Appropriations bill FY98, Transportation

(On June 25, 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that the Line Item Veto Act (Public Law 104-130) is unconstitutional, thus restoring provisions that had been cancelled as summarized below.)

(On November 1, 1997, the President exercised the line-item veto to cancel the dollar amounts of discretionary budget authority in connection with the following projects contained in the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998: (1) improvements by the Federal Railroad Administration to the Seward dock, Seward, Alaska; (2) an Electronic Distribution Center for Surplus Transit-Related Equipment (Federal Transit Administration); and (3) a transportation emergency preparedness and response demonstration project, including an underground emergency transportation management center using satellite communications, Arab, Alabama (Research and Special Programs Administration). (Note: The high degree of specificity of the items cancelled precluded their inclusion in the original law's summary. As a result, the original law's summary and the summary of the law after the item vetoes are identical. For more information on the specific items vetoed, see the text of the conference report for H.R. 2169, H.Rept. 105-313, and Presidential Cancellation Numbers 97-72 through 97-74.))

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Department of Transportation

Title II: Related Agencies

Title III: General Provisions Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998 - Title I: Department of Transportation - Makes appropriations for FY 1998 (with specified rescissions, transfers of funds, limitations on obligations and direct loans, and liquidations of contract authorizations) for: (1) the Office of the Secretary of Transportation; (2) the Coast Guard; (3) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); (4) the Federal Highway Administration (FHA); (5) the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; (6) the Federal Railroad Administration; (7) the Federal Transit Administration; (8) the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation; (9) the Research and Special Programs Administration; (10) the Office of the Inspector General; and (11) the Surface Transportation Board.

Title II: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 1998 for: (1) the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board; and (2) the National Transportation Safety Board.

Title III: General Provisions - Sets forth specified prohibitions, limitations, permissions, and mandates with respect to the use of appropriations under this Act identical or very similar to those enacted in the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997 (Public Law 104-205).

(Sec. 316) Defines "capital project" for formula grant purposes.

(Sec. 320) Reduces the amount of funds provided in this Act for the Transportation Administrative Service Center.

(Sec. 325) Prohibits the use of funds (as in Public Law 104-205) for employee training which: (1) does not meet identified needs for knowledge, skills, and abilities bearing directly upon the performance of official duties; (2) contains elements likely to induce high levels of emotional response or psychological stress in some participants; (3) does not require prior employee notification of the content and methods to be used in the training and written end of course evaluations; (4) contains any methods or content associated with religious or quasi-religious belief systems or "new age" belief systems; (5) is offensive to, or designed to change, participants' personal values or lifestyle outside the workplace; or (6) includes content related to human immunodeficiency virus-acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV-AIDS) other than that necessary to make employees more aware of its medical ramifications and the workplace rights of HIV-positive employees.

(Sec. 331) Prohibits expenditure of funds made available under this Act by any entity that does not agree to comply with the Buy American Act.

Expresses the sense of Congress that entities receiving assistance under this Act should purchase only U.S.-made equipment and products to the greatest extent practicable.

Prohibits the use of funds for contracts with persons falsely labeling products as made in America.

(Sec. 332) Makes receipts collected from users of fitness centers operated by or for the Department of Transportation available to support their operation and maintenance.

(Sec. 333) Prohibits the use of funds for improvements to the Miller Highway in New York City, New York.

(Sec. 334) Declares that none of the funds in this Act shall be available to implement or enforce regulations that would result in the withdrawal of a slot from an air carrier at O'Hare International Airport in excess of the total slots withdrawn from that air carrier as of October 31, 1993, if such additional slot is to be allocated to another air carrier or foreign air carrier.

(Sec. 335) Directs the FAA to provide personnel at Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to provide real-time weather and runway observation and other functions to help ensure aviation safety.

(Sec. 336) Prohibits the provision of essential air service to communities in the 48 contiguous States that are fewer than 70 miles from the nearest large and medium hub airport, or that require a rate of subsidy per passenger in excess of $200 unless such point is greater than 210 miles from the nearest large or medium hub airport.

(Sec. 337) Amends the International Air Transportation Competition Act of 1979 with respect to exceptions to the prohibition on common carrier permits for air passenger transportation (for compensation or hire) between Love Field, Texas, and one or more points outside Texas. Declares that the exception for commuter aircraft with a passenger capacity of 56 passengers or less includes any aircraft (not exceeding gross aircraft weight of 300,000 pounds) reconfigured to accommodate 56 or fewer passengers. Exempts from the prohibition air transportation of individuals from Love Field to one or more points within the States of Kansas, Alabama, and Mississippi (currently, just Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas), subject to specified conditions.

Directs the Administrator of the FAA to monitor the safety of flight operations in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area and take necessary action to ensure safe aviation operations. Requires the Administrator to notify specified congressional committees if aviation operations in the area are restricted due to unsafe airspace management conditions.

(Sec. 339) Directs the Department of the Navy to transfer the inactive USNS EDENTON (ATS-1) to the U.S. Coast Guard.

(Sec. 340) Declares that monies paid by diversion from airport revenues for claims related to ceded lands owned by native Americans, native Hawaiians, or Alaskan natives shall not be subject to repayment. Prohibits further payment of such claims from airport revenues.

(Sec. 341) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act by the Coast Guard to issue or enforce certain regulations under the Edible Oil Regulatory Reform Act, unless such regulations recognize and provide, with respect to (animal) fats, (vegetable) oils, and greases, for differences in physical, chemical, biological, and other relevant properties, and in environmental effects.

(Sec. 342) Authorizes the Secretary to allow issuers to redeem preferred stock sold to the Department of Transportation.

(Sec. 343) Extends from September 30, 1997, to February 28, 1998, the authority for the operation of longer combination vehicles in Nebraska.

(Sec. 344) Requires the FAA to furnish employment records of air pilots to non-scheduled air carriers within 30 days of a request before it can require such carriers to check such records before hiring an individual as a pilot.

(Sec. 345) Amends Federal transportation law to direct the Secretary to grant or deny, within 120 days after receiving it, any application for an exemption (to improve air service between a nonhub airport and a high density airport) from certain requirements pertaining to the use of slots (arrival and departure spaces) at such high density airports.

(Sec. 346) Authorizes the Secretary to take receipt of such equipment and sites of the Ground Wave Emergency Network (GWEN) as may be necessary for the establishment of the Nationwide Differential Global Positioning System (NDGPS). Authorizes the Secretary to establish the NDGPS.

(Sec. 347) Authorizes the Secretary, after notifying the Committees on Appropriations, to transfer certain appropriated U.S. Coast Guard funds in order to pay rent assessments by the General Services Administration with respect to DOT's prior year's space needs.

(Sec. 348) Amends the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 1998 to preclude Members of Congress from participating in a retirement plan change open season.