Committee Hearings – Week of 07-28-19

With just the Senate in session (the House already having started their summer recess) the committee hearing list is pretty short this week. We do have two hearings of interest to look at. The first is a markup hearing looking at two authorization bills that were introduced last week and the second is re-look at positive train control implementation.

Authorization Markups

On Wednesday the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will markup two bills:

• S 2297, Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2019; and

• S 2299, Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act of 2019

Neither bill has yet been officially published; the links above are to committee prints. A quick review of S 2297 shows that it includes a similar change to the MTSA rules found in the House version of the bill (HR 3409) requiring DHS to approve updates to security plans. HR 3409 was passed in the House last week.

PTC Hearing

On Wednesday the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on “Next Steps for Positive Train Control Implementation”. The witness list includes:

• Ronald Batory, Federal Railroad Administration;

• Robert Bourg, Wabtec Corporation;

• Jim Derwinski, Metra;

• Susan Fleming, Government Accountability Office; and

• Chris Matthews, BNSF Railway

Bills Introduced – 07-26-19

Yesterday with both the House and Senate in session, and the House preparing to leave for their summer recess, 176 bills were introduced. As is typical with bill introductions before a long recess, the vast majority of these bills were introduced to show that the congresscritters were concerned about a controversial topic, but with no intention of further working the legislative process. There were two bills introduced yesterday that will receive additional coverage on this blog:

S 2297 A bill to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard, and for other purposes. Sen. Sullivan, Dan [R-AK] 

S 2299 A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to enhance the safety and reliability of pipeline transportation, and for other purposes. Sen. Fischer, Deb [R-NE] 

The House version of the Coast Guard authorization bill, HR 3409, passed earlier this week by a voice vote in the House.

S 2299 is probably the Senate version of the PHMSA pipeline safety program reauthorization.