H.R. 8699

119 HR 8699 IH: Safe Transit for All Act of 2026
 U.S. House of Representatives
 2026-05-07
 text/xml
 EN
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 I  119th CONGRESS  2d Session  H. R. 8699  IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES   May 7, 2026   Mr. Min  (for himself,  Ms. Norton , and  Mr. Johnson of Georgia ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the  Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure    A BILL
To amend title 49, United States Code, to require certain recipients of Federal assistance for public transit systems to establish a program to collect data on passenger harassment on public transit systems, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Safe Transit for All Act of 2026  .
2.
Inclusion of assaults on transit passengers in public transportation safety program
(a)
Public transportation agency safety plan
Section 5329(d) of title 49, United States Code, is amended—
(1)
in paragraph (1)—
(A)
in subparagraph (I)(ii) by striking the period and inserting  ; and ; and
(B)
by adding at the end the following:
(J)
in the case of a recipient receiving assistance under section 5307 that is serving an urbanized area with a population of 200,000 or more, a program to collect data on street harassment on public transit systems targeted at passengers, including—
(i)
establishing accessible digital and in-person reporting mechanisms to collect data from passengers who have experienced or witnessed an incident of street harassment on a public transit system operated by the recipient, including the ability to collect data on—
(I)
the frequency, type, location, and time of the incident experienced or witnessed by the passenger, including whether such street harassment was verbal harassment, a physical assault, or a sexual assault;
(II)
the demographic information of the passenger or passengers that experienced the incident, including race, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, income, primary language, sex, and sexual orientation;
(III)
the actual or perceived characteristics that may have served as the basis for the incident; and
(IV)
the impact of the incident on the passenger, including whether and in what way street harassment affects the use of public transit by the passenger;
(ii)
collecting data and conducting outreach in multiple languages to understand safety concerns and experiences of passengers with limited English language proficiency;
(iii)
in a timely manner after data is collected pursuant to clauses (i) and (ii), publishing on a publicly available website the data collected, excluding any personally identifiable information; and
(iv)
establishing protocols for responding to reports of street harassment received through the reporting mechanisms established in clause (i).
 ; and
(2)
by adding at the end the following:
(6)
Definition of street harassment
In this subsection, the term  street harassment  means any word, gesture, or other action directed at an individual because of an actual or perceived personal characteristic of the individual, including a characteristic protected under title VI or VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ( 42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq. ) or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 ( 29 U.S.C. 621 et seq. ), in a public place, without the consent of the individual, in which the individual experiences such word, gesture, or action as intimidating or threatening to the safety of the individual.
 .
(b)
National transit database
Section 5335 of title 49, United States Code, is amended—
(1)
in subsection (c)—
(A)
in paragraph (2) by striking  and ;
(B)
in paragraph (3) by striking the period and inserting  ; and ; and
(C)
by adding at the end the following:
(4)
any data on street harassment of passengers collected by the recipient pursuant to section 5329(d).
 .