Nebraska
In recognition for outstanding service to his members and dedication to TPEL, UTU International President Charles L. Little (above, right) presented Nebraska State Legislative Director Ray Lineweber with an "Award for Excellence" at the annual spring dinner held by UTU Locals 7, 200 and 286 recently. "Although the award was given to me and has my name on it, it should go to all of our UTU members, who so unselfishly give of themselves," Lineweber said. "It is also a reflection of the leadership of President Little and Assistant President Byron A. Boyd, Jr., who have been very supportive of all of our legislative and safety efforts."

Washington
State Legislative Director Tom Retterath would like to thank all UTU members in the state who contacted their respective lawmakers in the last several weeks regarding funding for operation of the new Seattle-to-Vancouver, B.C., Amtrak run.

The funding for this project was included in the transportation budget which was passed by the state legislature on May 19.

Appropriation of $17.6 million was made to continue two daily round trips between Seattle and Portland and to fund the existing Seattle-Vancouver round trip, as well as an additional $6.3 million to add a second Seattle-Vancouver round trip.

"Thank you very much for all the phone calls, personal contacts and e-mails," Retterath said. "Those contacts made a big difference."

Retterath also offered the following highlights of other rail projects included in the transportation budget:

*$9.4 million to renovate Seattle's King Street Station;

*$15 million for a Sound Transit-Amtrak joint maintenance facility;

*$3 million for acquisition of up to six rail passenger cars to add capacity to existing trains; and,

*additional funds for railroad overpasses in Seattle, Auburn and Tacoma.

Florida
State Legislative Director Carl Cochran reports that on May 21, 1999, Governor Jeb Bush signed into law House Bill 121 which created the Three Strikes Violent Felony Offender Act.

Besides reclassifying certain crimes as felonies, the act defines the label of "three-time violent felony offender" and requires courts to impose certain mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment for such offenders.

It now classifies as a felony the "shooting at or throwing any object in path of railroad vehicle resulting in great bodily harm."

"Three-strike violent criminals will see the inside of prison for longer periods under this bill," said Cochran. "This means, in the state of Florida, if someone throws a rock or shoots at one of our trains, it will be a felony."

South Dakota
State Legislative Director Rick Davids is behind the efforts of two South Dakota senators to have enacted rules which would require all railroad equipment to be marked with reflective devices to reduce rail-highway crossing accidents.

Senators Tim Johnson and Tom Daschle are proposing legislation, which is intended to reduce accidents in which motorists run into the sides of trains at poorly lighted crossings, which occurs in 20% of collisions at crossings, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

Getting these types of regulations enacted on the state level has been tried for the past eight to 10 years, Davids said, but the state level "is not the place to do it. You'd have to stop every car coming in at the border," Davids said.

"I hope it works, I hope they get something done," Davids said. "We have a lot of unprotected country crossings and trains are easy to run into. Anything we can to do prevent our crews from picking up remains in the middle of the night, we support."

California
State Legislative Director J.P. Jones reports progress on the UTU-sponsored bill (Senate Bill 200) that, if passed and signed into law, would require two qualified employees on every freight train operating in the state. One of these employees must be a qualified trainman, according to the legislation.

Earlier this year SB 200 passed out of the State Senate Industrial Relations Committee and moved to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further consideration.

The bill passed in committee on a party-line partisan vote, with all of the Repuiblicans voting no, or against the UTU position.

Members can help get this legislation passed by signing up for TPEL, Jones noted.

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