Senate Passes HR 4076

Yesterday the Senate passed HR 4076, the HHEATT Act. As I predicted the bill passed by unanimous consent without debate.

Passage of this bill will effectively kill any possible consideration of S 2085 and S 2086. Sen. Reid made the decision yesterday to go with HR 4076 so the other two are dead. It would take a major political upheaval in the Senate to overcome the political inertia of legislative stare decisis.

HR 2086 Introduced – Hazmat Transportation

As I noted last week, Sen. Thune (D,SD) introduced S 2086, the Reliable Home Heating Act. This was one of two Senate bills introduced that dealt with extending the current DOT exemption from certain Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations (including hours-of-service limitations) for truckers delivering fuel oil and propane in areas of the country hit hard by cold weather and home heating fuel shortages.

Other Legislation

The other Senate bill, S 2085, is a companion bill to HR 4076 that was recently passed in the House. This bill includes the same language as both HR 4076 and S 2085, but it also includes language that would allow State Governors to allow these sorts of exemptions to FMCSA regulations within their borders by declaring “a state of emergency caused by a shortage of residential heating fuel” {§2(b)}. That authority would be limited to a period of 30-days with authority for two 30-day extensions. It would also require FMCSA to incorporate this authority into existing regulations {§2(c)}.

Exemption from DOT Regulations

The exemptions in all three bills apply to:

Part 390 - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations; General

Part 391 - Qualifications of Drivers and Longer Combination Vehicle (LCV) Driver Instructors

Part 392 - Driving of Commercial Motor Vehicles

Part 393 - Parts and Accessories Necessary for Safe Operation

Part 395 - Hours of Service of Drivers

Part 396 - Inspection, Repair, and Maintenance

Part 397 - Transportation of Hazardous Materials; Driving and Parking Rules

Part 398 - Transportation of Migrant Workers

Part 399 - Employee Safety and Health Standards

The broad sweep of the exemptions to safety rules is due to the language of the bill applying the coverage to “parts 390 through 399 of chapter III of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations” {§2(b)}. This is based upon the current wording of §390.23(a) which reads:

“Parts 390 through 399 of this chapter shall not apply to any motor carrier or driver operating a commercial motor vehicle to provide emergency relief during an emergency, subject to the following time limits:”

Interestingly §390.23 and §390.25 of 49 CFR already provide State Governors the authority to declare the initial 30-day exemption, but not the two 30-day extensions of those exemptions included in this bill.

Moving Forward

This bill is more expansive in its coverage by requiring the two 30-day extensions to be incorporated into FMCSA regulations. That may make this bill harder to pass than HR 4076 or S 2085. I am surprised that none of these three bills have yet been taken up by the Senate. It would seem to me that HR 4076 would have been a slam-dunk for passage under unanimous consent. Passing S 2086 instead of HR 4076 would delay the application of the extension of the current DOT exemption as it would have to go back to the House for action.

House Passes HR 4076

As I predicted, it took the House just 16 minutes to consider and pass HR 4076, the Home Heating Emergency Assistance Through Transportation (HHEAT) Act of 2014, this afternoon. A voice vote was held, and I would bet that not one dissenting vote was heard.

This bill may be considered in the Senate as early as tomorrow, but more likely later in the week. It will take them even less time as all that is necessary there is for Sen Reid (D,NV) to ask for  unanimous consent. It could take less than 30 seconds.

Who said that Congress couldn’t get anything done???

Congressional Hearings – Week of 3-2-14

With Monday’s submission of the President’s FY 2015 budget to Congress (one month late, again) this week officially starts the annual spending scramble. The hearing schedule in the House reflects this, but the Senate is officially sitting out the budget process this year so we have a couple of weeks yet before they join this particular game. So the Senate hearings this week will include a DHS appointment hearing, a look at crude trains and an oversight hearing about EO 13650.

Budget Hearings

The annual spending scramble officially starts on Wednesday with the House Budget Committee holding their initial hearing on the President’s FY 2015 budget. Only one witness is scheduled, Ms. Burwell the OMB Director. There will only be broad overviews of the budget discussed here.

The only other budget hearing this week of specific interest to readers of this blog will be the House Armed Services Committee’s initial hearing on the President’s FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Budget. This will be a contentious hearing about the President’s propose Defense Department cuts, but cybersecurity will almost certainly be mentioned. The interesting stuff will come out in the subcommittee hearings in the coming weeks.

DHS Nominations

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will be holding a nomination hearing on Wednesday looking at Mr. Brothers for S&T Under Secretary and Mr. Taylor for Intelligence and Analysis Under Secretary. Cybersecurity will certainly be a topic here.

Rail Safety

The Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday looking at Enhancing our Rail Safety: Current Challenges for Passenger and Freight Rail. The witness list right now is organizational rather than by name. Witnesses will be representing the:

• Federal Railroad Administration

• Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

• National Transportation Safety Board

• Federal Communications Commission

• American Petroleum Institute

• Association of American Railroads

The PHMSA and API witnesses indicate that crude oil trains will be discussed, no surprise there. The apparent odd-ball of the list, the FCC, means that positive train control (PTC) issues will be discussed as the FCC is one of the current impediments being blamed on potential delays in PTC implementation.

To get a real discussion of the crude oil issues going, the Subcommittee should have included a representative from Railway Supply Institute and let a panel including them the API and the AAR duke it out in a cage match. All three of these organizations will each have a major stake in the outcome of any Congressional action on crude-by-rail shipments and will be responsible for any real solution to the safety issues involved. Leaving the RSI out of this hearing is a sure way for them to get stuck holding the blame sack.

EO 13650

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will be holding an oversight hearing on the President’s Executive Order on Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security. Okay, by definition, Congress doesn’t have any oversight authority over an Executive Order but that’s what Senator Boxer is calling this. No witness list has yet been posted, but if this hearing is to mean anything at all (I’m not holding my breath, Sen. Boxer’s committee accomplishes little if anything of importance) it will include the three Assistant Secretary’s that head the Working Group.

On the Floor

The House has a full election-year schedule going this week. There are lots of political posturing bills that will get full debate and party line votes. Some real work will get done though.

As I predicted HR 4076, the Home Heating Emergency Assistance Through Transportation (HHEAT) Act of 2014, will come to the floor this week. It will be considered on Tuesday under suspension of the rules and will pass with near unanimous support (there may not even be a recorded vote). There will not be any discussion of the increased risk of transportation accidents by allowing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to continue its emergency suspension of transportation safety rules to allow timely fuel oil and propane deliveries to the hard hit communities in the north and east. I’m pretty sure that more lives will be saved from cold injuries than will be expended in transportation related accidents, but that trade off should be specifically addressed in the debate; it won’t. Life-and-death cost-benefit analysis is not something that politicians are willing to go on the record debating; it opens them up to too much potential criticism.

Bills Introduced – 02-25-14

Yesterday both the House and Senate were in the Capitol and a total of 27 bills were introduced, one of which might be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 4076 Latest Title: To address shortages and interruptions in the availability of propane and other home heating fuels in the United States, and for other purposes.Sponsor: Rep Shuster, Bill (D,PA)

This bill would extend the 30-day limit on transportation emergencies to allow the DOT Secretary to continue to suspend certain transportation safety regulations to allow for the transportation of propane into areas of the country hit by the current local shortage and low temperatures. Since this was introduced by the Chair of the House Transportation Committee I assume that this will see quick action.