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H.R. 853 119th Congress House

Assistance for Local Heroes During Train Crises Act

Official title: To authorize the declaration of a hazardous train event, and for other purposes.

Introduced: January 31, 2025 Introduced by: Christopher R. Deluzio Democratic · Pennsylvania See on congress.gov
Transportation and Public Works
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 Everywhere this bill has been 3 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Feb 1, 2025
Referred to the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.
Jan 31, 2025
Introduced in House
Jan 31, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
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Referred to the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Assistance for Local Heroes During Train Crises Act

This bill establishes a Hazardous Train Event Emergency Reimbursement Fund for state and local emergency response groups.

Upon a declaration by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that a hazardous train event has occurred, the FRA must immediately award at least $250,000 from the emergency fund to one or more eligible groups (e.g., law enforcement agencies and fire departments). Additional amounts may be awarded, but may not exceed $3 million per hazardous train event. The FRA may declare a hazardous train event has occurred following a derailment or crash involving a train carrying hazardous materials, hazardous waste, or other materials that pose a threat to public health, safety, and the environment.

Costs associated with a response to a hazardous train event that are eligible for reimbursement include (1) replacing damaged or contaminated equipment, (2) overtime pay for firefighters or law enforcement officers, and (3) retroactively covering these types of incurred costs after the event date.

The FRA must also (1) establish annual fees for shippers and carriers of hazardous materials by rail that have total annual collections of at least $10 million, and (2) deposit the fees into the reimbursement fund.

Further, the Department of Transportation must issue regulations requiring railroads that transport hazardous materials by train to provide county and local emergency response groups with (1) advance warning of the train's load and timing, and (2) real-time location information on the train when it enters and exits the community's service area.

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 2
 Lobbying activity 24

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

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 Cosponsors 1
All 1 Republican 1
R
Fitzpatrick, Brian K.
Pennsylvania · Jan 31, 2025
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 853: Assistance for Local Heroes During Train Crises Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-853/
MLA
"H.R. 853: Assistance for Local Heroes During Train Crises Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-853/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 853, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-853/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 853: Assistance for Local Heroes During Train Crises Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-853/)
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