Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act
of 2015
and Related Reports
The Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015 (P.L. 114-110) establishes the STB as a wholly independent federal agency. Prior to the 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 Act:
• Expands the STB’s membership from three to five Board Members.
• Allows a majority of STB Board Members to meet in private to discuss agency matters, subject to certain rules and procedures;
• Gives the STB authority to investigate issues of national or regional significance and requires the Board to establish regulations governing such investigations;
• Directs the STB to modify its voluntary arbitration process, including increases in the maximum damage awards;
• Shortens timelines applicable to large rate case proceedings, including time limits for discovery and 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;
• Requires STB preparation and publication of a rate case methodology report and various other reports.
The full text of the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015 can be accessed here.
Monthly Implementation Status Reports and Correspondence
|
||
2016 | ||
November |
||
October |
||
September |
||
August |
||
July |
||
June |
||
May |
||
April |
||
March |
||
February |
||
Quarterly Reports on Unfinished Regulatory Proceedings
|
||
Quarterly Reports on Rate Case Review Metrics
|
||
Quarterly Reports on Formal and Informal Service Complaints
|
||
Implementation of Key Initiatives |
||
Nonpublic Collaborative Discussions Meeting Summaries |
||
Regulations for Voluntary and Binding Arbitration, March 23, 2016 |
||
Hearings |
||
Senate Commerce Committee Full Committee Hearing, August 11, 2016 Freight Rail Reform: Implementation of the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015 |
||
Questions for the Record: Response to Senator Thune and Senator Daines |
||