I read in the Railway Age news that there is a second re-reg bill on the way. They did not elaborate on this. Does anybody know what is going on here? Why do they need a second one when they haven’t even voted on the first one yet?
George
It should not be called re-regulation – it should be called increased regulation. Railroads are already regulated by the ICC Termination Act.
The “first” bill is the so-called anti-trust bill, which gives the Justice Department the authority already held by the Surface Transportation Bill, but doesn’t take away the authority of the STB. In other words, it just creates a duplication. According to the conference I was at yesterday, the railroads’ counsel do not think this law, if it passes, would actually be successful in enabling the Justice Department authority. But years would be wasted and millions spent in litigating that fact.
The “second” bill you refer to would substantially increase the authority of the government to set rates and order terms and conditions of rail service.
There’s a lot of us in the rail industry who think the first bill is simply a stalking horse for the second; i.e., that the first bill’s flaws are intentional and it will be swapped for the second at the last moment.
The second bill in essence undoes Staggers and reverts railroads to the regulatory environment that existed prior to 1980.
RWM
So the first bill was put out there to confuse matters and the second one is the one we really need to oppose? Am I understanding this right?
George
Can someone supply a reference, title, link to, or even the House Bill (“HB”) and/ or Senate Bill (“SB”) numbers for these bills, esp. the 2nd one ?
Thanks !
- PDN.
The first one was S 146. I have not heard a number for the second one. They may not be that far along in the process yet. Railway Age didn’t say. If that comes out I will pass it along.
George
It’s not quite that cynical. It just seems like it might be working out that way. The Hill is a fluid environment.
Here’s why this is happening. The Senate Judicial Committee has a narrow purview. It looks at law and the Judiciary branch of the Executive. It doesn’t even know there is such a thing as the STB, nor care, because it’s not under its purview. Asking the Judiciary Committee if everything should be regulated by the Judiciary is like asking the IRS if you should pay your taxes on time; the answer is always yes. That’s why this bill got voted out unanimously by the committee, and why the House Judiciary Committee will likely do the same.
Meanwhile, Senator Rockefeller (W-Va) and Representative Oberstar (Mn) are promoting an anti-Staggers bill. It has dawned on lobbyists such as CURE that these two bills could end up stepping on each other on the floor. If the anti-trust bill gets out first and gets passed first, then the average Congressman and Senator that doesn’t have a strong position on this matter is likely to say, “Hey, you got your rail bill, why do you need another? Are you telling me you were lobbying for this anti-trust bill that was only half of what you wanted, but you forgot to tell me that?” So CURE and other similar lobbyists are letting the anti-trust bill work promote their cause, but will try to swap them at the last moment, because while the anti-trust bill will create a lot of litigation and confusion, it probably will be unenforceable, whereas the anti-Staggers bill really does have teeth.
The railway industry and certain classes of shippers oppose both bills. Certain classes of shippers support both bills.
RWM
NS Response to the re-reg initiative
http://www.nscorp.com/nscportal/nscorp/Community/Regs%20That%20Work/
Can you believe it! The idiot Senator that sponsored that worthless bill said, “This will put railroads on the same level as other industries.”
Excuse me? I didn;t know “other industries” had there prices regulated by the government as this bill will do.
The free market is the only way. The railroad has stremlined and modernized since the passage of the Staggers Act in 1980(railroad de-regulation).
Conatct your Senators and Congressmen or women and tell them to vote against this horrific bill.
The government that governs best governs least.
These are scary times. Do these politicians realize that they are endangereing the next great depression much like they did in the 1930’s. The rest of the world had a recession. We had a depression because of fear of increasing governmental regulation and control. This path has to stop before all of our enterprises collapse.
I always thought the the railroads were some of the best run enterprises in the nation. God I pray that our government will stop trying to destroy them.
It’s “A short video about balanced competition” on a page titled “Regs That Work”.
I didn’t stopwatch it, but I’d estimate it’s from 2 to 3 minutes long.
Fairly interesting, but some of it looks like it was filmed using Lionel models - the rolling stock is considerably shortened in the left-to-right direction - probably a video aspect compression of some kind.
- Paul North.
But we were assured by the Potomac Pundit himself, Mr. Don Phillips, writing in the pages of Trains, that Representative Oberstar was not the enemy.
Part of the problem is that Oberstar and Rockefeller are so full of themselves that they actually believe they can “craft” legislation that will perform wonders. The “Playing Field” will be “leveled”. Rates and service will be “just”. Everyone will be better off for their efforts. All will be well because they know best. Lessons of the past are lost on them. They are wise and will not make mistakes this time.
Another part of the problem is that people like Phillips believe in the wisdom and ability of Oberstar and Rockefeller even more than Oberstar and Rockefeller believe in the wisdom and ability of themselves. Criticism
Thank you for that.
I was scratching my head wondering how the heck they could pass a bill that would allow two government entities to regulate the same conduct. Twenty percent of my time at work is spent trying to argue that I can bring a lawsuit because the Secretary of Labor is NOT regulating the same area as the Secretary of Transportation or the Secretary of Defense, etc. For a minute, I thought I was losing it and could not understand how the Department of Justice and the STB could permissibly exercise joint jurisdiction (for those of you who are experts on concurrent governing jurisdictions, yes, I know there are exceptions to this prohibition–but I am not aware of any that apply to this instance).