49 U.S.C. § 1301: Establishment of Board

The Surface Transportation Board is an independent establishment of the United States Government. The Board shall consist of 5 members, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Not more than 3 members may be appointed from the same political party. at least 3 members of the Board shall be individuals with professional standing and demonstrated knowledge in the fields of transportation, transportation regulation, or economic regulation; and at least 2 members shall be individuals with professional or business experience (including agriculture) in the private sector. The term of each member of the Board shall be 5 years and shall begin when the term of the predecessor of that member ends. An individual appointed to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of the term for which the predecessor of that individual was appointed, shall be appointed for the remainder of that term. When the term of office of a member ends, the member may continue to serve until a successor is appointed and qualified, but for a period not to exceed one year. The President may remove a member for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. No individual may serve as a member of the Board for more than 2 terms. In the case of an individual appointed to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of the term for which the predecessor of that individual was appointed, such individual may not be appointed for more than one additional term. A member of the Board may not have a pecuniary interest in, hold an official relation to, or own stock in or bonds of, a carrier providing transportation by any mode and may not engage in another business, vocation, or employment. A vacancy in the membership of the Board does not impair the right of the remaining members to exercise all of the powers of the Board. The Board may designate a member to act as Chairman during any period in which there is no Chairman designated by the President. There shall be at the head of the Board a Chairman, who shall be designated by the President from among the members of the Board. The Chairman shall receive compensation at the rate prescribed for level III of the Executive Schedule under section 5314 of title 5 . appoint and supervise, other than regular and full-time employees in the immediate offices of another member, the officers and employees of the Board, including attorneys to provide legal aid and service to the Board and its members, and to represent the Board in any case in court; appoint the heads of offices with the approval of the Board; distribute Board business among officers and employees and offices of the Board; prepare requests for appropriations for the Board and submit those requests to the President and Congress with the prior approval of the Board; and supervise the expenditure of funds allocated by the Board for major programs and purposes. that have been issued, made, granted, or allowed to become effective by the Interstate Commerce Commission, any officer or employee of the Interstate Commerce Commission, or any other Government official, or by a court of competent jurisdiction, in the performance of any function that is transferred by this Act [see Tables for classification] or the amendments made by this Act; and that are in effect on the effective date of such transfer (or become effective after such date pursuant to their terms as in effect on such effective date), The provisions of this Act shall not affect any proceedings or any application for any license pending before the Interstate Commerce Commission at the time this Act takes effect [see Effective Date note above], insofar as those functions are retained and transferred by this Act; but such proceedings and applications, to the extent that they relate to functions so transferred, shall be continued. Orders shall be issued in such proceedings, appeals shall be taken therefrom, and payments shall be made pursuant to such orders, as if this Act had not been enacted; and orders issued in any such proceedings shall continue in effect until modified, terminated, superseded, or revoked by a duly authorized official, by a court of competent jurisdiction, or by operation of law. Nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to prohibit the discontinuance or modification of any such proceeding under the same terms and conditions and to the same extent that such proceeding could have been discontinued or modified if this Act had not been enacted. The Board and the Secretary are authorized to provide for the orderly transfer of pending proceedings from the Interstate Commerce Commission. Except as provided in subparagraphs (B) and (C), in the case of a proceeding under a provision of law repeal [repealed], and not reenacted, by this Act such proceeding shall be terminated. Any proceeding involving a pipeline carrier under subtitle IV of title 49, United States Code, shall be continued to be heard by the Board under such subtitle, as in effect on the day before the effective date of this section [see Effective Date note above], until completion of such proceeding. Any proceeding involving the merger of a motor carrier property under subtitle IV of title 49, United States Code, shall continue to be heard by the Board under such subtitle, as in effect on the day before the effective date of this section, until completion of such proceeding. Any proceeding with respect to any tariff, rate charge, classification, rule, regulation, or service that was pending under the Intercoastal Shipping Act, 1933 [former 46 U.S.C. App. 843 et seq.] or the Shipping Act, 1916 [former 46 U.S.C. App. 801 et seq., see Disposition Table preceding section 101 of Title 46 , Shipping] before the Federal Maritime Commission on November 1, 1995 , shall continue to be heard until completion or issuance of a final order thereon under all applicable laws in effect as of November 1, 1995 . This Act shall not affect suits commenced before the date of the enactment of this Act [ Dec. 29, 1995 ], except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3). In all such suits, proceeding shall be had, appeals taken, and judgments rendered in the same manner and with the same effect as if this Act had not been enacted. Any suit by or against the Interstate Commerce Commission begun before the effective date of this Act shall be continued, insofar as it involves a function retained and transferred under this Act, with the Board (to the extent the suit involves functions transferred to the Board under this Act) or the Secretary (to the extent the suit involves functions transferred to the Secretary under this Act) substituted for the Commission. If the court in a suit described in paragraph (1) remands a case to the Board or the Secretary, subsequent proceedings related to such case shall proceed in accordance with applicable law and regulations as in effect at the time of such subsequent proceedings. No suit, action, or other proceeding commenced by or against any officer in his official capacity as an officer of the Interstate Commerce Commission shall abate by reason of the enactment of this Act. No cause of action by or against the Interstate Commerce Commission, or by or against any officer thereof in his official capacity, shall abate by reason of enactment of this Act. Except as otherwise provided by law, an officer or employee of the Board may, for purposes of performing a function transferred by this Act or the amendments made by this Act, exercise all authorities under any other provision of law that were available with respect to the performance of that function to the official responsible for the performance of the function immediately before the effective date of the transfer of the function under this Act or the amendments made by this Act.” Except as otherwise provided in this Act [see Tables for classification] and the amendments made by this Act, those personnel, property, and records employed, used, held, available, or to be made available in connection with a function transferred to the Board [Surface Transportation Board] by this Act shall be transferred to the Board for use in connection with the functions transferred, and unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds of the Interstate Commerce Commission shall also be transferred to the Board. Such unexpended balances, allocations, and other funds, together with any unobligated balances from user fees collected by the Commission during fiscal year 1996, may be used to pay for the closedown of the Commission and severance costs for Commission personnel, regardless of whether those costs are incurred at the Commission or at the Board. Except as otherwise provided in this Act and the amendments made by this Act, those personnel, property, and records employed, used, held, available, or to be made available in connection with a function transferred to the Secretary by this Act shall be transferred to the Secretary for use in connection with the functions transferred. Notwithstanding all other laws and regulations, the Department of Transportation shall place all Interstate Commerce Commission employees separated from the Commission as a result of this Act on the DOT reemployment priority list (competitive service) or the priority employment list (excepted service).” establish a passenger rail program with primary responsibility for carrying out the Board’s passenger rail responsibilities; and hire up to 10 additional full-time employees to assist in carrying out the responsibilities referred to in paragraph (1).” “This Act may be cited as the ‘STB Information Security Improvement Act’. to identify controls, including risk management, weakness remediation, and security authorization; to protect controls, including configuration management, user identity and access management, and security training; to detect controls, including continuous monitoring; to respond [to] controls, including incident handling and reporting; to recover controls for contingency planning; and [sic] any additional tools that will improve the implementation of the recommendations. Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act [ Oct. 16, 2018 ], the STB shall submit the plan and timeline developed under subsection (a) to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce of the Senate. The STB shall report annually to such Committees on the progress on implementation of the recommendations until the implementation is complete. The STB shall designate an individual to implement the plan developed under subsection (a). “No additional funds are authorized to carry out the requirements of this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using amounts otherwise authorized.”