SB 124 - This act creates the "Local Community Rail Security Act of 2007" and requires every operator of rail facilities in Missouri to provide a risk assessment of all rail facilities to SEMA, the Missouri Office of Homeland Security and the Missouri Department of Transportation Multimodal Operations by February 1, 2008. The act delineates what the risk assessment must describe. By September 1, 2010, all railroads must have a community protection plan in place to protect all rail infrastructure in Missouri from acts of sabotage, terrorism, and other crimes. The plan must provide security for critical infrastructure including bridges, tunnels, and signal systems. The act details what the community protection plan must include (i.e. emergency procedures, training programs, infrastructure protection methods, etc.). Rail operators must comply with several specified requirements for facilities that handle hazardous cargo passing within 15 miles of a certain community facilities (schools, nursing homes, etc.). A copy of the community protection plan must be provided to SEMA, the Missouri Office of Homeland Security and the Missouri Department of Transportation Multimodal Operations. The Department of Transportation must review the program and may order a rail operator to improve or change it. Any rail operator that fails to comply with an order will be subject to a fine of $50,000 for each day the operator is in violation. The community protection plan must be updated by the rail operator at least once every year and resubmitted to the respective state agencies.
The act provides that a railroad company may not discharge any employee who reports a violation of the act. An employee who alleges that he or she was fired for reporting a violation of the act may seek punitive damages of up to $1,000,000.
All contractors, subcontractors, or any other person working on rail facilities will receive training similar to the type received by rail operators and will undergo the same background, skills, and fitness-for-duty checks as railroad employees.
This act is similar to SB 1096 and HB 1789 (2006).
STEPHEN WITTE