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STB reauthorization bill (S. 808)


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#1 CNJRoss

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Posted 20 March 2015 - 07:44 PM

ProgressiveRailroading.com, 3/20:

 
STB reauthorization bill would change freight-rail policies

U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) yesterday introduced a bill that would reform and reauthorize the Surface Transportation Board (STB).

The proposed Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015 (S. 808) would reform the STB and "streamline" its procedures, according to a press release issued by Thune's office. The STB has federal regulatory jurisdiction over certain economic issues for freight railroads, including the rates they charge shippers.

Although the STB has been "working diligently" to ensure rail service delays experienced by shippers and businesses in South Dakota and other states last year don't occur again, the service "crisis" highlighted inefficiencies in the agency, said Thune.

 

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#2 CNJRoss

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Posted 25 March 2015 - 12:15 PM

ProgressiveRailroading.com, 3/25:

 
Sen. Baldwin proposes 'rail shipper fairness,' competitive switching

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) has introduced the "Rail Shipper Fairness Act of 2015" aimed at improving rail service for shippers, including farmers, manufacturers and utilities, the senator announced yesterday.

Baldwin said the bill would increase rail competition, reform rate case regulations, restructure the Surface Transportation Board (STB) and require freight railroads to be more responsive to their customers.

The legislation would help shippers get their products to market faster by resolving service problems, according to a press release.

 

SNIP

 

Baldwin's bill and the proposed STB Reauthorization Act of 2015, introduced last week by Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), would expand the STB's membership from three to five members.

 

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#3 CNJRoss

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Posted 30 March 2015 - 08:19 PM

Electric Co-op Today, 3/30:

 
Senate Committee Backs Railroad Reform Bill

A bill that shippers say would help level a playing field tilted in favor of freight railroad giants is headed to the Senate floor.

 

By voice vote, the Senate Commerce Committee approved a measure March 25 that would expand the Surface Transportation Board, which oversees the rail industry, from three members to five.

 

The Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015 also calls for streamlining costly and complex STB procedures that rail customers say inhibit challenges to rates and practices.

 

Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., said the board has not been reauthorized or reformed in a substantive way since it succeeded the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1996.

 

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#4 CNJRoss

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Posted 19 June 2015 - 08:25 PM

AAR news release:

 

AAR Statement on Senate Approval of STB Reauthorization Legislation

Washington, D.C., June 19, 2015 – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) issued the following statement on behalf of President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger in response to the U.S. Senate's approval of the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015.

 

"The freight rail industry is encouraged that the Senate has acted on Surface Transportation Board reauthorization legislation and we congratulate the bi-partisan leadership of Senators Thune, Nelson, Fischer and Booker on striking the right balance of preserving a market-based structure for shippers and railroads through this bill," said Hamberger.

 

"This bill provides commonsense process improvements that will allow the STB to work more efficiently and, at the same time, recognizes the need for freight railroads to earn revenues that allow for billions of dollars in private spending each year to build, maintain and grow the nationwide rail network, so taxpayers don't have to."

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#5 CNJRoss

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Posted 19 June 2015 - 08:30 PM

National Association of Chemical Distributors news release:

 

NACD Applauds Senate Passage of STB Reform Legislation
 
June 19, 2015 10:00am
 

ARLINGTON, VA --(Marketwired - June 19, 2015) - Today, National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) President Eric R. Byer made the following statement about the U.S. Senate's passage of S. 808, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) Reauthorization Act of 2015:

"NACD welcomes the Senate's passage of this important freight rail reform legislation. We thank Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) for their tireless efforts to craft bipartisan legislation that would make modest reforms to the Surface Transportation Board. Rail reform is an issue vital to the chemical distribution industry, as nearly 40% of chemical distribution businesses rely on freight rail to receive their products, and we are confident S. 808 will improve the efficiency and functionality of the STB without re-regulating the railroads.

"The rail industry has changed dramatically since the Staggers Rail Act of 1980. Drastic consolidation and decreased access to competitive rail service has led to soaring rates. The lack of freight rail competition has been costly to American businesses and NACD members that rely on safe, reliable, and affordable rail service.

