Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1988

(Measure passed Senate, amended, roll call #358 (84-10))

Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1988 - Title I: Department of Transportation - Makes appropriations for FY 1988 for the necessary expenses of: (1) the Office of the Secretary of Transportation for salaries and expenses, transportation planning, research, and development, and the Working Capital Fund; (2) payments to air carriers; (3) the Coast Guard for operating expenses, acquisition, construction, and improvements, for alteration or removal of obstructive bridges, for retired pay, reserve training, research, development, test, and evaluation, the Offshore Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, the Deepwater Port Liability Fund; and (4) recreational boating safety assistance.

Appropriates funds for the necessary expenses of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for: (1) operations, facilities, engineering, and research and development; (2) grants-in-aid for airports (liquidation of contract authorization); (3) the Aviation Insurance Revolving Fund; and (4) the aircraft purchase loan guarantee program.

Appropriates funds to the Federal Highway Administration for: (1) general operating expenses; (2) access highways to public recreation areas on certain lakes; (3) highway-related safety grants; (4) railroad-highway crossings demonstration projects; (5) Federal-aid highways; (6) the Right-of-Way Revolving Fund; (7) motor carrier safety; (8) certain waste isolation pilot project roads; (9) highway safety and economic development demonstration projects; (10) a corridor safety improvement project in New Jersey; and (11) a bridge capacity improvements project in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Appropriates funds to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for operations and research and highway traffic safety grants.

Appropriates funds to the Federal Railroad Administration for: (1) the Office of the Administrator; (2) railroad safety; (3) railroad research and development; (4) the Northeast Corridor improvement; and (5) grants to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.

Authorizes the issuance of notes to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment of loan guarantees from railroad rehabilitation and improvement financing funds. Prohibits commitments to guarantee new loans for railroad rehabilitation and improvement during FY 1988. Makes appropriations for the settlement of promissory notes to be derived from the proceeds of railroad litigation settlements.

Appropriates funds to the Urban Mass Transportation Administration for: (1) administrative expenses; (2) research, training, and human resources; (3) formula grants; (4) discretionary grants; (5) the Mass Transit Capital Fund; (6) Interstate transfer grants; and (7) the Washington Metro.

Appropriates funds to: (1) the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation for administrative expenses, operations and maintenance; (2) the Research and Special Programs Administration (including the pipeline safety program); and (3) the Office of the Inspector General for salaries and expenses.

Title II: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 1988 for the necessary expenses of: (1) the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board; (2) the National Transportation Safety Board; (3) the Interstate Commerce Commission for salaries and expenses (with a limit on payments for directed rail service); (4) the Panama Canal Commission for operating expenses and capital outlay; (5) the Department of the Treasury for certain toll rebates; and (6) the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority for interest payments.

Makes appropriations to the Congressional Award Board without fiscal year limitation.

Title III: General Provisions - Permits the apportionment of funds appropriated for the Panama Canal Commission.

Permits the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to provide for the expenses of primary and secondary schooling for dependents of FAA personnel stationed outside the United States when the Secretary of Transportation determines that adequate schooling is unavailable in the locality and that adequate schools are not accessible by public transportation.

Prohibits the use of Panama Canal Commission appropriations unless in conformance with the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977.

Prohibits the use of appropriated funds to plan or execute any program to compensate non-Federal parties intervening in regulatory or adjudicatory proceedings under this Act.

Prohibits appropriated funds from being available beyond the current fiscal year unless expressly so provided.

Prohibits the use of funds for the planning or implementation of any change in the current Federal status of the Transportation Systems Center or of the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center.

Limits the use of appropriated funds for consulting services to those contracts that are a matter of public record and are available for public inspection.

Directs the Secretary of Transportation to distribute the obligation limitation for Federal-aid highways according to a specified formula. Sets an obligation limitation upon the amounts distributed to the States.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide the States with authority to prevent lapses of authorized appropriations apportioned to them for Federal-aid highways and highway safety construction; (2) redistribute funds from States which will not obligate funds to those States which are able to obligate funds; and (3) not distribute amounts authorized for administrative expenses, the Federal lands highway program, and the strategic highway research program. Prescribes guidelines under which the States may obligate certain amounts within a specified time period for Federal-aid highways, highway safety construction, and highway assistance.

Limits the use of appropriated funds for salaries and expenses to 138 political appointees in the Department of Transportation.

Limits expenditures for advisory committees.

Conditions the use of appropriated funds for the Woodward light rail line in Detroit, Michigan, upon approval in accordance with Michigan law of a source of operating funds.

