WASHINGTON -- For the third year in a row, efforts to win a substantial increase in federal funding for motorcoach industry security improvements have fallen short.
But the American Bus Association, which has been trying to convince Congress it should dole out more dollars to beef up industry security programs, plans to keep trying.
However, if another large over-the-road bus security bill does surface in the new Congress that convenes later this month, there's a possibility the legislation could undergo an important change that would cheer some in the industry.
The bill that failed in the last session of Congress would have allocated $150 million to motorcoach operators over a three-year period.
The grants and security programs the money would have financed would have been administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Having the FMCSA manage the programs raised some concerns in the industry and may also have raised the hackles of the Transportation Security Administration in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
While some line-haul operators maintain they have an urgent need for more security funding, there also are worries the FMCSA is too busy working on critical safety issues to be burdened with additional, non-safety-related responsibilities. Instead, they contend it would be more appropriate for the Department of Homeland Security or its Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to run an expanded bus security program.
"The FMCSA could double its staff tomorrow and it still wouldn't have enough folks to get through the list of critical safety-related challenges on its agenda," suggested one worried coach industry official. "The agency doesn't need the distraction of trying to assure industry security, too."
But Clyde Hart, executive vice president of government affairs for the American Bus Association and a strong supporter of the most-recent legislation, said he sees no problem with the FMCSA administering the grants.
"What, the TSA isn't busy?" he responds rhetorically at the suggestion the TSA handle the funding. "What really matters is the money, and we would like to see the legislation come back again next session."
Hart said the ABA will campaign for the bill to be reintroduced when the new Congress meets.
The 2004 legislation - HR 5082 - was introduced by a bi-partisan group of a half-dozen congressmen led by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, and was approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which Young chairs. However, because it was presented late in the session, it was not called up by the House before Congress adjourned for the year.
Congress' failure to act on the bill marked the third time such legislation has failed to win approval in as many years. Two years ago, a bill that would have given the industry $300 million over three years failed to get a vote on the Senate floor, and a year later a similar bill failed to make it to a vote in the House.
House Transportation Committee spokesman Justin Harclerode said the measure could be brought back again this year and, if it were, lawmakers would listen to the concerns of the industry. "Any concerns that anyone has with proposed legislation would be revisited by the committee," he stressed.
Harclerode said the committee went with the DOT and FMCSA to run the program because the agencies have more of an overall and comprehensive expertise in the motorcoach industry than does Homeland Security.
The legislation, which also would have made $3 billion available to public transit agencies, would have allowed motorcoach operators to finance a wide range of security improvements, including terminal and station reconstruction, driver protection, passenger screening, employee training and surveillance and emergency communication equipment.
Before any grants could have been allocated, however, the FMCSA would have been required to survey security systems now in use in the industry and develop a priority list for funding based on its findings. Individual carriers then would have had to apply for grants for specific improvements. The discretionary nature of the program also concerned some in the industry.
Since the federal government began beefing up passenger security in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the motorcoach industry has received scant attention compared to the air industry. The airlines have received about $11 billion during the past three-plus years, while motorcoach operators have received about $30 million.