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To improve the transparency of Amtrak operations, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would require Amtrak to hold board meetings in compliance with federal open-meetings law, with 30-day advance notice and a publicly posted agenda on a website. Amtrak would be required to publicly disclose the amount of each discretionary bonus paid to officers and non-bargaining unit employees. The bill also mandates that Amtrak disclose vendor agreements valued at $250,000 or more for services on state-supported routes to states and State-Amtrak committees upon request. The bill requires the Amtrak Board to convene at least annually with state transportation officials from states served by long-distance or state-supported routes.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Fischer, Deb [R-NE] (R-NE)
Actions (2)
- Jan 21, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. · senate
- Jan 21, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 21, 2025
Mrs. Fischer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To improve the transparency of Amtrak operations, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Amtrak Transparency Act”.
SEC. 2. BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETINGS.
Section 24302 of title 49, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)(6), by striking “in an open meeting”; and
(2) by amending subsection (e) to read as follows:
“(e) Meetings.—
“(1) Quorum.—A majority of the members serving on the Board who are eligible to vote shall constitute a quorum for doing business.
“(2) Notice; open meetings.—
“(A) Notice.—Not later than 30 days before convening any meeting of the Board, the Board shall post, on a publicly accessible website, an announcement of the meeting that includes the anticipated agenda for the meeting.
“(B) Open meetings.—All meetings of the Board shall comply with the requirements set forth in section 552b of title 5.
“(3) Annual meeting with states.—Not less frequently than annually, the Board shall convene a meeting to which the head of the Department of Transportation of each State traversed by a long-distance route or State-supported route, or the designee of such State official, shall be invited to participate.”.
SEC. 3. DISCRETIONARY BONUS DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT.
Section 24303(b) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by striking “The preceding sentence” and inserting “Amtrak shall publicly disclose the amount of each discretionary bonus paid to any officer or non-bargaining unit employee. The 2 preceding sentences”.
SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE OF VENDOR AGREEMENTS.
Section 24315(h) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “Upon request, Amtrak shall disclose to a State or the State-Amtrak Intercity Passenger Rail Committee, any vendor agreement valued at not less than $250,000 for services procured to implement a service on a State-supported route.”. <all>
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