102nd Congress > Senate > Vote 224

Date: 1991-10-16

Result: 95-3 (Conference Report Agreed to)

Clerk session vote number: 224

Vote Subject Matter: Government Management / Budget Special Interest

Bill number: HR2942

Question: On the Conference Report

Description: A bill making appropriations for the Department of Transportation and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1992, and for other purposes.

Bill summary: Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1992 - Title I: Department of Transportation - Makes appropriations for FY 1992 for: (1) the Office of the Secretary of Transportation; (2) the Coast Guard; (3) the Federal Aviation Administration; (4) the Federal Highway Administration (including specified demonstration projects); (5) the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; (6) the Federal Railroad Administration; (7) the Urban Mass Transportation (...show more) Administration; (8) the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation; (9) Research and Special Programs Administration; and (10) the Office of the Inspector General. Prohibits the use of any funds for: (1) air service to small communities not receiving such service during FY 1991 unless such communities are eligible for new service, provide a local match, and are no more than 200 miles from a large hub airport; and (2) any increase in air service levels to small communities unless the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) certifies that such increase is estimated to result in self-sufficiency within three years of such increase. Prohibits the use of any funds for the operation, maintenance, or manning of land-based and sea-based aerostationary balloons, or E2C aircraft. Authorizes the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to reimburse travel and subsistence expenses for the training of non-Federal domestic and foreign security personnel. Requires a stand-alone directional finder FAA-5530 receiver indicator system to be installed at the Salisbury, Maryland, airport. Makes funds available to the FAA to enter into a sole source procurement with the Regional Airport Authority of Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky, to design and construct an air traffic control tower at Standiford Field. Makes a specified amount of railroad research and development funds available for railroad metallurgical and welding studies at the Oregon Graduate Institute. Prohibits the use of funds to finance improved rail passenger service between Spugten Duyvil, New York, and the Northeast Corridor unless the Secretary certifies that not less than 40 percent of improvement costs shall be derived from non-Amtrak sources. Title II: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 1992 to: (1) the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board; (2) the National Transportation Safety Board; (3) the Interstate Commerce Commission; (4) the Panama Canal Commission; (5) the Department of the Treasury; and (6) the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Title III: General Provisions - Sets forth specified prohibitions, limitations, permissions, and mandates with respect to the use of appropriations under this Act. Prohibits the use of funds for the planning or implementation of any change in the current Federal status of the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (except for further development planning that does not alter such status) or the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. Requires the Secretary to distribute on a ratio-formulated basis, the Federal-aid highway State obligation limitations for FY 1992 for Federal-aid highways and highway safety construction. Prohibits a State from obligating more than 35 percent of its allocation for such projects during the first three months of FY 1992. Sets forth additional specified obligation limits for States during FY 1992. Limits funds available for salaries and expenses to no more than 120 political and Presidential appointees in the Department of Transportation. Prohibits the use of funds for the construction of the Central Automated Transit System (Downtown People Mover) in Detroit, Michigan. Requires the Secretary to obligate no more than $4,000,000 for each year that Interstate 95 is under reconstruction for operating expenses of the Tri-County Commuter Rail Project in Florida. Requires the Secretary to make compensation payments as provided under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to air carriers that provide essential air service to small community airports. Prohibits the use of funds to establish a vessel traffic safety fairway less than five miles wide between the Santa Barbara Traffic Separation Scheme and the San Francisco Traffic Separation Scheme. Authorizes airports to transfer to the FAA instrument landing systems which were purchased through a Federal airport aid or development program and which conform to FAA performance specifications. Requires the Secretary to enter into a full funding grant agreement with the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon for construction of the locally-preferred alternative for the Westside Light Rail Project. Prohibits the use of funds by the FAA for a new National Weather Graphics System. Prohibits the use of funds to award multiyear contracts for production end items that include: (1) economic order quantity or long lead time material procurement in excess of $10,000,000 in any one year of the contract; or (2) a cancellation charge greater than $10,000,000 which at the time of obligation has not been appropriated to the limits of the