“PLEASE DISTRIBUTE TO YOUR MEMBERSHIP”
Brothers and Sisters:
The Crew Hauler Safety Bill has been filed in the State House of Representatives with 27 sponsors and is scheduled for a hearing this coming week in the House Transportation Committee – in just the second week of the session.
The House Bill number is 1105!
Passing this bill continues to be the # 1 priority of our Rail Labor Legislative Agenda! The needless demise of yet another of our Brothers in Montana earlier this month weighs heavily on our conscience! How many of us will have to die or be maimed to satisfy the greedy blood covered hands of railroad carrier executives as they enrich themselves with even greater profits from our productive lives? What will it take to stop the ongoing carnage and indifference of rail contract crew hauling companies?
The following is the scheduled date and time obtained, for the House Transportation Committee Hearing on this critical safety legislation.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25th, 3:30 PM in the HOUSE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
O’BRIEN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING – COMMITTEE ROOM B.
STATE CAPITOL CAMPUS – OLYMPIA, WA.
IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE HAVE A VERY STRONG TURNOUT OF RAILROAD
WORKERS, FAMILIES & SUPPORTERS OF THIS SAFETY LEGISLATION ATTEND THIS HEARING!
Please see the attached flyer
PLEASE PRINT OUT LOTS OF COPIES – DISTRIBUTE THESE TO EVERYONE IN YOUR WORKPLACE, POST THEM ON YOUR UNION BULLETIN BOARDS.
EMAIL THIS FLYER TO YOUR LOCAL MEMBERSHIP LISTS, AND
TO YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS AND FRIENDS.
Here is the Legislative Digest of our bill:
HB 1105 – DIGEST
Requires the utilities and transportation commission to:
(1) Regulate persons providing contract railroad crew transportation and contract crew hauling vehicles with respect to the safety of equipment, driver qualifications, insurance, and safety of operations;
(2) Compile data regarding reported safety complaints, accidents, regulatory violations and fines, and corrective actions taken by the commission involving passenger-carrying vehicles; and
(3) Develop an inspection program for contract crew hauling vehicles.
The State Senate version of HB 1105 is being circulated for sponsors and we expect to drop it in the hopper for filing next week. There are two other bills that are being circulated in both houses:
Establishing a state – Minimum Train Crew Size consist requirement. Legislation to bring Yardmasters under the same HOS requirements of all other railroad operating employees. (BLET – WSLB, In Support)
WE HAVE TO SHOW THE RAILROADS WE ARE FED UP WITH THIS ONGOING
DANGEROUS SITUATION & WE WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY MORE DEATHS!
PLEASE GET THE WORD OUT TO ALL RAILROAD WORKERS TO ATTEND THIS HEARING!
LEGISLATORS NEED TO HEAR US TELL OF OUR ACTUAL EXPERIENCES RIDING IN CONTRACT CREW TRANSPORTATION VANS AS WE EXPLAIN THE SERIOUS DANGER WE FACE DAILY FROM THESE NEGLIGENT UNREGULATED OPERATORS!
Throughout the session you can view ALL information about this bill and its progress at:
http://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1105&Year=2017
This link will remain active and links to all action on the bill can be found here.
Even video recordings of committee hearings can be viewed here!
Here is a link to the initial bill as filed last week:
http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2017-18/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1105.pdf
This link is static – no changes will be made to the document associated with this link – as the bill progresses, every time amendments are adopted the revised bill will be assigned a new web link.
This bill has 27 legislators who are sponsors out of a total of 98 members of the state House of Representatives – over a quarter of the house membership has signed on! The sponsors include both the Chairperson and the Ranking Republican on the House Transportation Committee; additionally, the Chairpersons of the following Committees are included in the list of bill sponsors:
House Appropriations Committee
House Community Development, Housing and Tribal Affairs Committee
House Education Committee
House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee
House Public Safety Committee
House State Government Committee
I am optimistic that we are finally reaching the legislative critical mass needed to secure passage of the Crew Hauler Safety Legislation this year!
Please contact me if you have questions or need further information.
Fraternally,
Shahraim C. Allen
Chairman
Washington State Legislative Board
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen
220 South 27th Street
Tacoma, WA 98402
shahraim@gmail.com – email
253-961-1021 – cell
