Surface Transportation Act

Surface Transportation Act - Title I: Financial Assistance to Surface Transportation Companies - Revenue Financing and Railroad Equipment Obligation Insurance Fund Act - Creates in the Department of Transportation, under the Interstate Commerce Act, a Revenue Financing Division to aid in financing the transportation industry and commerce and to help in maintaining its economic stability and that of the country by promoting maximum employment and production.

Provides for an Assistant Secretary of Transportation to assist the Secretary of Transportation in the execution of his functions under this title.

Establishes a Loan Policy Board to establish any necessary general policies which shall govern the granting or denying of applications for financial assistance by the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to guarantee lenders against loss of principal and interest on loans made to any common carrier in the transportation industry organized or operating under the laws of any State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, or the United States. Provides that, in making such guarantees, the Secretary shall determine that the prospective earning power of the enterprise furnishes reasonable assurance that the enterprise will be able to repay the loan within the time fixed and afford reasonable protection to the United States.

Provides that the Secretary may not authorize any such loan guarantee with respect to a common carrier by railroad unless satisfied that the expeditures will improve the utilization and distribution of rolling stock and materially contribute to the efficiency of rail operations. Establishes a Board of Review to review applications for loan guarantees.

Provides that no application for a loan guarantee shall be approved by the Secretary without a written determination that the public interest would be served thereby.

Provides that information concerning all applications for loan guarantees under this title shall be kept available for public inspection.

Provides that loans guaranteed by the Secretary under this title bear interest at such per annum rate as the Secretary deems reasonable.

Authorizes to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this title but not to exceed in the aggregate $2,000,000,000.

Prescribes criminal penalties for knowing acts of fraud in obtaining loan guarantees under this title.

Provides that the authority granted by this title shall terminate at the close of June 30, 1983.

Creates a Federal Railroad Equipment Obligation Insurance Fund. Authorizes the Secretary, through the fund, to insure the interest on, and the unpaid principal balance of, any equipment obligation offered to him which he determines is eligible for insurance under this part. Authorizes the Secretary to make commitments to insure any equipment obligation prior to the date of execution or disbursement thereon.

Provides that, to be eligible for such insurance, the Secretary must find: (1) the equipment obligation is secured by rolling stock to be financed or refinanced thereby; (2) the financing or refinancing of the rolling stock is justified by the present and future demand for transportation services to be rendered by the railroad for which the rolling stock is procured; and (3) the purchase of the rolling stock will contribute toward a national car supply adequate to meet the needs of shippers and the economy.

Provides that, if at any time the money in the fund is not sufficient to pay any amount the Secretary is required to pay under an agreement, the Secretary is authorized to issue to the Secretary of the Treasury notes or other obligations in such forms and determinations, hearing such maturities, and subject to such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the Secretary.

Authorizes the Secretary to assist in the design of a national rolling stock information service and to contract with, and provide technical and financial assistance to, individual railroads or a group of railroads working together including the sharing of costs and the funding in part of demonstration projects, to assist in the establishment of a national rolling stock information system of approved design. Authorizes to be appropriated to the Secretary, out of money in the Treasury, the sum of $35,000,000 for the operation of such service.

Title II: Provisions Relating to Discriminatory State Tax Practices - Provides that the following actions by any State are hereby declared to constitute an unreasonable and unjust discrimination against and an undue burden upon interstate commerce and are hereby forbidden and declared to be unlawful: (1) the assessment, for purposes of a property tax levied by any taxing district, of transportation property owned or used by any common or contract carrier subject to economic regulation pursuant to the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act at a value which bears a higher ratio to the true market value of such transportation property than the assessed value of all other industrial and commercial property in the assessment jurisdiction of any State which is included in such taxing district and subject to a property tax levy bears to the true market value of all such other commercial and industrial property; (2) the collection of any tax on the portion of such assessment so declared to be unlawful; or (3) the collection of any ad valorem property tax on such transportation property at a tax rate higher than the tax rate generally applicable to commercial and industrial property in the taxing district.

Provides that the district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction to issue such writs of injunction or other property process as may be necessary to restrain any State, or subdivision or agency thereof, or any person from doing anything or performing any act declared to be unlawful.

Title III: Procedures for Abandonment of Nonproductive Rail Facilities - Abandonment of Nonproductive Rail Facilities Act - Provides expeditious administrative procedures for the abandonment of nonproductive facilities under the Interstate Commerce Act. (Amends 49 U.S.C. 1)

Title IV: Provision Relating to Competitive Equity - Competitive Equity Act - Provides, under the Interstate Commerce Act, that the Interstate Commerce Commission shall, on a continuing basis, investigate and identify traffics which are moving at rates below the variable costs incurred in handling the traffics to which such rates apply and cause such rates to be promptly brought to at least such variable costs.

Provides that the Commission shall promulgate and continually maintain standards and procedures for the determination of revenue levels adequate under honest, economical, and efficient management to cover operating and capital costs, including a fair, reasonable, and economic profit. (Amends 49 U.S.C. 15, 316, 907, 1006)

Extends the report filing and rate publication extension provisions of the Act to the water transport of dry bulk commodities. (Amends 49 U.S.C. 903, 904, 906, 913)

Provides that the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Federal Maritime Commission shall promulgate and maintain standards, rules, and procedures for the establishment of minimum adequate transportation rate levels for the movement of recycled solid waste materials which will facilitate and encourage the broader utilization of such materials.

Title V: Agreements Between Carriers - Rate Bureau Modernization Act - Permits a conference, bureau, committee, or other organization established among carriers for joint operation under the Interstate Commerce Act to approve its own changes in rules, rates, or charges.

Provides that such conference, bureau, committee or other organization, may not conduct votes on single line rates established by any railroad carrier, nor appear in any proceeding before the Commission regarding such single line rate. (Amends 49 U.S.C. 5b)

Title VI: Repeal of Discriminatory Government Rates - Repeals the provision of the Interstate Commerce Act permitting carriage on behalf of the United States at reduced rates. Enumerates various exceptions to this prohibition governing reduced rates.

Title VII: Establishment of Uniform Cost Accounting - Provides that the Commission may in its discretion prescribe a uniform system of accounts applicable to any class of carriers subject to the Interstate Commerce Act, and a period of time within which such class shall have uniform system of accounts, and the manner in which such accounts shall be kept.

Requires the Commission to establish and promulgate rules and regulations prescribing uniform cost accounting and uniform revenue accounting methods for the determination of abandonment of nonproductive facilities under title III of this Act, minimum compensatory rates established under title IV of this Act, and the repeal of discriminatory rates under title VI of this Act.

Title VIII: Interstate Commerce Commission Budget - Interstate Commerce Commission Budget Submission Act - Provides, under the Budget and Accounting Act, that the President shall submit the estimated expenditures and proposed appropriations necessary for the next fiscal year for the Interstate Commerce Commission in his annual budget report to Congress. (Amends 31 U.S.C. 11)

Title IX: Miscellaneous - Provides that the amendments and repeals by this Act shall become effective on the date of enactment of this Act.