Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2014
Latest action. Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 469.
Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2014 - Title I: Authorization of Appropriations - (Sec. 101) Authorizes appropriations for FY2015-FY2018 to the Secretary of Transportation (DOT) for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) for:
the Northeast Corridor Improvement Fund account,
the National Network account,
the Office of the Inspector General, and
national infrastructure investment capital grants.
Title II: Amtrak Reform - (Sec. 201) Directs Amtrak to establish internal controls to ensure its costs and revenues are allocated to either the Northeast Corridor or the National Network.
Directs the Secretary to establish substantive and procedural requirements for Northeast Corridor and National Network investment capital grant requests.
Directs Amtrak to establish:
a Northeast Corridor Improvement Fund account for Northeast Corridor capital improvement projects, and
a National Network account for capital expenses and operating costs of the National Network.
Requires Amtrak, before entering into contracts exceeding $100 million to purchase rolling stock, to submit to the Secretary and Congress a business case analysis on the utility of such a purchase.
Requires the Northeast Corridor Infrastructure and Operations Advisory Commission to:
develop an annual capital investment plan for the Northeast Corridor main line between Boston, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia, and the Northeast Corridor branch lines connecting to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Springfield, Massachusetts, and Spuyten Duyvil, New York; and
update, once every 10 years, a Northeast Corridor service development plan.
Requires Amtrak, and states and public entities that own infrastructure supporting or providing intercity rail passenger transportation on the Northeast Corridor, to develop and update asset management plans for the Northeast Corridor main line and the Northeast Corridor branch lines.
(Sec. 202) Requires the Amtrak Board of Directors to prepare a five-year capital and operating plan for the Northeast Corridor and National Network.
(Sec. 203) Directs the Secretary to establish a State-Supported Route Advisory Committee.
Requires Amtrak to transmit to Congress and to each state that sponsors a state-supported route an annual cost, service, and ridership forecast for each route for the upcoming year to enable states to pace costs against state budgets, plan effectively, and address unexpected changes in costs in a timely manner.
The summary continues for 28 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House with amendment(s)" stage on December 1, 2014. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on December 1, 2014: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 469.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
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 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, 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?
Bill Shuster (R-PA) introduced it on September 11, 2014, and 8 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 2 Democrats, 6 Republicans.
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 September 11, 2014, 4382 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4301 days ago, on December 1, 2014.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 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
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers