 LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN – January 27, 2005 Support needed for
rate complaint funding. The
Grain Dealers Association has been supporting this, and made it more
official on Tuesday with approval of a resolution at the annual business
meeting. At least one
railroad is reported to be entertaining some legislators and telling
them its version of the story. BNSF
has been saying that North Dakota is receiving premium service for its
premium rates. BNSF has indicated that the $900,000 to prosecute a rate
complaint is not enough. If
that turns out to be true it might be because of railroad foot-dragging
and legal maneuvers to derail or postpone action on the complaint.
Members of the North Dakota House Appropriations Committee will
be acting on this appropriation in the very near future.
It is part of House Bill 1008, the PSC budget. The names, towns and email addresses of the Appropriations
Committee members are below. Please
contact any or all of them at your earliest convenience. House
Appropriations Committee members, their hometowns and email addresses
are: Ken Svedjan, Chmn., Grand
Forks
ksvedjan@state.nd.us SB 2405 is the
FELA liability bill. It
too is supported by a convention resolution.
Here is a little background.
In the 2003 legislative session we were successful in getting
some limits placed on the liability insurance railroads can require of
grain elevators in their leases and track agreements.
Those limits apply to only situations where the elevator is not
at fault. If the elevator
is at fault, the commercial general liability policy will respond.
FELA is Federal Employers Liability Act. It is like workers compensation insurance for railroad
workers. Railroads require
a FELA endorsement to the commercial general liability policy of grain
elevators to cover injuries to railroad workers while on the site, even
if the grain elevator bears no fault whatsoever.
We tried to get this eliminated entirely last session.
A compromise was made saying only those elevators that handle
more than 250 loaded railcars per year can be required to have the FELA
endorsement. But insurance
experts writing insurance on grain elevators in North Dakota say they
are unable to obtain FELA endorsements anywhere. This means elevators are exposed to huge uninsured
liabilities.
You can start talking up this issue with your
legislators, particularly senators.
The bill has been assigned to the Industry, Business and Labor
Committee. Members on that
Committee are:
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