Public Law 86-794 86th Congress, H. J. Res. 402 JOINT RESOLUTION Granting the consent and approval of Congress for the States of Virginia and Maryland and the District of Columbia to enter into a compact related to the regulation of mass transit in the Washington, District of Columbia metropolitan area, and for other purposes. Whereas the regulation of mass transit service in the metropolitan area of Washington, District of Columbia, is divided among the public utility regulatory agencies of the States of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia and the Interstate Commerce Commission; and Whereas such divided regulatory responsibility is not conducive to the development of an adequate system of mass transit for the entire metropolitan area, which is in fact a single integrated, urban community; and Whereas the Legislatures of Virginia and Maryland and the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia in 1954 created a Joint Commission to study, among other things, whether joint action by Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia is necessary or desirable in connection with the regulation of passenger carrier facilities operating in such areas and the provision of adequate, non-discriminatory and uniform service therein; and Whereas said Joint Commission has actively participated in the mass transit study authorized by the Congress (Public Law 24 and Public Law 573, Eighty-fourth Congress), and in furtherance thereof said Joint Commission has negotiated the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Regulation Compact, set forth in full below, providing for the establishment of a single organization as the common agency of the signatories to regulate transit and alleviate traffic congestion, which compact has been en 85-894 O - 67 - 13 acted by Virginia (ch. 627, 1958 Act of Assembly) and in substantially the same language by Maryland (ch. 613, Acts of General Assembly 1959); and Whereas said compact adequately protects the national interest in mass transit service in the metropolitan area of the Nation's Capital and properly accommodates the National and State interests in and obligations toward mass transit in the metropolitan area: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the consent and approval of Congress is hereby given to the States of Virginia and Maryland and to the District of Columbia to enter into a compact, substantially as follows, for the regulation and improvement of mass transit in the Washington metropolitan area, which compact, known as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Regulation Compact, has been negotiated by representatives of the States and the District of Columbia and has been adopted by the State of Virginia (ch. 627, 1958 Acts of General Assembly), and in substance by the State of Maryland: "The States of Maryland and Virginia and the District of Columbia, hereinafter referred to as signatories, do hereby covenant and agree as follows: CONSENT LEGISLATION SEC. 2. The Commissioners of the District of Columbia are authorized and directed to enter into and execute on behalf of the United States for the District of Columbia a compact substantially as set forth above with the States of Virginia and Maryland and are further authorized and directed to carry out and effectuate the terms and provisions of said compact, and there are hereby authorized to be appropriated such funds as are necessary to carry out the obligations of the District of Columbia in accordance with the terms of the said compact: Provided, That the said Commissioners shall not adopt any amendment to the said compact for the District of Columbia under the provisions of section 1 of article IX of the Compact unless the said amendment has had the consent or approval of the Congress. SEC. 3. That, upon the effective date of the compact and so long thereafter as the compact remains effective, the applicability of the laws of the United States, and the rules, regulations, and orders promulgated thereunder, relating to or affecting transportation under the compact and to the persons engaged therein, including those provisions of section 6(e) of the District of Columbia Traffic Act, 1925, as amended by the Act approved February 27, 1931 (46 Stat. 1426; Sec. 40-603 (e), D.C. Code, 1951 edition), relating to the powers of the Public Utilities Commission of the District of Columbia and the Joint Board created under such section, is suspended, except as otherwise specified in the compact, to the extent that such laws, rules, regulations, and orders are inconsistent with or in duplication of the provisions of the compact: Provided, That upon the termination of the compact, the suspension of such laws, rules, regulations, and orders, if not theretofore repealed, shall terminate and such laws, rules, regulations, and orders shall thereupon again become applicable and legally offee tive without further legislative or administrative action i Provided further, That nothing in this Act or in the com pact shall effect the normal and ordinary police powers of the signatories and of the political subdivisions thereof and of the Director of the National Park Service with respect to the regulation of vehicles, control of traffic and use of streets, highways, and other vehicular facilities: Provided further, That nothing in this Act or in the compact consented to and approved hereby shall impair or affect the rights, duties, and obligations created by the Act of July 24, 1956 (ch. 669, 70 Stat. 598), granting a franchise to D.C. Transit System, Inc.: Provided further, That the term "public interest" as used in section 12(b) of article XII, title 11 of the Compact shall be deemed to include, among other things, the interest of the carrier employees affected: And provided further, That nothing herein shall be deemed to render inapplicable any laws of the United States providing benefits for the employees of any carrier subject to this compact or relating to the wages, hours, and working conditions of employees of any carrier, or to collective bargaining between the carriers of said employees, or to the rights to self-organization, including, but not limited to, the Labor-Management Relations Act, 1947, as amended, and the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended. Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission of the District of Columbia and of the Interstate Commerce Commission over all carriers and persons subject to the provisions of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Regulation Compact are hereby transferred, as and to the extent provided therein, to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission. SEC. 4. The consent and approval of Congress set forth in in the first section of this Act is given on the express condition that sections 4(d) (3) and 12(d) of article XII of such Compact shall not be used to break a lawful strike by the employees of any carrier authorized to provide service pursuant to such Compact. SEC. 5. The consent of Congress is granted upon the condition that, within three years from the date of this enactment, section 1(a) (4) of article XII of the Compact be amended as set forth below, and, in the event the Compact |