View Rule

FRA is amending its regulations on railroad police officers (49 CFR part 207) to implement section 11412 of the FAST Act (Pub. L. 114-94). Consistent with section 11412, the final rule will allow commissioned railroad police officers directly employed by or contracted by railroads to enforce laws of any jurisdiction in which the employing railroad owns property, subject to the provisions of 49 U.S.C. 28101. Previously, part 207 did not permit railroads to hire contractors as railroad police officers. Also consistent with the FAST Act, the final rule creates a process for accommodating transfers of railroad police officers from one state of primary employment or residence to a state other than the one he or she is commissioned in by providing a one year interim period for the officer to become commissioned in the new state, while retaining authority to enforce laws in the new state under 49 U.S.C. 28101. FRA is issuing this rule as a final rule because it finds, for good cause, that notice and public comment is unnecessary because the public would not benefit from such notice. See 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B). In this rule, FRA is merely incorporating the new statutory language of the FAST Act into an existing regulation, but FRA is exercising no discretion in doing so. See, e.g., Komjathy v. National Transp. Safety Bd., 832 F.2d 1294 (D.C. Cir. 1987), cert. denied by Komjathy v. Administrator, Federal Aviation Admin., 486 U.S. 1057 (1988).