Miranda's Law

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1787 To require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to implement a national employer notification service. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 11, 2019 Mr. BOOKER (for himself and Mr. MENENDEZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 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) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 (1) EMPLOYER NOTIFICATION SERVICE.—The 8 term ‘‘employer notification service’’ means a service 9 that automatically provides to an employer a report 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:27 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1787.IS S1787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1787 IS on the change in the status of the driving record or 1 driver’s license of an employee who has a commercial 2 driver’s license due to a conviction for a moving vio- 3 lation, a failure to appear, driver’s license suspen- 4 sion, driver’s license revocation, or any other action 5 taken against the driving privilege. 6 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 7 the Secretary of Transportation. 8 (b) NATIONAL EMPLOYER NOTIFICATION SERV- 9 ICE.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 11 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, act- 12 ing through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Ad- 13 ministration, shall issue a final rule requiring the 14 implementation of a national employer notification 15 service that States may access. 16 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—Before issuing a final 17 rule under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall con- 18 sider— 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 the report of the AAMVA entitled 24 ‘‘Employer Notification System Design & Best 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:27 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1787.IS S1787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1787 IS Practices Recommendations’’, produced for the 1 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 2 under grant/cooperative agreement number 3 FMCDL–0143–13–01–03; and 4 (B) the results of the pilot program under 5 section 4022 of the Transportation Equity Act 6 for the 21st Century (49 U.S.C. 31309 note; 7 Public Law 105–178)— 8 (i) to assess the feasibility, costs, safe- 9 ty impacts, and benefits of a system simi- 10 lar to the pilot program; and 11 (ii) to assess methods for efficient ex- 12 change of driver safety data from existing 13 State systems. 14 (3) REQUIREMENTS.— 15 (A) EMPLOYER COMPLIANCE.—As part of 16 the final rule under paragraph (1), the Sec- 17 retary shall require any employer who has 1 or 18 more employees who holds a commercial driv- 19 er’s license with a school bus endorsement, pur- 20 suant to section 383.123 of title 49, Code of 21 Federal Regulations (or successor regulations), 22 to participate in the national employer notifica- 23 tion service. 24 (B) DRIVER NOTIFICATION.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:27 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1787.IS S1787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1787 IS (i) SIMULTANEOUS DRIVER NOTIFICA- 1 TION.—As part of the final rule under 2 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall ensure 3 that whenever the national employer notifi- 4 cation service provides to an employer a re- 5 port on an employee, that employee shall 6 receive simultaneous notification and a 7 complete copy of the report. 8 (ii) FORM.—An employee described in 9 clause (i) shall be notified under that 10 clause— 11 (I) by mail sent to the address on 12 record for the employee with the driv- 13 er licensing agency in the State that 14 issued the commercial driver’s license 15 to the employee; or 16 (II) on request of the employee, 17 by mail sent to an alternative address 18 or by alternative means, including 19 electronic mail. 20 (iii) DRIVER ACCESS TO INFORMA- 21 TION.—Except as otherwise prohibited by 22 law, an employee shall be permitted to re- 23 view information retained or disseminated 24 by the national employer notification serv- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:27 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1787.IS S1787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1787 IS ice about that employee at no cost to the 1 employee. 2 (C) PROCEDURES FOR CORRECTING INFOR- 3 MATION.—As part of the final rule under para- 4 graph (1), the Secretary shall ensure that an 5 employee may, at no cost to the employee— 6 (i) challenge inaccurate information 7 retained or disseminated by the national 8 employer notification service; 9 (ii) request expedited treatment to 10 correct inaccurate information retained or 11 disseminated by the national employer no- 12 tification service, if that inaccurate infor- 13 mation is preventing the employee from 14 performing safety-sensitive functions; and 15 (iii) request that the Secretary— 16 (I) remove information retained 17 by the national employer notification 18 service relating to a traffic citation or 19 arrest if the traffic citation or arrest 20 did not result in a conviction; and 21 (II) notify the employer of the 22 employee of the removal of that infor- 23 mation. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:27 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1787.IS S1787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1787 IS (D) TREATMENT.—The implementation of 1 the national employer notification service in a 2 State shall be considered to be an eligible activ- 3 ity for a State commercial driver’s license pro- 4 gram implementation grant award under sec- 5 tion 31313(a)(2) of title 49, United States 6 Code. 7 (c) STATE IMPLEMENTATION.— 8 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—Each State and em- 9 ployer described in subsection (b)(3)(A) shall begin 10 use of the national employer notification service by 11 not later than 2 years after the date on which the 12 Secretary establishes the national employer notifica- 13 tion service pursuant to the final rule under sub- 14 section (b)(1). 15 (2) ENFORCEMENT.—Beginning not later than 16 2 years after the date on which the Secretary estab- 17 lishes the national employment notification service 18 pursuant to the final rule under subsection (b)(1), 19 the Secretary shall ensure that the national em- 20 ployer notification service is included as part of the 21 requirements and standards of the commercial driver 22 license program, including the consequences of State 23 noncompliance, under part 384 of title 49, Code of 24 Federal Regulations (or successor regulations). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:27 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1787.IS S1787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1787 IS (3) ANNUAL INQUIRY EXEMPTION.—In accord- 1 ance with the regulatory guidance issued by the Fed- 2 eral Motor Carrier Safety Administration entitled 3 ‘‘Driver Qualifications; Regulatory Guidance Con- 4 cerning the Use of Computerized Employer Notifica- 5 tion Systems for the Annual Inquiry and Review of 6 Driving Records’’ (80 Fed. Reg. 13069 (March 12, 7 2015)), the Secretary shall ensure that an employer 8 participating in the national employer notification 9 service is exempt from the requirements for annual 10 inquiry and review of driving record pursuant to sec- 11 tion 391.25 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations 12 (or successor regulations). 13 (d) APPLICABILITY TO SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DIS- 14 TRICTS.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this section, 16 a school district, local educational agency, or school 17 shall be considered to be an ‘‘employer’’ for purposes 18 of the national employer notification service if the 19 school district, local educational agency, or school 20 organizes, sponsors, or pays for the transportation 21 of preprimary, primary, or secondary students to or 22 from school or on extracurricular trips. 23 (2) TREATMENT OF PRIVATE ENTITY.—For 24 purposes of this section, in the case of a school dis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:27 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1787.IS S1787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 1787 IS trict, local educational agency, or school that con- 1 tracts with a private entity to provide transportation 2 services for students traveling to or from school or 3 on an extracurricular trip, the private entity and the 4 school district, local educational agency, or school 5 shall be considered to be an ‘‘employer’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:27 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1787.IS S1787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS