II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 415
To establish the position of National Roadway Safety Advocate within the
Department of Transportation, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY5, 2025
Mr. L
UJA´Nintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To establish the position of National Roadway Safety Advo-
cate within the Department of Transportation, 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 ‘‘DOT Victim and Sur-4
vivor Advocate Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. POSITION OF NATIONAL ROADWAY SAFETY ADVO-6
CATE. 7
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
(1) D
EPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 9
means the Department of Transportation. 10
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(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 1
the Secretary of Transportation. 2
(3) S
TAKEHOLDER.— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘stake-4
holder’’ means— 5
(i) a victim or survivor of a road 6
crash; or 7
(ii) a family member of a victim or 8
survivor of a road crash. 9
(B) F
AMILY MEMBER.—For purposes of 10
subparagraph (A)(ii), the term ‘‘family mem-11
ber’’ shall not be limited to a parent, parent-in- 12
law, grandparent, grandparent-in-law, sibling, 13
spouse, child, or step-child of a victim or sur-14
vivor of a road crash. 15
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 17
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-18
retary shall establish within the Office of the Under 19
Secretary of Transportation for Policy of the De-20
partment a position, to be known as the ‘‘National 21
Roadway Safety Advocate’’. 22
(2) C
AREER POSITION.—The position of Na-23
tional Roadway Safety Advocate shall be filled by a 24
career appointment. 25
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(c) PURPOSES OF THE POSITION.—The purposes of 1
the position of the National Roadway Safety Advocate 2
are— 3
(1) to document and communicate recommenda-4
tions from stakeholders to the Secretary on needs, 5
objectives, plans, approaches, content, and accom-6
plishments of the programs and activities carried out 7
by the Department relating to roadway safety; and 8
(2) to serve as a resource and point of contact 9
for stakeholders on relevant roadway safety issues. 10
(d) A
UTHORITY ANDLIMITATIONS.— 11
(1) A
UTHORITY.—The National Roadway Safe-12
ty Advocate may— 13
(A) provide— 14
(i) education on Department activities 15
to stakeholders; and 16
(ii) means for stakeholders to provide 17
the perspective of the stakeholders on 18
roadway safety issues to the Department; 19
(B) explain Department processes, proce-20
dures, scientific principles, and technical infor-21
mation to stakeholders in plain language; 22
(C) communicate the perspective of stake-23
holders within Department processes; 24
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(D) provide aggregated feedback on the 1
regulatory agenda and activities of the Depart-2
ment from stakeholders to the Secretary; 3
(E) build relationships with individual 4
stakeholders, through establishing consistent 5
outreach and dialogue for feedback, to enhance 6
the engagement in the mission of the Depart-7
ment; 8
(F) publish educational materials for en-9
hancing stakeholder understanding of activities 10
and procedures of the Department in accessible 11
formats and venues, with clear and easy to un-12
derstand wording, consistent with Department 13
policy, in multiple languages; 14
(G) consult with and make recommenda-15
tions to the Secretary relating to the appoint-16
ment of stakeholders who may be appropriate 17
for roles in advisory roadway safety committees, 18
in accordance with chapter 10 of title 5, United 19
States Code; 20
(H) meet not less frequently than once per 21
quarter with the Secretary to highlight issues, 22
make recommendations for resolving problems 23
and alleviating stakeholder roadway safety con-24
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cerns, and summarize input from stakeholders 1
on proposed roadway safety initiatives; 2
(I) refer questions to the Office of the 3
General Counsel or the Office of the Under Sec-4
retary of Transportation for Policy, as appro-5
priate; 6
(J) work collaboratively with other offices 7
in the Department that are working to educate 8
and communicate with stakeholders on roadway 9
safety issues; and 10
(K) perform such other duties as may be 11
determined by the Secretary. 12
(2) L
IMITATIONS.—The National Roadway 13
Safety Advocate may not— 14
(A) provide legal notice, counsel, or deter-15
minations of any kind; 16
(B) set or delay any agency deadlines; 17
(C) make Department decisions; 18
(D) create or authorize Department poli-19
cies, priorities, or activities; 20
(E) modify or interfere with any laws, reg-21
ulations, related policies, practices, or proce-22
dures followed or enforced by the Department; 23
(F) prevent other Department staff from 24
working directly with stakeholders; 25
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(G) disclose or discuss any enforcement 1
matters that are under investigation, in litiga-2
tion, or the subject of a civil penalty investiga-3
tion or any other pre-litigation or litigation pro-4
ceeding; or 5
(H) disclose or discuss any human re-6
source matters with individuals outside of the 7
Department. 8
(e) R
EPORT TOOFFICE OF THEUNDERSECRETARY 9
OFTRANSPORTATION FOR POLICY.—The National Road-10
way Safety Advocate shall report within the Office of the 11
Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy of the De-12
partment. 13
(f) S
UPPORT.—The Office of the Under Secretary of 14
Transportation for Policy of the Department shall provide 15
necessary funding, logistics, and administrative support to 16
the National Roadway Safety Advocate as necessary. 17
(g) A
CCESS TODOCUMENTS.—The Department shall 18
ensure that the National Roadway Safety Advocate has 19
full and timely access to the documents of the Depart-20
ment, as necessary, to carry out the functions of the Na-21
tional Roadway Safety Advocate. 22
(h) R
EPORTSREQUIRED.— 23
(1) A
NNUAL REPORT.—Not later than Novem-24
ber 15 of each year, the National Roadway Safety 25
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Advocate shall submit to the Secretary an annual re-1
port— 2
(A) highlighting systemic issues relating to 3
roadway safety based on information provided 4
by stakeholders; and 5
(B) making recommendations on how to 6
remedy the issues highlighted under subpara-7
graph (A). 8
(2) A
DDITIONAL REPORTS.—In addition to the 9
annual report required under paragraph (1), the Na-10
tional Roadway Safety Advocate may submit to the 11
Secretary such additional reports, as determined 12
necessary by the National Roadway Safety Advocate, 13
in accordance with the requirements of that para-14
graph. 15
Æ
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