Preparation and response required by railroad corporations in the event of discharge of transported materials and making an appropriation. (FE)

The training must include response preparedness relating to discharge and derailments and techniques to assess hazards to the environment. Each railroad corporation must complete these requirements once every three years.

This bill requires a railroad corporation operating a train that discharges material to provide an employee to advise the local incident commander within one hour. Within three hours, the corporation must deliver monitoring equipment and qualified personnel to assess the discharge. Within eight hours, the corporation must deliver equipment capable of containing 10 percent of the discharge. Within 60 hours, the corporation must deliver equipment capable of containing 100 percent of the discharge.

This bill requires the Office of the Commissioner of Railroads (OCR) to employ rail safety inspectors who will inspect railroad tracks, rights-of-way, yards, and physical plants and review railroad safety requirements, security measures, and maintenance and repair records. This bill increases OCR's rail safety inspector positions by four positions. This bill also requires OCR to reimburse fire departments for certain expenses associated with the training required by this bill.

This bill requires OCR to assess each railroad corporation a proportionate share, based on route miles operated in this state, of OCR's expenses related to the rail inspection and training required by this bill.

This bill requires OCR to submit to the legislature no later than January 15, 2017, a report on the emergency preparedness response framework within the state relating to incidents involving hazardous materials transported by rail. This report must include an assessment of training needs and must establish benchmarks for assessing training needs in the future. This bill also requires OCR to submit to the legislature no later than November 1, 2017, an update to the initial report that evaluates the effectiveness of training conducted and identifies funding sources and future funding needs.

This bill requires the Department of Transportation to submit to the legislature no later than November 1, 2017, a report that includes information to assist in risk management associated with rail transportation of hazardous materials, criteria for prioritizing at-grade crossing improvements, recommendations for safety improvements, and an analysis of rail inspection activities.