Surface Transportation Research and Development Act of 2015
Latest action · Sep 23, 2015 Referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
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.
- IntroducedSep 22, 2015
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Surface Transportation Research and Development Act of 2015
This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to develop a five-year transportation research and development strategic plan for FY2018-FY2022.
The head of each DOT modal administration and joint program office shall submit comprehensive annual research plans, consistent with the strategic plan.
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (ORT) shall:
- publish annually on a public website a comprehensive database of all DOT research projects, including research funded through University Transportation Centers; and
- examine the impact of pavement durability and sustainability on vehicle fuel consumption, vehicle wear and tear, road conditions, and road repairs.
DOT shall establish a working group to design and develop a research program to reduce traffic congestion.
The ORT shall:
- seek to identify new, innovative, and emerging vehicle technologies and advanced communications and sensing techniques;
- assess wireless technologies' capabilities to achieve a deployable system in which vehicles of all types, traffic signals, other infrastructure systems, pedestrians, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and mobile devices can interact with each other through secure communications; and
- assist in the development of cybersecurity standards.
The ORT shall also:
- analyze the state of rail safety technologies and whether passenger, commuter, and transit rail transportation industries are keeping up with technological innovations to make rail cars safer;
- determine how much additional time and resources are needed for railroad carriers to meet positive train control system implementation requirements; and
- identify technologies that achieve the safety goals of those requirements that could be implemented sooner than positive train control systems.
Neither an individual nor an entity shall be ineligible to receive a cash prize to stimulate innovation in basic and applied surface transportation research and technology development just for using a federal facility or consulting with a federal employee in relation to the prize competition if the same facility or employee is made available equitably to all competition participants.
DOT may not require a prize competition participant to waive claims against DOT arising out of the unauthorized DOT use or disclosure of the participant's intellectual property, trade secrets, or confidential business information. But the federal government may not gain an interest in intellectual property developed by a prize competition participant without the participant's written consent.
The ORT shall reach an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to study the most effective means of preventing motorcycle crashes.
DOT highway and rail bridge infrastructure research and development activities shall include corrosion prevention measures for structural integrity.
The hazardous material (hazmat) technical assessment, research, development, and analysis program may include cooperative research on hazmat transport.
The DOT curriculum of courses necessary to train public sector emergency response and preparedness teams in hazmat transportation may be online.
Cosponsors 7
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Sep 22, 2015 to Oct 20, 2015, with 6 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-AR | Bruce Westerman | Original | Sep 22, 2015 |
| R-OK | Frank D. Lucas | Original | Sep 22, 2015 |
| R-MI | John R. Moolenaar | Original | Sep 22, 2015 |
| R-TX | Lamar Smith | Original | Sep 22, 2015 |
| R-LA | Ralph Lee Abraham | Original | Sep 22, 2015 |
| R-IL | Randy Hultgren | Original | Sep 22, 2015 |
| D-IL | Daniel Lipinski | Oct 20, 2015 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Sep 23, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
- Sep 22, 2015Introduced in House
- Sep 22, 2015Referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Transportation and Public Works.
- Accidents
- Advanced technology and technological innovations
- Computer security and identity theft
- Congressional oversight
- Department of Transportation
- District of Columbia
- Education programs funding
- Energy efficiency and conservation
- Executive agency funding and structure
- First responders and emergency personnel
- Government information and archives
- Government studies and investigations
- Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
- Higher education
- Infrastructure development
- Intellectual property
- Maryland
- Motor vehicles
- Public transit
- Railroads
- Research administration and funding
- Research and development
- Roads and highways
- Telephone and wireless communication
- Transportation and Public Works
- Transportation programs funding
- Transportation safety and security
- Virginia
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Sep 22, 2015Introduced 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.
