I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 853
To authorize the declaration of a hazardous train event, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY31, 2025
Mr. D
ELUZIO(for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To authorize the declaration of a hazardous train event,
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 ‘‘Assistance for Local 4
Heroes During Train Crises Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. HAZARDOUS TRAIN EVENTS. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 209 of title 49, United 7
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-8
lowing: 9
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‘‘§ 20904. Hazardous train events 1
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 2
‘‘(1) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis-3
trator’ means the Administrator of the Federal Rail-4
road Administration. 5
‘‘(2) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-6
tity’ means a State or local emergency response 7
group, including a law enforcement agency, a fire 8
department, and an emergency response agency, lo-9
cated in an area affected by a hazardous train event. 10
‘‘(3) F
UND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the Haz-11
ardous Train Event Emergency Reimbursement 12
Fund established under subsection (c). 13
‘‘(4) H
AZARDOUS TRAIN EVENT .—The term 14
‘hazardous train event’ means a train incident that 15
the Administrator has declared to be a hazardous 16
train event pursuant to subsection (b). 17
‘‘(b) D
ECLARATION.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator, in con-19
sultation with the Administrator of the Federal 20
Emergency Management Agency and the Adminis-21
trator of the Environmental Protection Agency, may 22
declare that a hazardous train event has occurred 23
not later than 3 days after the occurrence of a train 24
derailment, train crash, or other incident involving a 25
train carrying hazardous materials, hazardous waste, 26
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or other materials that pose a threat to public 1
health, safety, and the environment, as determined 2
by the Administrator. 3
‘‘(2) E
FFECT OF DECLARATION .—Upon a dec-4
laration pursuant to subsection (a), the Adminis-5
trator shall immediately award at least $250,000 6
from the Fund to 1 or more eligible entities pursu-7
ant to subsection (d). 8
‘‘(3) A
DDITIONAL FUNDING AWARD .—Not later 9
than 5 days after a declaration pursuant to sub-10
section (a), the Administrator may award additional 11
amounts to the initially awarded entities for further 12
costs or other eligible entities from the Fund, not to 13
exceed $3,000,000 per hazardous train event. 14
Amounts awarded pursuant to this paragraph shall 15
be allocated based on additional needs, as deter-16
mined by the Administrator. 17
‘‘(c) H
AZARDOUSTRAINEVENTEMERGENCYREIM-18
BURSEMENT FUND.—There is established within the 19
Treasury of the United States a fund, which— 20
‘‘(1) shall be known as the ‘Hazardous Train 21
Event Emergency Reimbursement Fund’; and 22
‘‘(2) shall be administered by the Adminis-23
trator. 24
‘‘(d) A
SSISTANCE FORELIGIBLEENTITIES.— 25
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator may use 1
amounts from the Fund to reimburse eligible enti-2
ties, in accordance with subsection (b)— 3
‘‘(A) for the cost of replacing equipment 4
that is damaged, contaminated, or otherwise 5
rendered unusable as a result of the response of 6
the eligible entity to a hazardous train event; 7
‘‘(B) for overtime pay for firefighters, law 8
enforcement officers, or other emergency re-9
sponders who work at the scene of a hazardous 10
train event; 11
‘‘(C) for operational costs for actions taken 12
to respond to a hazardous train event; 13
‘‘(D) for any other purpose related to a 14
hazardous train event, as determined by the 15
Administrator; and 16
‘‘(E) to retroactively cover a cost described 17
in any of subparagraphs (A) through (D) that 18
is incurred after the date of a hazardous train 19
event or within 30 days of the receipt of 20
amounts under this subsection. 21
‘‘(2) D
OCUMENTATION OF COSTS .— 22
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 120 23
days after the date on which the Administrator 24
declares a hazardous train event for which an 25
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eligible entity receives assistance under this 1
subsection, the eligible entity shall submit docu-2
mentation to the Administrator for each item 3
for which such assistance is used through pro-4
curement or reimbursement. 5
‘‘(B) R
EIMBURSEMENT.—If the Adminis-6
trator determines that an eligible entity has 7
used assistance received under this subsection 8
in violation of this subsection, the eligible entity 9
shall reimburse the Fund for the amount of 10
such assistance. Reimbursements to the Fund 11
shall be made eligible for future hazardous 12
train events.’’. 13
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap-14
ter 209 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by 15
adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘20904. Hazardous train events.’’.
SEC. 3. ADVANCE WARNING REQUIREMENT.
17
The Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with 18
the Administrator of the Transportation Security Admin-19
istration, shall issue regulations requiring any railroad 20
that transports hazardous materials by train through any 21
community in the United States to provide county and 22
local emergency response groups in such community, in-23
cluding police departments, fire departments, and emer-24
gency response agencies, with— 25
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(1) advance warning of such train’s load and 1
timing; and 2
(2) real-time location information on such a 3
train when it enters and exits its service area the ap-4
plicable service area. 5
SEC. 4. HAZARDOUS MATERIALS EMERGENCY REIMBURSE-6
MENT FEE. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 5108(g) of title 49, 8
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 9
following: 10
‘‘(4) H
AZARDOUS MATERIALS EMERGENCY RE -11
IMBURSEMENT FEE FOR SHIPPERS AND CARRIERS 12
OF HAZARDOUS MATERIAL .— 13
‘‘(A) S
CHEDULE OF FEES.—The Secretary 14
shall prescribe a schedule of annual fees for 15
shippers and carriers of hazardous materials by 16
rail that have total annual collections of not less 17
than $10,000,000. 18
‘‘(B) D
EPOSITS INTO TRUST FUND .—Fees 19
collected pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be 20
deposited into the Hazardous Train Event 21
Emergency Reimbursement Fund established 22
under section 20904.’’. 23
(b) D
EPOSITSINTOTRUSTFUND.—Amounts col-24
lected from shippers and carriers pursuant to section 25
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5108(g)(4), United States Code, as added by subsection 1
(a), shall be regularly deposited into the Hazardous Train 2
Event Emergency Reimbursement Fund established under 3
section 20904 of title 49, United States Code, as added 4
by section 2. 5
Æ
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