"With the dramatic changes in the rail sector, it is critical we re-evaluate and modernize our rail policy framework to meet present and future needs. We strongly believe that modest reforms to our outdated rail policies today will lead to less government intervention later. With the Senate's passage of S. 808, NACD now urges the U.S. House of Representatives to take up the Senate bill improving the functionality of the STB."

NACD and its nearly 440 member companies are vital to the chemical supply chain providing products to over 750,000 end users. NACD members are leaders in health, safety, security, and environmental performance through implementation of Responsible Distribution, established in 1991 as a condition of membership and a third-party-verified management practice. For more information, visit www.NACD.com.



#6 CNJRoss

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Posted 19 June 2015 - 08:35 PM

Transport Topics, 6/19:

 

Senate Passes Surface Transportation Board Reform Bill

 

The U.S. Senate approved a bill intended to make the Surface Transportation Board more responsive to industry and shipper needs by accelerating and simplifying its review of rate cases.

 

The measure, introduced by Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), was passed by unanimous consent. There is not yet any House companion measure to the bill known as S.B. 808, which was introduced in March by Thune and Nelson as the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2015.

 

“These reforms will help make the STB a more efficient, effective and accountable agency for the benefit of shippers and railroads alike,” Thune said when the bill was introduced. “It’s time for Congress to address some inefficiencies in the agency.”

 

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#7 CNJRoss

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Posted 10 December 2015 - 05:52 PM

AR news release:

 

AAR Statement on House Approval of STB Reauthorization Legislation 

 

Washington, D.C., Dec. 10, 2015 – The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today welcomed the passage of the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015 (S. 808) by the U.S. House of Representatives. 

 

"In reauthorizing the Surface Transportation Board for the first time since the agency was created, Congress has clearly stated the critical need for railroads to be able to earn the revenues to build, maintain, and further modernize the nation's 140,000-mile privately-owned rail network. These investments are needed to meet current and future freight transportation demands," said Edward R. Hamberger, AAR president and CEO. "This legislation strikes the right balance of preserving a market-based structure for shippers and railroads, while also providing commonsense process improvements that will allow the STB to work more efficiently." 

 

"The industry invests revenue it earns, not government funding, to grow the nation's rail system and respond to the shipping needs of customers, large and small," said Hamberger. "Congress has reaffirmed balanced economic regulations that allow market-based competition to establish rate and service standards, with a regulatory safety net available to rail customers."

 

Since 1980, the freight rail industry has spent over $600 billion on private infrastructure and equipment. 

 

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#8 CNJRoss

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Posted 16 December 2015 - 10:04 PM

Cross-posted from "CP hostile takeover bid for NS:"

 

Material Handling & Logistics 12/15:

Major Rail Merger Prospects Confront a Just-Reformed STB

 

If a stalled attempted acquisition of Norfolk Southern by the owner of Canadian Pacific eventually proceeds, it would run smack into a Surface Transportation Board (STB) freshly reformed by Congress and could provoke other American railroads to jump on the merger bandwagon.

 

SNIP

 

Facing a Reformed STB

Major rail mergers would get much more scrutiny from the government today because there are fewer big rail companies. Most rail customers can access only one major railroad, which gives rail companies unique pricing power that you don’t find in more competitive modes.

 

Supervising the nation’s railroads is the Surface Transportation Board, an independent agency created by Congress, that is organized in much the same fashion as the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission. The STB also is the successor to the old Interstate Commerce Commission and its commissioners are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate to serve for set terms.

 

Last Thursday Congress passed legislation reauthorizing the STB and expanding its membership from three to five commissioners.

 

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#9 CNJRoss

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Posted 22 December 2015 - 12:36 PM

STB news release:

 

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD CHAIRMAN DANIEL R. ELLIOT ANNOUNCES

DETAILS OF STB REAUTHORIZATION ACT

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Surface Transportation Board Chairman Daniel R. Elliott III today announced details of the Board’s implementation of the STB Reauthorization Act of 2015.

Effective December 18, 2015, the Reauthorization Act changed the Board into a wholly independent federal agency.

