Safer Pipelines Act of 2019
Latest action. Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by voice voteA vote decided by which side sounds louder. No individual positions are recorded, so no member can be held to a position afterward.Read the full definition (opens a new tab).
Safer Pipelines Act of 2019
This bill addresses pipeline safety with respect to natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines.
Among other things, the bill
reauthorizes appropriations through FY2023 for pipeline safety activities;
prioritizes assessment methods for transmission pipelines that can provide a greater level of safety than direct assessment, including the use of internal inspection devices or pressure testing;
makes it mandatory for each operator of a transmission pipeline facility in a high consequence area to install automatic or remote shutoff valves;
directs owners and operators of gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facilities to make critical operational information available to surrounding communities and first responders;
increases civil penalties for violations and revises the criminal penalty standard from "knowingly and willfully" to "knowingly or recklessly"; and
requires the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to submit an annual report to Congress detailing its efforts to hire women, minorities, and veterans as inspectors since January 1, 2012.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on June 24, 2019. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by Voice Vote.
Civibrief does not map this action to a stage in the process. See the official record.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
The latest action on file does not map to a stage Civibrief recognizes, so the page will not name one. The record's own words are the reliable fact here.
The record's latest action, on November 20, 2019: Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by Voice Vote.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one has no outstanding steps listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
BOBBY RUSH (D-IL) introduced it on June 24, 2019. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 24, 2019, 2635 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2486 days ago, on November 20, 2019.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseOrdered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by Voice Vote.
- SenateNot stated in the latest action
- PresidentNot stated in the latest action