Ending Passenger Rail Forced Arbitration Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6101 To amend title 49, United States Code, to prohibit Amtrak from including mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts of carriage, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 5, 2020 Mr. LAMB (for himself and Mr. HECK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, to prohibit Amtrak from including mandatory arbitration clauses in con- tracts of carriage, 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 ‘‘Ending Passenger Rail 4 Forced Arbitration Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Mar 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6101.IH H6101 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6101 IH SEC. 2. NO VALIDITY OR ENFORCEABILITY OF ARBITRA- 1 TION AGREEMENTS FOR CONSUMER AND 2 CIVIL RIGHTS DISPUTES. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 243 of title 49, United 4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘§ 24323. Prohibition on mandatory arbitration 7 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 8 ‘‘(1) to prohibit predispute arbitration agree- 9 ments that force arbitration of consumer and civil 10 rights disputes between Amtrak and customers of 11 Amtrak; and 12 ‘‘(2) to prohibit agreements and practices that 13 interfere with the right of customers to participate 14 in a joint, class, or collective action related to con- 15 sumer and civil rights disputes between Amtrak and 16 customers of Amtrak. 17 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 18 ‘‘(1) AMTRAK.—The term ‘Amtrak’ refers to 19 the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. 20 ‘‘(2) CIVIL RIGHTS DISPUTE.—The term ‘civil 21 rights dispute’ means a dispute— 22 ‘‘(A) arising from an alleged violation of— 23 ‘‘(i) the Constitution of the United 24 States or the constitution of a State; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Mar 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6101.IH H6101 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6101 IH ‘‘(ii) any Federal, State, or local law 1 that prohibits discrimination on the basis 2 of— 3 ‘‘(I) race, sex, age, gender iden- 4 tity, sexual orientation, disability, reli- 5 gion, or national origin; or 6 ‘‘(II) any legally protected status 7 in education, employment, credit, 8 housing, public accommodations and 9 facilities, voting, veterans and 10 servicemembers, health care, or a pro- 11 gram funded or conducted by the 12 Federal Government or a State gov- 13 ernment, including any law referred to 14 or described in section 62(e) of the 15 Internal Revenue Code of 1986, in- 16 cluding parts of such law not explic- 17 itly referenced in such section that re- 18 late to protecting individuals on any 19 such basis; and 20 ‘‘(B) in which at least 1 party alleging a 21 violation described in subparagraph (A) consists 22 of 1 or more customers (or their authorized 23 representative), including 1 or more individuals 24 seeking certification as a class under rule 23 of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Mar 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6101.IH H6101 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6101 IH the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or a com- 1 parable rule or provision of State law. 2 ‘‘(3) CONSUMER DISPUTE.—The term ‘con- 3 sumer dispute’ means any dispute, including all 4 claims related to personal injuries, between Amtrak 5 and 1 or more customers who seek or acquire— 6 ‘‘(A) services and accommodations pro- 7 vided by Amtrak; or 8 ‘‘(B) carriage on Amtrak trains and equip- 9 ment. 10 ‘‘(4) CUSTOMER.—The term ‘customer’ means 11 any individual, except for an employee of Amtrak 12 and without regard to whether the individual is a 13 minor or paid for the transportation, who seeks or 14 acquires— 15 ‘‘(A) services and accommodations pro- 16 vided by Amtrak; or 17 ‘‘(B) carriage on Amtrak trains and equip- 18 ment. 19 ‘‘(5) PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT.— 20 The term ‘predispute arbitration agreement’ means 21 an agreement to arbitrate a dispute that has not yet 22 arisen at the time of the making of the agreement. 23 ‘‘(6) PREDISPUTE JOINT-ACTION WAIVER.—The 24 term ‘predispute joint-action waiver’ means an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Mar 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6101.IH H6101 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6101 IH agreement, whether or not part of a predispute arbi- 1 tration agreement, that would prohibit, or waive the 2 right of, one of the parties to the agreement to par- 3 ticipate in a joint, class, or collective action in a ju- 4 dicial, arbitral, administrative, or other forum, con- 5 cerning a dispute that has not yet arisen at the time 6 of the making of the agreement. 7 ‘‘(7) RAIL PASSENGER CARRIER.—The term 8 ‘rail passenger carrier’ means a rail carrier pro- 9 viding— 10 ‘‘(A) interstate intercity rail passenger 11 transportation (as such term is defined in sec- 12 tion 24102); or 13 ‘‘(B) interstate or intrastate high-speed 14 rail (as such term is defined in section 26105) 15 transportation, except that such term does not 16 include a tourist, historic, scenic, or excursion 17 rail carrier. 18 ‘‘(c) IN GENERAL.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—All predispute arbitration 20 agreements and predispute joint-action waivers shall 21 be invalid and unenforceable with respect to a con- 22 sumer or civil rights dispute between Amtrak (in its 23 capacity as a rail passenger carrier) and a customer 24 of Amtrak. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Mar 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6101.IH H6101 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6101 IH ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY.— 1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A determination of 2 whether this section applies to a particular dis- 3 pute shall be made in accordance with Federal 4 law. 5 ‘‘(B) AUTHORITY OF COURT.—The appli- 6 cability of this section to an agreement to arbi- 7 trate and the validity and enforceability of an 8 agreement to which this section applies shall be 9 determined by a court, rather than by an arbi- 10 trator, regardless of whether— 11 ‘‘(i) the party resisting arbitration 12 challenges the arbitration agreement spe- 13 cifically or in conjunction with other terms 14 of the contract containing such agreement; 15 and 16 ‘‘(ii) the agreement purports to dele- 17 gate such determinations to an arbitrator. 18 ‘‘(C) EXCLUSION.—Nothing in this section 19 shall apply to a predispute arbitration agree- 20 ment or joint action waiver invoked in connec- 21 tion with any dispute subject to the Railway 22 Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 151 et seq.).’’. 23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 24 subsection (a)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Mar 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6101.IH H6101 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6101 IH (1) shall take effect on the date of the enact- 1 ment of this Act; and 2 (2) shall apply with respect to any dispute or 3 claim that arises or accrues on or after such date. 4 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap- 5 ter 243 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 6 adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘24323. Prohibition on mandatory arbitration.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:53 Mar 07, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6101.IH H6101 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS