Congress mandates state reporting on railroad suicide prevention
H.R. 5783 — State Actions For Employing Transportation Risk Assessments and Crossing Knowledge Strategies Act · Filed by Nellie Pou (D-NJ) · 14 cosponsors · Introduced Oct 17, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill amends federal law to require states to include in their highway-rail grade crossing safety reports a new section describing how they will work with railroads, mental health agencies, and law enforcement to reduce pedestrian fatalities and suicides along railroad rights-of-way. It also changes the reporting frequency from a one-time requirement to periodic reports every 5 years.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a requirement that states include suicide-prevention coordination in their periodic safety reports to federal regulators. While titled around grade crossing safety, the substantive addition is a public health reporting requirement focused on suicide prevention along railroad rights-of-way.
What the text implies
- Creates a new federal reporting requirement that may impose administrative burden on states, though the burden appears modest (incorporation into existing reports rather than a new standalone requirement).
- Establishes a data-collection mechanism on railroad suicides that could inform future federal policy on suicide prevention in transportation corridors, potentially leading to additional regulations or funding.
- Requires states to coordinate with mental health agencies on railroad suicide prevention, which may increase awareness and resource allocation to this underaddressed public health issue.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill expands public accountability for suicide prevention along railroad corridors by requiring states to report on coordination with mental health and law enforcement agencies. This increases transparency around a significant public health issue (railroad suicides) and creates a mechanism for tracking state efforts to reduce preventable deaths.
Named in the bill
Federal Railroad Administration, States (reporting entities), Railroads, Mental health agencies, Law enforcement agencies
Where it stands
14 cosponsors: 11 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
- Oct 17, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 17, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure”
- Dec 18, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Dec 18, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $1,511,005 in lobbying spend. A filing names 24 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Nellie Pou, the sponsor, reported $1,053,955 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $1,000 of that came from 1 PAC tied to these lobbying clients.
- Association of American Railroads — $1,260,000 on 1 filing
- Csx Corporation — $251,005 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (855 characters) on Jul 6, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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