Prohibits the use of funds under this Act for any costs related to the Central Automated Transit System (Downtown People Mover) in Detroit, Michigan.

Requires the Secretary of Transportation to report to the Congress by January 1 of each year regarding the safety enforcement activities of the FAA.

Directs the Department of Transportation to submit a long-range, multi-modal national transportation strategic planning study to the Congress before October 1, 1989.

Directs the Urban Mass Transportation Administration to publish in the Federal Register within seven calendar days of obligation an announcement of certain grants obligated under the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964.

Prohibits the use of funds under this Act for a national policy specifying that only a single type of visual glideslope indicator can be funded through the airport improvement program.

Directs the FAA to satisfy specified air traffic controller work force staffing requirements by September 30, 1988.

Directs the Secretary of Transportation to permit the obligation of a certain apportionment for the State of Florida for operating expenses of the Tri-County Commuter Rail Project (in the area of Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties) during each year that Interstate 95 is under reconstruction in such area.

Denies the use of funds under this Act for rental payments to the General Services Administration which exceed the rental payments made during FY 1987.

Declares inapplicable to the Southside Bridge in Charleston, West Virginia, certain appropriations earmarked for the highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation program.

Designates as "United States Highway 377" a certain portion of Oklahoma State Route 99.

Requires the FAA to adopt regulations mandating the use of automatic altitude reporting equipment by all aircraft operating in certain controlled airspace.

Prohibits smoking on scheduled airline flights of less than 90 minutes in duration. Terminates such proscription at the end of the 24 month period following the date of enactment of this Act.

Establishes a maximum civil penalty of $2,000 for passengers who tamper with aircraft restroom smoke detection devices.

Prohibits rail passenger service restoration work (funded under this Act) between Springfield to East Northfield, Massachusetts, and Brattleboro to Windsor, Vermont, from being performed by non-railowner employees unless it is established to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor that such owner's employees are sufficiently unavailable.

Declares that Federal-aid highway project approval shall not be withheld under Federal speed limit laws with respect to specified highways having a maximum speed limit of 65 miles per hour, and located outside an urbanized area of 50,000 population.

Provides that certain sums authorized under the Urban Mass Transportation Act shall also be used to cover costs incurred since 1978 by such States, bodies and agencies as a result of the discontinuation of Conrail commuter rail services. Declares that the Federal share of any such costs shall be 100 percent.

Amends the Rail Passenger Services Act to exempt certain commuter authorities from the payment of any taxes to the same extent as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.

Declares a certain portion of the Union Canal located in the vicinity of Buffalo, New York, a nonnavigable waterway of the United States within the meaning of the General Bridge Act of 1946.

Authorizes the Secretary to transfer funds appropriated for the Office of the Secretary, salaries and expenses, provided that: (1) no appropriation shall be increased or decreased by more than five percent of all such transfers; and (2) any such transfers shall be submitted for approval to the congressional appropriations committees.

Prohibits the Federal Aviation Administration from conveying any property interest to any operator of the Atlantic City Airport, Pomona, New Jersey, and to preclude the availability of funds to any such operator for airport improvements, until certain planning and operating conditions have been met. Exempts safety considerations from such funding limitation.

Authorizes the Secretary to grant releases from the terms of a certain deed of conveyance under which the United States conveyed certain property to the State of Hawaii for airport purposes. Prescribes conditions for such release.

Cites circumstances under which certain airport grant funds made available to the State of Hawaii may be used to acquire certain properties of the U.S. General Services Administration Facility Site (in Hawaii), or to reimburse Hawaii for such acquisitions.

Authorizes the State of Wyoming to permit through September 30, 1991, the use of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways by vehicles exceeding 80,000 pounds gross weight but meeting certain axle and bridge formula specifications. Requires the Secretary to report to certain congressional committees by September 30, 1990, regarding the productivity and economic benefits, the safety performance, and the effects of such vehicles on the condition of the highways over which they have operated.

Authorizes the Governor of Louisiana to transfer a certain amount of unused apportionments among urbanized areas for urban mass transportation purposes (after consulting with all urbanized areas). Terminates such authority on October 1, 1988.

Amends the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987 to authorize the Secretary to implement a full-diamond interchange construction project connecting certain highways in East Lafayette, Louisiana.

Prohibits the use of any funds appropriated under this Act to implement any transportation project which uses the services of any foreign country which has been determined by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to deny equitable market opportunities for U.S. services in procurement or bidding. Requires the USTR to maintain a list of such countries and to publish it annually in the Federal register.