Government's liability; or (3) a requirement that permits performance under the contract during the second and subsequent years of such contract without conditioning such performance upon the appropriation of funds. Prohibits the use of funds to close the FAA's airport facilities equipment office in Little Rock, Arkansas, or to transfer or reduce facility personnel. Directs the Secretary, with regard to the Discretionary Grants program of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, to: (1) issue a letter of no prejudice by October 1, 1991, and enter into a full funding agreement by June 1, 1992, for a specified portion of the South Boston Piers Transitway project in the South Boston area; and (2) issue a letter of intent by September 30, 1992, for the extension of the Transitway from South Station to Boylston Station. Prohibits funds for Coast Guard acquisition, construction, and improvements from being available for any fiscal year after December 31, 1991, unless the Commandant of the Coast Guard submits certain quarterly reports to specified congressional committees. Prohibits the use of funds to reduce or reserve a State's apportionment of Federal-aid highway funds for reasons of noncompliance with the national 55 mph speed limit requirements. Requires the Secretary to withhold five percent of a State's Federal-aid highway apportionment after the second calendar year, and ten percent after the fourth calendar year, following the enactment of this Act if it does not: (1) enforce laws requiring the revocation, suspension, or delay in the issuance of an individual's driver's license upon conviction of a drug offense; or (2) submit a certification of the Governor's and State legislature's opposition to such enforcement. Declares that payments to the City of Atlantic City with respect to the transfer of Atlantic City International Airport shall not be considered airport revenues for purposes of the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982. Prohibits funds from being used to enforce a series of Airworthiness Directives regarding cargo fire detection and control in certain aircraft that are operated solely within Alaska until a safety analysis and an economic impact statement have been completed and submitted to specified congressional committees. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into a sole source contract with the Puerto Rico Ports Authority to construct an air traffic control tower at Luis Munoz Marin Airport. Authorizes the Nicaragua Frontier Transportation Authority to provide transportation services in support of the 1993 World University Games. Makes funds available to the Secretary to study the feasibility of adding air conditioning to Pennsylvania Station in New York City. Requires the Secretary to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to prohibit the use of radar detectors in commercial motor vehicles. Requires the Administrator of the FAA to conduct an aircraft noise mitigation review to include airspace over New York and Connecticut lying within a 55 nautical mile radius of La Guardia Airport. Establishes the Metropolitan New York Aircraft Noise Mitigation Committee to review aircraft noise complaints. Prohibits the use of funds by the Secretary or the FAA to consolidate flight service stations until after the expiration of a specified period following the submission of the Auxiliary Flight Service Station plan to the Congress. Prohibits domestic or foreign air carriers from operating within the State of Hawaii or other specified areas a greater number of Stage two aircraft than they operated in such areas on November 5, 1990. Makes specified funds available for a highway grade crossing demonstration project in White River Junction, Vermont, without regard to whether expenses are incurred in accordance with specified Federal law. Authorizes the Secretary to study the costs and benefits to the energy and transportation sectors of telecommuting. Authorizes Wyoming to permit vehicles in excess of 80,000 pounds which meet certain axle and bridge formula specifications to use the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways located there. Urges the Secretary of Defense and the Commandant of the Coast Guard in light of the positive changes in the Soviet Union to reexamine U.S. policies regarding the restricted use of certain ports by Soviet ships. Authorizes the parties to the compact establishing a commission to study the feasibility of rapid rail transit service between States to change the name of such compact, including the name of the commission. Title IV: Aging Aircraft Safety - Aging Aircraft Safety Act of 1991 - Directs the Administrator of the FAA to promulgate a rule to assure the continuing airworthiness of aging aircraft. Requires the Administrator to make inspections, and conduct reviews of maintenance and other records, of passenger aircraft to determine the airworthiness of such aircraft. Requires inspections to be conducted as part of a heavy maintenance check, on or after the first day of the 15th year in which such aircraft is in service. Requires air carriers, at a minimum, to demonstrate to the Administrator that maintenance of the aircraft's structure, skin, and other age-sensitive components has been adequate to ensure the highest degree of safety. Directs the Administrator to establish certain aircraft maintenance safety programs, including one for the training of inspectors and engineers. Requires the Administrator to encourage foreign governments and relevant international organizations to develop requirements for inspections which will ensure the