House to vote on rail regulation reform bill

OREANDA-NEWS. December 10, 2015. The US House of Representatives is due to vote in the next few days on legislation that would lead to major changes in the structure and operations of the federal freight railroad regulatory agency.

The chamber will likely vote on the Surface Transportation Board [STB] Reauthorization Act of 2015 as early as tomorrow through this weekend. The House is expected to be in session this weekend in order to consider an omnibus government spending bill before Congress' end-of-year recess.

The bill, S 808, was introduced by senator John Thune (R-South Dakota), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. The Senate passed it unanimously in June.

Under the legislation, the STB would expand to five members from three. It would be it fully independent from the Transportation Department and would foster quicker dispute resolution through arbitration, among other changes.

It also authorizes a majority of board members to hold meetings not open to the public to discuss official business if no vote or other official agency action occurs, each individual present is a board member or employee, and the board's general counsel is present.

STB would be required to establish a database of the rail service complaints it has received and post quarterly reports on the complaints.

The legislation would address long-running concerns that the process for bringing a rate complaint to STB is far too time-consuming and costly. It would require the board to maintain "one or more simplified and expedited methods" for determining the reasonableness of challenged rail rates in cases where the existing "stand-alone cost" process is too costly relative to the value of the case.

The plan would also limit STB's review of rate reasonableness to 155 days to present evidence, 60 days for submission of a closing brief, and 180 days for a final board decision.

Shippers and railroads generally support the package as an appropriate balance between necessary regulation and the need for changes.