Protecting Railroad Operators, Travelers, Employees, and Communities with Transportation Security Act of 2004
Latest action · Jul 23, 2004 Referred to the Subcommittee on Railroads.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJul 22, 2004
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Protecting Railroad Operators, Travelers, Employees, and Communities with Transportation Security Act of 2004 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation to complete a vulnerability assessment of railroad transportation that includes identification of vulnerabilities specific to the transportation of hazardous materials by railroads and of security weaknesses in passenger and cargo security. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to develop prioritized recommendations for improving rail security.
Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to specified congressional committees on the rail passenger transportation security programs carried out for rail transportation systems in Japan, member nations of the European Union, and other foreign countries.
Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to make grants to railroad carriers, nonprofit employee organizations that represent railroad workers or emergency responders, hazardous materials shippers, owners of rail cars used in the transportation of hazardous materials, universities, colleges, and research centers, and State and local governments for reimbursement of costs incurred to prevent or respond to acts of terrorism, sabotage, or other railroad security threats.
Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to make grants to Amtrak for: (1) fire and life-safety improvements to the tunnels on the Northeast Corridor in New York, New York, Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.; and (2) certain systemwide Amtrak security upgrades.
Establishes a research and development (R&D) program to improve railroad security. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to develop and issue detailed guidance for a rail worker security training program to prepare front-line workers for potential threat conditions.
Sets forth certain railroad employee whistleblower protection requirements.
Amends Federal transportation law to require the Secretary of Transportation to develop and update a curriculum necessary to train public sector emergency response and preparedness teams, including standards for the training of persons responsible for responding to emergency situations during the removal and transportation of hazardous materials and high hazard materials. Prohibits a rail tank car containing hazardous materials from being transported or stored on rail tracks unless information identifying the tank car, the hazardous materials within such tank car, and response guidance is immediately available through Operation Respond Institute's technology or similar technology to local first responders in each location where the tank car may be located.
Cosponsors 31
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jul 22, 2004 to Oct 4, 2004, with 8 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-FL | Corrine Brown | Original | Jul 22, 2004 |
| D-OR | Earl Blumenauer | Original | Jul 22, 2004 |
| D-MD | Elijah E. Cummings | Original | Jul 22, 2004 |
| D-MA | Martin T. Meehan | Original | Jul 22, 2004 |
| D-OR | Peter A. DeFazio | Original | Jul 22, 2004 |
| D-WA | Rick Larsen | Original | Jul 22, 2004 |
| D-NY | Timothy H. Bishop | Original | Jul 22, 2004 |
| D-IL | William O. Lipinski | Original | Jul 22, 2004 |
| D-NY | Anthony D. Weiner | Sep 9, 2004 | |
| D-CA | Barbara Lee | Sep 9, 2004 | |
| D-DC | Eleanor Holmes Norton | Sep 9, 2004 | |
| D-MA | James P. McGovern | Sep 9, 2004 | |
| D-WA | Jim McDermott | Sep 9, 2004 | |
| D-MA | John W. Olver | Sep 9, 2004 | |
| D-PA | Joseph M. Hoeffel | Sep 9, 2004 |
Actions 4
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jul 23, 2004Referred to the Subcommittee on Railroads.
- Jul 22, 2004Introduced in House
- Jul 22, 2004Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
- Jul 22, 2004Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E1496-1498)
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Transportation and Public Works.
- Administrative procedure
- Animals
- Armed Forces and National Security
- Biological warfare
- Bridges
- Chemical warfare
- Civil actions and liability
- Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
- Congress
- Congressional investigations
- Congressional reporting requirements
- Conspiracy
- Cost effectiveness
- Crime and Law Enforcement
- Data banks
- Department of Transportation
- Disciplining of employees
- Discrimination in employment
- Dismissal of employees
- District of Columbia
- Dogs
- Drainage
- East Asia
- EBB Terrorism
- Economics and Public Finance
- EEC countries
- Electronic surveillance
- Emergency communication systems
- Emergency Management
- Emergency medicine
- Employee training
- Environmental Protection
- Europe
- European Union
- Evacuation of civilians
- Explosives
- Federal aid to law enforcement
- Federal aid to research
- Federal aid to transportation
- Fire fighters
- Fire prevention
- Fraud
- Geographic information systems
- Government corporations
- Government Operations and Politics
- Government paperwork
- Government publicity
- Governmental investigations
- Health
- Infrastructure
- Inspectors general
- International Affairs
- International cooperation
- Japan
- Labor and Employment
- Law
- Law enforcement officers
- Legislation
- Lighting
- Maryland
- National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak)
- New York City
- Nuclear terrorism
- Obstruction of justice
- Paramedical personnel
- Police
- Police training
- Private police
- Public service advertising
- Railroad employees
- Railroad engineering
- Railroad equipment
- Railroad freight operations
- Railroad passenger traffic
- Railroad safety
- Railroad terminals
- Railroads
- Research and development
- Research grants
- Risk
- Sabotage
- Science, Technology, Communications
- Security measures
- Standards
- Storage
- Technological innovations
- Terrorism
- Transportation and Public Works
- Transportation of hazardous substances
- Transportation planning
- Transportation research
- Tunnels
- Water Resources Development
- Whistle blowing
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jul 22, 2004Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.