continuing airworthiness of aging foreign carrier aircraft to and from the United States and which will afford passengers of such aircraft the same level of safety as afforded passengers of U.S. aircraft. Title V: Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing - Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act of 1991 - Amends the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to direct the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to establish a program requiring domestic and foreign air carriers to conduct preemployment, reasonable suspicion, random, recurring, and post-accident testing of airmen, crewmembers, airport security screening contract personnel, and other air carrier employees responsible for safety-sensitive functions for use of alcohol or a controlled substance. Requires the Administrator to establish the same program for FAA employees. Sets forth guidelines for such program. Prohibits such employees from serving in safety-sensitive functions unless they have completed a rehabilitation program established under FAA auspices. Prohibits such individuals from performing air transportation-related duties if they: (1) engaged in such use while on duty; (2) prior to such use had undertaken or completed a rehabilitation program; (3) refuse to undertake such rehabilitation program; or (4) fail such rehabilitation program. Requires domestic and foreign air carriers to maintain a rehabilitation program for the identification and treatment of their employees who need assistance in resolving substance abuse problems. Requires the Administrator to establish and maintain such a rehabilitation program for FAA employees whose duties include responsibility for safety-sensitive functions and who need assistance in resolving substance abuse problems. Outlines the requirements of such program. Amends the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 to direct the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to issue regulations that establish a program which requires railroads to conduct preemployment, reasonable suspicion, random, recurring, and post-accident testing of railroad employees responsible for safety-sensitive functions for use of alcohol or a controlled substance. Outlines the requirements for such testing program. Requires each railroad to maintain a rehabilitation program for the identification and treatment of their employees who need assistance in resolving substance abuse problems. Amends the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 to direct the Secretary to establish a program requiring motor carriers to conduct preemployment, reasonable suspicion, random, and post-accident testing of commercial motor vehicle operators for use of alcohol or a controlled substance. Mandates that such program include post-accident testing of a commercial motor vehicle operator in any accident involving loss of human life, serious bodily injury, or significant property damage. Directs the Secretary to issue regulations setting forth the requirements for a rehabilitation program for the identification and treatment of commercial motor vehicle operators who are determined to have used alcohol or a controlled substance. Sets forth the requirements of the testing procedures. Requires the Secretary to: (1) determine appropriate sanctions against operators who are determined, as a result of such tests, to have used alcohol or a controlled substances without lawful authorization (but who are not under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance); (2) design and implement a pilot test program (as part of the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program) for the random testing of commercial motor vehicle operators to determine the use without lawful authorization of alcohol or a controlled substance; (3) solicit (and select) State participation in such a program; and (4) submit a comprehensive report to the Congress setting forth the pilot program results. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1992 for such pilot testing program. Directs the Secretary to issue regulations that establish a program which requires mass transportation operations which receive mass transportation assistance under the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 to conduct preemployment, reasonable suspicion, random, periodic recurring, and post-accident testing of mass transportation employees responsible for safety-sensitive functions for use of alcohol or a controlled substance. Requires the Secretary to issue regulations setting forth requirements for rehabilitation programs which provide for the identification and treatment of mass transportation employees who are determined to have used alcohol or a controlled substance. Outlines the requirements for such program. Requires the disqualification for a period of time or dismissal of mass transportation employees who have been determined to have used alcohol while on duty or a controlled substance, whether on duty or not on duty. Prohibits a person from receiving mass transportation assistance if such person is required to establish an alcohol and controlled substances testing program and fails to establish such a program.

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Bill titles: Making appropriations for the Department of Transportation and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1992, and for other purposes.; Aging Aircraft Safety Act of 1991; Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act of 1991

Links for more info on the vote: congress.gov

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