 

Prior to the Reauthorization Act, the Board was administratively aligned with the U.S. Department of Transportation, although it has been decisionally independent since it was created in 1996 by the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-88,109 Stat 803).

Of major importance, the Reauthorization Act additionally:

--Expands the Board’s membership from three to five Board Members.

--Allows a majority of Board Members to meet in private to discuss agency matters, if no vote or official action is undertaken within such a meeting, and if a meeting summary is made publicly available no later than two business days after the event. If the discussion directly relates to an ongoing proceeding before the Board, the meeting summary is instead made publicly available on the date of the final Board decision. Formerly, private meetings of Board Members on agency matters were prohibited.

--Gives the Board authority to initiate investigations and requires the Board to begin a rulemaking to establish a regulation relative to such authority.

--Directs the Board to adjust its voluntary arbitration process, including increases in the maximum damage awards.

--Shortens the timelines that apply to large rate case proceedings, including limits on the time allowed for discovery and the time allowed for development of the evidentiary record.

--Directs the Comptroller General of the United States (the head of the United States General Accountability Office) to begin a study of rail transportation contract proposals containing multiple origin-to-destination movements; and

--Directs Board submission of a rate case methodology report and quarterly reports on unfinished regulatory proceedings to pertinent Congressional committees.

The Reauthorization Act additionally requires Board production of an annual investigation report on actions the Board initiates on its own; quarterly reports on rate cases pending or completed; and quarterly formal and informal railroad service complaint reports.

The historical successor to the former Interstate Commerce Commission (1887-1995), the Board is an independent economic regulatory agency charged by Congress to resolve railroad rate and service disputes and to review proposed railroad mergers. The Board serves as both an adjudicatory and a regulatory body with jurisdiction over railroad rate and service issues and rail restructuring transactions (mergers, line sales, line construction, and line abandonments); certain trucking company, moving van, and non-contiguous ocean shipping company rate matters; certain intercity passenger bus company structure, financial, and operational matters; and rates and services of certain pipelines not regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Chairman Elliott noted that the Board will continue to notify the public of important actions taken by the agency regarding its implementation of the Reauthorization Act and attendant matters.

To read the entirety of the STB Reauthorization Act of 2015, click here.


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#10 CNJRoss

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Posted 05 February 2016 - 10:58 AM

STB news release. 2/2:

 

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD CHAIRMAN DANIEL R. ELLIOTT ANNOUNCES REAUTHORIZATION ACT IMPLEMENTATION WELL UNDERWAY

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Today Chairman Daniel R. Elliott announced that the Surface Transportation Board will be posting monthly status reports of its implementation of the STB Reauthorization Act of 2015
, P.L. 114-110 (2015).

The Reauthorization Act was enacted into law on December 18, 2015, and establishes the STB as a wholly independent federal agency. Prior to the Reauthorization Act, the STB was administratively aligned with the U.S. Department of Transportation, although it had been decisionally independent since its establishment in 1996.

The Reauthorization Act expands the STBs membership from three to five Board Members, and allows a majority of STB Board Members to meet in private to discuss agency matters, subject to certain rules and procedures. Chairman Elliott announced that he intends to have the first of such Board Member meetings in U.S. Rail Service Issues—Performance Data Reporting, Docket No. EP 724 (Sub-No. 4), the Board proceeding proposing to establish new regulations requiring the reporting of certain railroad service performance metrics on a permanent basis.

The STB now has authority to investigate issues of national or regional significance and is required to establish regulations governing such investigations. The Reauthorization Act also directs the STB to modify its voluntary arbitration process, including increases in the maximum damage awards. In large rate case proceedings, the Reauthorization Act requires shortening of timelines, including limits on the time allowed for discovery and the time allowed for development of the evidentiary record. The STB also is required to produce a report on rate case methodology and to assess procedures used to expedite litigation in the courts.

 

Chairman Elliott has the fulfillment of all requirements of the Reauthorization Act well underway. Rail industry stakeholders have waited 20 years for the Board to be reauthorized. There is no doubt that freight rail transportation will benefit from the thoughtful provisions of this law. Behind this reauthorization is a message of transparency and increased efficiency. That is what I will deliver to the public.






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