§718 Review by Congress

Summary

The Board of Directors must send the final system plan to both Houses of Congress and to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. If neither House passes a resolution saying it disapproves within the first continuous 60 calendar days of Congress after the plan is sent, the plan is treated as approved. If either House does pass a disapproval resolution in that time, the Association, with help from the Secretary and the Office, must make a revised plan and send it back to Congress for the same 60-day review. A session of Congress only stops for this purpose if it adjourns sine die, and days when either House is out of session because of an adjournment longer than 3 days to a day certain do not count toward the 60 days. The supplemental report dated September 18, 1975, and the errata supplement dated December 1, 1975, are treated as if they were part of the final plan, and the plan is deemed approved as changed by those documents. The Association may also change the plan in other limited ways. On a State’s petition it may add or change designations for rail properties in reorganization in the transfer region if doing so is likely to improve service and would not materially hurt the Corporation’s profitability; those changes can be made any time before the plan is given to the special court under section 719(c) and are treated as part of the approved plan. Also, within 20 days after February 5, 1976, the Association may, by notice to Congress and by publishing in the Federal Register, modify or add designations when needed to implement the plan efficiently, to offer certain properties to profitable railroads, or to give the Corporation extra property so it can serve a line more efficiently. Any such changes cannot remove a line that the plan already designates for rail service, are treated as part of the plan, are not open to court review, and may require reworking labor agreements under section 778 to put the changes into effect.