Title
I
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Department of Transportation
Department of Transportation Appropriations Act, 2013 - Makes appropriations for FY2013 to the Department of Transportation (DOT), including:
(1) the Office of the Secretary,
(2) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),
(3) the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA),
(4) the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA),
(5) the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
(6) the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA),
(7) the Federal Transit Administration (FTA),
(8) the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation,
(9) the Maritime Administration,
(10) the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA),
(11) the Office of Inspector General, and
(12) the Surface Transportation Board (STB).
Section
102
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Prohibits any funds made available under this Act from being obligated or expended to establish or implement a program under which essential air service (EAS) communities are required to assume subsidy costs commonly referred to as the EAS local participation program.
Section
103
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Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary in this title) or designee to lobby states and state legislators to consider proposals for the reduction of motorcycle fatalities.
Section
104
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Authorizes the DOT's Working Capital fund to provide advanced payments to vendors to carry out the federal transit pass transportation fringe benefit program for federal employees.
Section
105
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Directs the Secretary to: (1) post on the DOT website a schedule of all Credit Council meetings, including the agenda for each meeting; and (2) require the Council to record the minutes of the meetings.
Section
106
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Authorizes the Secretary to carry out a program to establish uniform standards for developing and supporting agency transit pass and transit benefits, including distribution of such benefits by various paper and electronic media.
Section
110
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Prohibits the use of funds to compensate more than 600 technical staff-years under the federally funded research and development center contract between the FAA and the Center for Advanced Aviation Systems Development during FY2013.
Section
111
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Prohibits the use of funds to pursue or adopt guidelines or regulations requiring airport sponsors to provide to the FAA without cost building construction, maintenance, utilities and expenses, or space in airport sponsor-owned buildings for services relating to air traffic control, air navigation, or weather reporting.
Exempts from this prohibition any negotiations between the agency and airport sponsors to:
(1) achieve agreement on "below-market" rates for these items, or
(2) grant assurances that require airport sponsors to provide land without cost to the FAA for air traffic control facilities.
Section
112
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Authorizes the FAA Administrator to reimburse amounts made available from certain fees to carry out the EAS program.
Section
113
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Requires that amounts collected for safety-related training and operational services to foreign aviation authorities be credited to the appropriation current at the time of collection, to be merged with and available for the same purposes of such appropriation.
Section
115
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Prohibits the obligation of funds for an FAA employee to purchase a store gift card or gift certificate through use of a government-issued credit card.
Section
116
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Requires the Secretary to make the minimum apportionment for primary and cargo airports to sponsors of airports that: (1) received scheduled or unscheduled air service from large certified air carriers, and (2) had more than 10,000 passenger boardings in the preceding calendar year.
Section
117
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Prohibits the obligation of funds for retention bonuses for an FAA employee without the prior written approval of the DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration.
Section
118
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Caps at 20% the maximum allowable local share of costs of an airport sponsor or state or local government with jurisdiction over an airport in cases where the operating costs of an air traffic tower under the Contract Air Traffic Control Tower Program exceed the benefits.
Section
119
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Prohibits the use of funds to implement, or to continue to implement, any limitation on the ability of a private aircraft owner or operator, upon a request to the FAA Administrator, to block, with respect to its noncommercial flights, the display of the owner's or operator's registration number in the Aircraft Situational Display to Industry data provided by the FAA to the public, unless the data has been made available to a government agency.
(Sec. 119A) Prohibits the use of funds for salaries and expenses of more than seven FAA political and Presidential appointees.
(Sec. 119B) Prohibits the use of funds to increase fees the FAA Administrator may assess a state, federal agency, public or private organization, or individual to conduct special services or develop special products relating to navigation, transportation, or public safety, until the FAA:
(1) conducts a public outreach designed to elicit feedback from aviation stakeholders, and
(2) has justified to Congress its fees on paper and digital products.
(Sec. 119C) Bars the use of funds to change weight restrictions or prior permission rules at Teterboro airport in Teterboro, New Jersey.
Section
120
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Prescribes requirements, including a formula, for certain FY2013 distributions from the obligation limitation for federal-aid highways.
Section
121
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Allows crediting to the federal-aid highways account of funds received by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics from the sale of data products to reimburse the Bureau for necessary expenses.
Section
122
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Requires the Secretary to make an informal public notice and comment opportunity on the intent of the waiver before waiving any Buy American requirement for federal-aid highway projects.
Section
123
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Prohibits the use of funds to approve or authorize the imposition of a toll on any segment of a federal highway in the state of Texas that is not already tolled, is constructed with federal assistance, and is in actual operation.
States that this prohibition does not apply to:
(1) any federal-aid system highway segment that will have the same number of nontoll lanes as existed before a toll is imposed, or
(2) any high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane converted to a toll lane if an HOV may use the toll lane without paying a toll or the HOV lane was constructed as a temporary lane to be replaced by a toll lane.
Section
124
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Specifies the level of contract authority for FY2013 for administrative expenses for federal-aid highway programs.
Section
126
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Permits the continued operation of trucks on any segment of the U.S. Route 41 corridor in Wisconsin designated as a route on the Interstate System (IS) that could operate legally on such segment before that designation without regard to federal weight limitation requirements.
