Miranda's Law

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2793 To require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to implement a national employer notification service. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 16, 2019 Mr. GOTTHEIMER (for himself, Mr. REED, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. COHEN, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. CUMMINGS, and Mr. SIRES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc- ture A BILL To require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to implement a national employer notification service. 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 ‘‘Miranda Vargas School 4 Bus Driver Red Flag Act’’ or ‘‘Miranda’s Law’’. 5 SEC. 2. NATIONAL EMPLOYER NOTIFICATION SERVICE. 6 (a) EMPLOYER NOTIFICATION SERVICE DEFINED.— 7 In this Act, the term ‘‘employer notification service’’ 8 means a service that automatically furnishes an employer 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2793.IH H2793 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2793 IH with a report on the change in the status of the driving 1 record or driver’s license of an employee who has a com- 2 mercial driver’s license due to a conviction for a moving 3 violation, a failure to appear, an accident, driver’s license 4 suspension, driver’s license revocation, or any other action 5 taken against the driving privilege. 6 (b) IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL EMPLOYER NO- 7 TIFICATION SERVICE.— 8 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 1 year 9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 10 retary of Transportation, acting through the Federal 11 Motor Carrier Safety Administration, shall issue a 12 final regulation requiring the implementation of a 13 national employer notification service that States 14 may access. 15 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—Before issuing such 16 final regulation requiring the implementation of a 17 national employer notification service, the Secretary 18 shall consider— 19 (A) the recommendations made by the 20 American Association of Motor Vehicle Admin- 21 istrators (AAMVA), including recommendations 22 on annual per driver fees for participating em- 23 ployers, in its report, ‘‘Employer Notification 24 System Design & Best Practices Recommenda- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2793.IH H2793 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2793 IH tions’’, produced for the Federal Motor Carrier 1 Safety Administration under grant/cooperative 2 agreement number FMCDL–0143–13–01–03; 3 and 4 (B) the results of a pilot program con- 5 ducted in 2007 under section 4022 of the 6 Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century 7 (Public Law 105–178), to assess the feasibility, 8 costs, safety impacts, and benefits of such a 9 system, and to assess methods for efficient ex- 10 change of driver safety data from existing State 11 systems. 12 SEC. 3. STATE IMPLEMENTATION. 13 (a) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 2 years after 14 the Secretary has issued a final regulation requiring the 15 implementation of a national employer notification service, 16 each State shall use such service to notify employers with 17 a report described in section 2(a). 18 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—After the 2-year period de- 19 scribed in subsection (a), the Secretary shall ensure that 20 the national employer notification service described in this 21 section is included as part of the requirements and stand- 22 ards of the commercial driver license program, including 23 the consequences of noncompliance, set forth in part 384 24 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2793.IH H2793 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2793 IH (c) EMPLOYER COMPLIANCE AND ALLOWABLE 1 GRANT COST.—Included in developing the final regulation 2 under section 2(a), the Secretary shall— 3 (1) require any employer who has 1 or more 4 employees who holds a commercial driver’s license 5 with a school bus endorsement, pursuant to section 6 383.123 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to 7 participate in the employer notification service; and 8 (2) ensure that State implementation of the em- 9 ployer notification service is an allowable cost for 10 commercial driver’s license program implementation 11 grant awards under section 31313 of title 49, 12 United States Code. 13 (d) ANNUAL INQUIRY EXEMPTION.—In keeping with 14 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulatory 15 guidance set forth on page 13069 of volume 80 of the Fed- 16 eral Register, the Secretary shall ensure that employers 17 participating in the employer notification service are ex- 18 empt from the requirements for annual inquiry and review 19 of driving record, pursuant to part 391.25 of title 49, 20 Code of Federal Regulations. 21 SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY TO SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DIS- 22 TRICTS. 23 For purposes of this Act, a school district, local edu- 24 cational agency, or school shall be considered an ‘‘em- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2793.IH H2793 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2793 IH ployer’’ for purposes of the national employer notification 1 service if it organizes, sponsors, or pays for the transpor- 2 tation of preprimary, primary, and secondary students to 3 or from school or on extracurricular trips. In the case of 4 a school district, local educational agency, or school that 5 pays a private company or proprietorship to provide trans- 6 portation services for students traveling to or from school 7 or on a extracurricular trip, both the private company or 8 proprietorship and the school district, local educational 9 agency, or school shall be considered ‘‘employers’’ for pur- 10 poses of the national employer notification service. 11 SEC. 5. SIMULTANEOUS DRIVER NOTIFICATION. 12 Included in developing the final regulation under sec- 13 tion 2(a), the Secretary shall ensure that whenever the 14 national employer notification service furnishes an em- 15 ployer with a report on an employee, such employee shall 16 receive simultaneous notification and a copy of the report. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 May 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2793.IH H2793 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS