Short Line Railroad Relief Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3782 To provide emergency relief for American short line railroads, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 1, 2023 Mr. DONALDS (for himself, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. BACON, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. FEENSTRA, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. BOST, Mr. MANN, and Mr. LATURNER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc- ture A BILL To provide emergency relief for American short line railroads, 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 ‘‘Short Line Railroad 4 Relief Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. SHORT LINE RAILROAD EMERGENCY RELIEF PRO- 6 GRAM. 7 (a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of Trans- 8 portation, in consultation with the Administrator of the 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3782.IH H3782 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3782 IH Federal Railroad Administration, may make grants or 1 enter into contracts and other agreements (including 2 agreements with departments, agencies, and instrumental- 3 ities of the Federal, State, or local government) for capital 4 projects to protect, repair, reconstruct, or replace short 5 line railroad equipment and facilities that the Secretary 6 determines is in danger of suffering catastrophic damage, 7 or has suffered catastrophic damage, as a result of an 8 emergency. 9 (b) TERMS.—In making grants under subsection (a), 10 the Secretary may make grants on a reimbursable basis 11 or advance funding basis. 12 (c) COORDINATION OF EMERGENCY FUNDS.—Funds 13 appropriated to carry out this section shall be in addition 14 to any other funds available and shall not affect the ability 15 of any other agency of the Government, a State agency, 16 a local governmental entity or organization, or person to 17 provide any other funds otherwise authorized by law, ex- 18 cept that no person, business concern, or other entity shall 19 receive assistance with respect to any part of a loss as 20 to which such person, business concern, or other entity 21 has received financial assistance under any other program 22 or from insurance or any other source. 23 (d) GRANT REQUIREMENTS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3782.IH H3782 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3782 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—A grant awarded under this 1 section that is made to address an emergency shall 2 be subject to the terms and conditions the Secretary 3 determines are necessary. 4 (2) OVERSIGHT FUNDS.—The Secretary may 5 retain up to one-half of 1 percent of the funds ap- 6 propriated under this section to fund the costs of 7 project management oversight by the Administrator 8 of the Federal Railroad Administration. 9 (3) APPLICATION OF LAW.—The provisions of 10 section 24312 of title 49, United States Code, shall 11 apply to entities receiving a grant under this section. 12 (e) GOVERNMENT SHARE OF COSTS.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—A grant, contract, or other 14 agreement for a capital project under this section 15 shall be for not more than 80 percent of the project 16 cost, as determined by the Secretary. The non-Fed- 17 eral share of the project cost shall be provided in 18 cash, equipment, or supplies. 19 (2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive, in 20 whole or in part, the non-Federal share. 21 (f) LIMITATION.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Project costs under this sec- 23 tion shall be limited to the scope of damage caused 24 by the respective emergency. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3782.IH H3782 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3782 IH (2) DETERMINATION.—In the case of a project 1 that included damage preexisting the respective 2 emergency, the Administrator shall make a deter- 3 mination on the amount or percentage of the dam- 4 ages preexisting such emergency. 5 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section the following defi- 6 nitions shall apply: 7 (1) EMERGENCY.—The term ‘‘emergency’’— 8 (A) has the meaning given such term in 9 section 5324 of title 49, United States Code; 10 and 11 (B) includes a wildfire. 12 (2) SHORT LINE RAILROAD.—The term ‘‘short 13 line railroad’’ means a Class II railroad or a Class 14 III railroad as such terms are defined by the Sur- 15 face Transportation Board. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:55 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3782.IH H3782 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS