I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 188
To require that the Amtrak Board of Directors comply with the open meetings
requirements of section 552b of title 5, United States Code, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. N
EHLS(for himself and Mr. GRAVES) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To require that the Amtrak Board of Directors comply with
the open meetings requirements of section 552b of title
5, United States Code, 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 ‘‘Amtrak Transparency 4
and Accountability for Passengers and Taxpayers Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. OPEN MEETINGS. 6
Section 24301(e) of title 49, United States Code, is 7
amended— 8
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•HR 188 IH
(1) by striking ‘‘Section 552 of title 5, this 1
part’’ and inserting the following: 2
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-3
graph (3), sections 552 and 552b of title 5, this 4
part’’; 5
(2) in the second sentence by striking ‘‘Section 6
552 of title 5, United States Code, applies’’ and in-7
serting the following: 8
‘‘(2) T
IMING OF APPLICATION.—Except as pro-9
vided in paragraph (3), sections 552 and 552b of 10
title 5 apply’’; and 11
(3) by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(3) S
COPE OF APPLICATION.— 13
‘‘(A) I
NFORMATION.—The requirements of 14
the second sentence of section 552b(b) of title 15
5 shall not apply to any portion of an Amtrak 16
meeting and subsections (d) and (e) of section 17
552b of title 5 shall not apply to any informa-18
tion pertaining to any portion of an Amtrak 19
meeting otherwise required by section 552b of 20
title 5 to be disclosed to the public in any case 21
in which Amtrak properly determines that such 22
portion or portions of the meeting or the disclo-23
sure of such information is likely to involve— 24
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•HR 188 IH
‘‘(i) contract negotiations, including 1
negotiations for contract procurements and 2
agreements, the disclosure of which would 3
imperil or compromise the competitive po-4
sition of Amtrak; 5
‘‘(ii) collective bargaining agreements 6
or any terms and conditions that are pro-7
posed for inclusion in any collective bar-8
gaining agreement, including the negotia-9
tion of terms and conditions with employ-10
ees or representatives of employees of Am-11
trak; and 12
‘‘(iii) with respect to any individual 13
who is a prospective officer, employee, or 14
contractor or an officer, employee, or con-15
tractor employed or appointed by Amtrak, 16
matters involving the employment, appoint-17
ment, termination of employment, terms 18
and conditions of employment, evaluation 19
of the performance of, promotion or dis-20
ciplining of any such individual, unless all 21
such individuals whose rights could be ad-22
versely affected request in writing that the 23
matter or matters be discussed at a public 24
meeting. 25
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•HR 188 IH
‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL APPLICATION.—In addi-1
tion to the information described in subpara-2
graph (B), the information described in section 3
552b(c) shall apply to Amtrak meetings.’’. 4
Æ
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