H.R. 8012

Summary

H.R. 8012, the HOWIE Act, was introduced in the House on Mar 19, 2026 by Rep. Michael Lawler (R). It was referred to Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, and last saw action on Mar 20, 2026: Referred to the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.

Record

Text

H.R. 8012 has no co-sponsors and has not gone to a roll call.

119 HR 8012 IH: Helping Oversee and Ward off Infrastructure Emergencies Act
 U.S. House of Representatives
 2026-03-19
 text/xml
 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
 I  119th CONGRESS  2d Session  H. R. 8012  IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES   March 19, 2026   Mr. Lawler  introduced the following bill; which was referred to the  Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure    A BILL
To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations requiring a rail carrier to report certain damage if such carrier has a reasonable suspicion that an action carried out by the carrier caused such damage.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Helping Oversee and Ward off Infrastructure Emergencies Act   or the   HOWIE Act  .
2.
Standard for reporting certain damage relating to railroad operations
The Secretary of Transportation, acting through the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, shall issue such regulations as are necessary to update section 225.9 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to require a railroad to report a train accident resulting in damage described under such section, including any incident that causes a fire (including a brush fire) alongside a railroad track, if such railroad has a reasonable suspicion that an action carried out by the railroad caused such damage.

Tracker

The tracker indicates the progress of this legislation as it moves through the legislative process.

CRS Summary

The summaries are the Congressional Research Service’s, one per stage. Read them in full.

Sponsors

Rep. Michael Lawler (R) sponsors H.R. 8012 alone.

Michael Lawler

Rep. · R–NY-17 · Sponsor

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Committees

H.R. 8012 went before 2 committees: Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee and Transportation and Infrastructure.

Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee

Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee

Referred to · Mar 20, 2026 · 47 Bills

Transportation and Infrastructure

Transportation and Infrastructure

Referred To · Mar 19, 2026 · 156 Bills

Actions

H.R. 8012 has taken 3 actions since Mar 19, 2026, the latest on Mar 20, 2026.

Votes

H.R. 8012 has not gone to a roll call.

Titles

H.R. 8012 goes by 4 titles, 2 of them short titles.

• HOWIE Act — Display Title
• HOWIE Act — Short Title(s) as Introduced
• Helping Oversee and Ward off Infrastructure Emergencies Act — Short Title(s) as Introduced
• To require the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations requiring a rail carrier to report certain damage if such carrier has a reasonable suspicion that an action carried out by the carrier caused such damage. — Official Title as Introduced

Lobbying

2 clients hired 2 firms and 6 registered lobbyists who named H.R. 8012 in 3 quarterly filings, 2026. Reported under the Lobbying Disclosure Act; a filing’s income covers everything its registrant worked that quarter, so the amounts below are the filings’, not this bill’s.

Filed under Environment/Superfund, Railroads, Taxation/Internal Revenue Code, Trade (domestic/foreign), Budget/Appropriations, Defense, Homeland Security, Law Enforcement/Crime/Criminal Justice.

Clients

Who paid to be heard, by how many filings named the bill.

Firms

Registrants who filed on the bill, by filings.

Lobbyists

Named on the filings that cite the bill.

Filings

The documents themselves, on the Senate’s Lobbying Disclosure site, largest reported first.

Classification

The Congressional Research Service files H.R. 8012 under Transportation and Public Works, one of its 31 policy areas.

CRS Subjects

CRS assigns every bill one policy area from its 31; H.R. 8012’s is Transportation and Public Works.

Constitutional authority

The clause the sponsor cites as Congress’s power to enact H.R. 8012, as entered in the Congressional Record.

[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 50 (Thursday, March 19, 2026)][House]From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]By Mr. LAWLER:H.R. 8012.Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuantto the following:Article 1 section 1 clause 8 of the U.S. constitution[Page H2622]

Source: congress.gov · legiscan.com