Section
127
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Directs the Secretary to study all state truck size and weight limit laws.
Section
130
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Subjects funds appropriated or limited in this Act to certain safety examination and other requirements of the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002 and the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 relating to Mexico-domiciled motor carriers involved in cross-border trucking between the United States and Mexico.
Section
131
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Prohibits any recipient of funds made available in this Act from disseminating personal information obtained by a state department of motor vehicles in connection with a motor vehicle record, except as permitted under specified federal criminal law. Prohibits the Secretary, however, from withholding funds provided in this Act for any grantee if a state fails to comply with this prohibition.
Section
140
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Makes certain additional funds available to NHTSA to pay for: (1) travel and related expenses for state management reviews, and (2) core competency development training and related expenses for highway safety staff.
Section
141
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Declares that certain limitations on obligations for NHTSA programs shall not apply to any obligational authority made available in previous public laws for multiple years, except to the extent that the obligational authority has not lapsed or been used.
Section
142
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Prohibits the use of funds to implement establishment in the DOT of a National Highway Safety Advisory Committee.
Section
150
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Declares that funds provided in this Act for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) shall immediately cease to be available to Amtrak in the event that it contracts to have provided at or from any location outside the United States any service that was, as of July 1, 2006, performed by a full-time or part-time Amtrak employee whose base of employment is located within the United States.
Section
151
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Authorizes the Secretary to receive cash or spare parts from non-federal sources to repair damages to or replace federally-owned automated track inspection cars and equipment as a result of third party liability for such damages.
Section
152
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Authorizes the Secretary to allow the issuer of any preferred stock heretofore sold to DOT to redeem or repurchase it upon the payment to DOT of an amount the Secretary determines.
Section
153
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Bars the use of funds for Amtrak to pay overtime costs in excess of $35,000 for any Amtrak employee. Authorizes the president of Amtrak to waive such cap in cases where it poses a risk to the safety and operational efficiency of the Amtrak system.
Section
160
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Declares that the limitations on obligations for FTA programs shall not apply to any grant authority previously made available for obligation, or to any other authority previously made available for obligation.
Section
161
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Declares that funds appropriated by this Act for specified FTA discretionary program projects which are not obligated by September 30, 2015, and other recoveries, shall be directed to projects eligible to use the funds for the purposes for which they were originally provided.
Section
162
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Authorizes certain transfers of any public transportation funds appropriated before October 1, 2012, that remain available for expenditure.
Section
163
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Authorizes the use of unobligated FTA capital investment grants funds for new fixed guideway systems projects.
Section
164
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Authorizes the Secretary to use 1% of amounts available for job access and reverse commute formula grants for specified major capital project program management activities.
Section
165
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Authorizes the use of FTA funds made available for Alaska or Hawaii ferry boats or ferry terminal facilities to construct new or improve existing vessels and facilities, including both passenger and vehicle-related elements, and for repair facilities.
Section
166
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Prohibits the Secretary from enforcing federal charter bus service regulations against any transit agency that during FY2008 was both initially granted a 60-day period to comply with such regulations, and then was subsequently granted an exception from them.
Section
167
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Authorizes the Secretary, when applying project justification and local commitment criteria to a New Starts project, to consider the costs and ridership of any connected project where private parties are making significant financial contributions to the construction of the connected project.
Authorizes the Secretary also to consider the significant financial contributions of such parties to the connected project when calculating the non-federal share of net capital project costs for the New Start project.
Section
168
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Requires all bus new fixed guideway capital projects recommended in the President's FY2013 budget request for capital investment grant funds appropriated under this Act or any other Act to be funded instead from amounts allocated for capital projects for buses and bus-related equipment and facilities.
Section
169
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Makes certain permanent rescissions.
Section
170
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Authorizes the Maritime Administration to furnish utilities and services and make necessary repairs in connection with any lease, contract, or occupancy of property under its control.
Section
180
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Authorizes the Secretary, in assessing and collecting fees for cost recovery of reviews of the design of certain new gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facilities or liquefied natural gas pipeline facilities, to include all costs associated with all components, segments, or phases of such project.
Declares, however, that cost recovery for projects based on project costs provided to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) or other applicable regulatory agency for determinations of transportation tariffs shall not require a good faith estimate.
Section
192
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Prohibits the availability of the funds in this Act for salaries and expenses of more than 110 political and presidential appointees in DOT. Prohibits assignment of any of such appointees on temporary detail outside DOT.
Section
194
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Requires the Secretary to notify the congressional appropriations committees at least three full business days before announcing any project competitively selected to receive a discretionary grant award, letter of intent, or full funding grant agreement totaling $1 million or more from certain grant programs, including the federal highway emergency relief program, the FAA AIP, any FRA program, any FTA program other than the formula grants and fixed guideway modernization programs, or any funding for national infrastructure investments and assistance to small shipyards.
Section
196
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Makes available for reimbursement of recovery costs any recovered funds that the Secretary has determined represent improper DOT payments to a third party contractor under a financial assistance award.
Section
198
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Prohibits the use of funds by the STB to charge or collect any filing fee for rate or practice complaints filed with it in an amount in excess of that authorized for district court civil suit filing fees under the federal judicial code.