§20115 User Fees

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation must set a fee schedule for railroads covered by this law. The fees must pay for running the law (except section 20108(a)). They must be fair and tied to things like revenue ton-miles, track miles, or passenger miles, and they cannot be based on a carrier’s share of industry revenue. The Secretary must create ways to collect the fees and may hire other federal, state, or local offices to collect them and pay those offices a reasonable amount. Fees for each fiscal year must be set and collected before that year ends. Fees go into the Treasury’s general fund as offsetting receipts and can only be spent to run this law if Congress approves it by appropriation. Fees must cover the costs but cannot exceed 105 percent of the annual appropriations for the activities paid for by the fees. Within 90 days after a fiscal year ends, the Secretary must report to Congress on how much was collected, how the fees affected the rail industry and its competition, and the government safety costs for other transport modes (including any paid by user fees). If the report finds harm to railroads or a big difference in fee burden between modes, the Secretary must send Congress recommended fixes within 90 days after the report is sent. This law expired on September 30, 1995.