AMENDMENTS TO FEDERAL RAILROAD SAFETY ACT OF 1970.

SEC. 10501. AMENDMENTS TO FEDERAL RAILROAD SAFETY ACT OF 1970. (a) User Fees.— The Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (45 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section: “SEC. 216. USER FEES. “(a) (1) The Secretary shall establish by regulation, after notice and comment, a schedule of fees to be assessed equitably to rail-roads, in reasonable relationship to an appropriate combination of criteria such as revenue ton-miles, track miles, passenger miles, or other relevant factors, but shall not be based on the proportion of industry revenues attributable to a railroad or class of railroads. “(2) The Secretary shall establish procedures for the collection of such fees. The Secretary may use the services of any Federal, State, or local agency or instrumentality to collect such fees, and may reimburse such agency or instrumentality a reasonable amount for such services. “(3) Fees established under this section shall be assessed to rail-roads subject to this Act and shall cover the costs of administering this Act, other than activities described in section 202(a)(2). 104 STAT. 1388–400 “(b) The Secretary shall assess and collect fees described in subsection (a) with respect to each fiscal year before the end of such fiscal year. “(c) All fees collected under subsection (b) shall be deposited into the general fund of the United States Treasury as offsetting receipts and shall be used, to the extent provided in advance in appropriations Acts, only to carry out activities under this Act. “(d) Fees established under subsection (a) shall be assessed in an amount sufficient to cover activities described in subsection (c) beginning on March 1, 1991, but at no time shall the aggregate of fees received for any fiscal year under this section exceed 105 percent of the aggregate of appropriations made for such fiscal year for activities to be funded by such fees. “(e) (1) Within 90 days after the end of each fiscal year in which fees are collected pursuant to this section, the Secretary shall report to the Congress— “(A) the amount of fees collected during that fiscal year; “(B) the impact of such fee collections on the financial health of the railroad industry and its competitive position relative to each competing mode of transportation; and “(C) the total cost of Federal safety activities for each such other mode of transportation, including the portion of that total cost, if any, defrayed by Federal user fees. “(2) With respect to any fiscal year for which the Secretary’s report submitted under paragraph (1) finds— “(A) any impact of fees collected under this section either on the financial health of the railroad industry, or on its competitive position relative to competing modes of transportation; or “(B) any significant difference in the burden of Federal user fees borne by the railroad industry and those applicable to competing modes of transportation, the Secretary shall, within 90 days after submission of such report, prepare and submit to the Congress specific recommendations for legislation to correct any such impact or difference. “(f) This section shall expire on September 30, 1995.”. (b) Authorization of Appropriations.— Section 214(a) of the Federal Railroad Safety Act ofl970(45U.S.C. 444(a)) is amended to read as follows: “(a) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act not to exceed $46,884,000 for fiscal year 1991.”.