rail Safety Improvement Act 19 of 2008 (division A of Public Law 110–432; 49 U.S.C. 20 22907 note) is amended by striking subsection (c) and in- 21 serting the following: 22 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 23 are authorized to be appropriated to the Federal Railroad 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S713.IS S713 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 713 IS Administration to carry out this section $3,000,000 for 1 each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024.’’. 2 SEC. 5. HIGHWAY-RAIL GRADE CROSSING SAFETY PER- 3 SONNEL. 4 (a) GRADE CROSSING SAFETY MANAGERS.—In addi- 5 tion to the personnel authorized to be employed by the 6 Federal Railroad Administration on the day before the 7 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 8 Federal Railroad Administration (referred to in this sec- 9 tion as the ‘‘Administrator’’) shall hire 16 full-time grade 10 crossing safety managers to work with State and local offi- 11 cials to identify safety improvements to highway-rail grade 12 crossings. 13 (b) TRESPASS PREVENTION MANAGERS.—In addi- 14 tion to the personnel authorized to be employed by the 15 Federal Railroad Administration on the day before the 16 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall hire 17 8 trespass prevention managers to work with local govern- 18 ments, schools, businesses, and railroads to develop site- 19 specific mitigation plans. 20 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 21 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 22 carry out this section such sums as are necessary for each 23 of fiscal years 2020 through 2024. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S713.IS S713 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 713 IS SEC. 6. PROVISION OF INFORMATION AND STATISTICS ON 1 HIGHWAY-RAIL GRADE CROSSING PROB- 2 LEMS. 3 Section 20152 of title 49, United States Code, is 4 amended— 5 (1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding 6 paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘(referred to in this sec- 7 tion as the ‘Secretary’)’’ after ‘‘Transportation’’; and 8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(c) PROVISION OF INFORMATION AND STATIS- 10 TICS.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enact- 11 ment of this subsection, the Secretary shall— 12 ‘‘(1) aggregate information and statistics relat- 13 ing to highway-rail grade crossings, including from 14 studies conducted by the Federal Railroad Adminis- 15 tration, rail carriers, and independent entities; 16 ‘‘(2) provide the information and statistics de- 17 scribed in paragraph (1) to State departments of 18 transportation; and 19 ‘‘(3) establish and maintain a publicly acces- 20 sible Internet website that contains the information 21 and statistics described in paragraph (1).’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S713.IS S713 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS