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OR

Surface Transportation Legislation to Improve the STB introduced in US Senate

Sep 25, 2014, 09:24 AM by SPAN
Senators John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-WV) and Senator John Thune (R-SD), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, introduced the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2014 after several months of reports of serious freight rail service delays and backlogs.

The bill was marked up and passed out of the committee on September 16. This bill aims to improve the Surface Transportation Board (STB) by making it more efficient and accessible, increasing the STB’s investigative authority so it can launch its own investigations before a complaint is filed, improving rate review timelines making it easier for Board members to communicate, refining alternative dispute resolution practices, and accelerating several long-standing STP proceedings and cases.  This bill does not include the very controversial anti-trust provisions included in earlier versions.  However, the railroads and their allies in the Senate recognized some service disruptions this year but raised concerns about the details of this bill.  

At this point in the waning days of the 113th Congress and Senator Rockefeller’s tenure as a U.S. Senator, it is highly doubtful this bill will advance but it will provide a roadmap for Senator Thune for future legislation.  There is no companion legislation in the House.  A summary of the Rockefeller/Thune Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2014 follows:

  • Establishes STB as independent agency;
  • Expands Board membership to five and eliminates the holdover limitation when a successor has not been named;
  • Allows for non-public discussion between Board members;
  • Gives the STB investigative authority so complaints do not have to be brought by shippers;
  • Streamlines rate case procedures;
  • Creates rate review timelines;
  • Requires a review of rate bundling;
  • Requires a report on rate methodology;
  • Creates a new arbitration procedures at STB and expands up to $25 million in damages;
  • Requires a compilation of complaints at the STB;
  • Requires quarterly reports from the STB on unfinished proceedings; and
  • Sense of Congress that STB should move forward on competitive switching, revenue adequacy rulemakings.

View a section-by-section analysis and the draft legislation.  

For more information about this legislation, please contact Billy Johnson.