§20115 User Fees

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation must set a schedule of fees for railroads covered by this chapter. The fees must pay for the chapter’s costs except for costs under section 20108(a). Fees must be fair and based reasonably on measures like revenue ton‑miles, track miles, passenger miles, or similar factors. Fees cannot be set based on a railroad’s share of the industry’s revenue. The Secretary must create rules to collect the fees and may hire and pay federal, state, or local agencies to collect them. Fees for each fiscal year must be collected before the year ends. Collected fees go into the U.S. Treasury general fund as offsetting receipts and may be used to carry out this chapter only if Congress provides the money in an appropriation law. Fees must be enough to cover the chapter’s costs but may not exceed 105 percent of the appropriations for those activities in a fiscal year. Within 90 days after a fiscal year ends, the Secretary must report to Congress the amount collected, the fees’ effect on the railroad industry and its competitiveness versus other transportation modes, and the government’s safety costs for other modes (including any covered by user fees). If the report shows an industry impact or a big difference in fee burdens, the Secretary must send proposed corrective legislation to Congress within 90 days after the report. This authority expired on September 30, 1995.