S 546 Amended and Passed in Senate

On Monday the Senate passed S 546, the RESPONSE Act of 2015, under their unanimous consent provisions. Without debate or vote the Senate adopted substitute language introduced by Sen. Heitkamp (D,ND), the original author of the Senate version of this bill (the House version, HR 1043, has not yet been acted upon in the House). The bill amends 6 USC 318 adding a Railroad Emergency Services Preparedness, Operational Needs, and Safety Evaluation (RESPONSE) Subcommittee to the National Advisory Council.

Revisions

There were large number of relatively inconsequential wording changes made in the substitute language. There were, however, some substantial changes made to the bill. These include:

• Changing to a Co-Chair leadership of the RESPONSE Subcommittee with FEMA and PHMSA sharing that role {new §318(d)(3)};

• Removed provisions providing for the appointment of elected State, local, and tribal government executives to the RESPONSE Subcommittee {original §318(d)(2)(J)(i)(III)}’

• Added provisions providing for the appointment of emergency response training providers to the RESPONSE Subcommittee {new §318(d)(2)(J)(ii)(V)};

• Removed provisions requiring the RESPONSE Subcommittee to provide recommendations for the “need for emergency response plans for rail, similar to existing law related to maritime and stationary facility emergency response plans for hazardous materials” {original §318(d)(2)(D)};

• Removed provisions requiring the RESPONSE Subcommittee to provide recommendations for the “need for a rail hazardous materials incident database” {original §318(d)(2)(E)};

• Removed provisions requiring the RESPONSE Subcommittee to provide recommendations for the “access to relevant, useful, and timely information for the local emergency responder for training purposes and in the event of a rail hazardous materials incident” {original §318(d)(2)(F)};

Moving Forward

The bill has been forwarded to the House for consideration. I suspect that the revised language will allow the bill to move to the floor of the House without too much problem. There it will probably be considered under suspension of the Rules. That means limited debate and no floor amendments.

Commentary

The last three changes described above were almost certainly necessary to allow the Senate to consider the bill under the unanimous consent provisions. The emergency response plan provision is already being dealt with by a PHMSA rulemaking, but the other two provisions would certainly have drawn the ire of the railroads and some hazardous material shippers.

The bill probably would have been able to garner enough votes in the Senate to be passed, but it would have been difficult to get the bill to the floor in with the crowded and election limited calendar.

The last two provisions have also probably been the reason that the Democratic sponsors of the House version of the bill have not been able to have it considered in Committee.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Adopts S 546

As I predicted earlier today, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee took up S 546, the RESPONSE Act of 2015. The Committee ordered the bill to be reported favorably on a voice vote. There were no amendments.

Since my earlier posting the GPO has provided a link to the language for S 546 and I have been able to confirm that it is almost perfectly identical to HR 1043. The only difference that I could find was the addition of the words “as appropriate” in §318(d)(6); hardly an earth shaking change.

It really does look like this bill, barring something really strange, or its House counterpart will likely make to the floor in each house and then to the President. It is almost certainly only a matter of timing.

HR 1043 Introduced – RESPONSE Act

As I mentioned earlier, Rep. Kind (D,WI) introduced HR 1043, the RESPONSE Act of 2015. The bill would add a new subcommittee to FEMA’s National Advisory Council; the Railroad Emergency Services Preparedness, Operational Needs, and Safety Evaluation (RESPONSE) Subcommittee.

The bill would set a time limit for the existence of the Subcommittee {new §318(d)(9)}. It would be formed within 90 days of passage of the bill and would terminate four years after that enactment. The FEMA Administrator would be authorized to extend the termination date in one year intervals if he determines that additional reports are needed from the Subcommittee.

Membership

While the NAC is made up mainly of people from outside of the Federal government {6 USC 318(c)) this bill would require that this new subcommittee would also include representatives from the following federal agencies {new §318(d)(2)}:

● FEMA

● Office of Emergency Communications of the Department of Homeland Security

● Office of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations of the National Transportation Safety Board

● Federal Railroad Administration

● Transportation Security Administration

● Coast Guard

● Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response 22 of the Environmental Protection Agency

● Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

● Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Subcommittee Focus

The RESPONSE Subcommittee will be required to look at, and make recommendations about, the following topics related to improving emergency responder training and resource allocation for hazardous materials incidents involving railroads {new §318(d)(6)}:

● Quality and application of training for local emergency first responders related to rail hazardous materials incidents;

● Effectiveness of funding levels related to training local emergency responders for rail hazardous materials incidents;

● Strategy for integration of commodity flow studies, mapping, and access platforms for local emergency responders and how to increase the rate of access to the individual responder in existing or emerging communications technology;

● The need for emergency response plans for rail, similar to existing law related to maritime and stationary facility emergency response plans for hazardous materials;

● The need for a rail hazardous materials incident database;

● Increasing access to relevant, useful, and timely information for the local emergency responder for training purposes and in the event of a rail hazardous materials incident; and

● Determination of the most appropriate agencies and offices for the implementation of the recommendations

Companion Bill S 546

A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate, S 546. I’m assuming that it is a companion bill, but a copy has not yet been published. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is taking up the bill in their business meeting today. This is slightly unusual in that Sen. Heitkamp (D,ND) and her 5 cosponsors are all Democrats, but is would certainly seem to indicate that there is bipartisan support for this legislation, at least in the Senate.

Bills Introduced – 02-24-15

With both the House and Senate in session yesterday there were 61 bills introduced. Seven of those bills may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 1022 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize the use of Urban Area Security Initiative and State Homeland Security Grant Program funding to counter violent extremism. Rep. Walker, Mark [R-NC-6]

HR 1024 To provide for the compensation of furloughed Department of Homeland Security employees in the event of a lapse in Department of Homeland Security appropriations, and for other purposes. Rep. Beyer, Donald S., Jr. [D-VA-8]

HR 1043 To establish the Railroad Emergency Services Preparedness, Operational Needs, and Safety Evaluation (RESPONSE) Subcommittee under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Advisory Council... Rep. Kind, Ron [D-WI-3] 

S 542 A bill to enhance the homeland security of the United States, and for other purposes. Sen. Coats, Daniel [R-IN]

S 545 A bill making continuing appropriations for Coast Guard pay in the event the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015 expires and the Department of Homeland Security... Sen. Thune, John [R-SD]

S 546 A bill to establish the Railroad Emergency Services Preparedness, Operational Needs, and Safety Evaluation (RESPONSE) Subcommittee under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Advisory... Sen. Heitkamp, Heidi [D-ND] 

S 554 A bill to provide for the compensation of Federal employees affected by a lapse in appropriations. Sen. Cardin, Benjamin L. [D-MD]

Three of the bills (HR 1024, S 545, S 554) would ensure that all or some of the employees affected by a temporary shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security because of the current spending-immigration squabble would be paid for their required performance of their duties during the shutdown. If there is no shutdown of DHS these bills will not go any further than their introduction. In any case I probably won’t mention these bills again unless there is something particularly unusual in their wording.

Two bills (HR 1043 and S 546) would set up an advisory committee (okay subcommittee, but that is probably nothing more than a technicality) to deal with railroad emergency response matters. This almost certainly is being considered due to the crude oil train derailments over the last year or so.

HR 1022 will almost certainly help spread around the Urban Area Security Initiative and State Homeland Security Grant Program monies, but probably won’t increase the amount of money available. The new players will appreciate the move, everyone else will get their funding cut.

Finally, Sen Coats gets the day’s award for the most meaningless bill title for S 542. We will have to wait and see if it really means anything.