H.R. 3698 · 117th Congress

D-BLOC Act

Introduced on Jun 4, 2021 by Jim Cooper (D-TN-5). 4 cosponsors, all from the sponsor's party. Latest action (Jun 7, 2021): Referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Jun 4, 2021
Cosponsors
4
0 from the other party
Policy area
Transportation and Public Works
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend title 49, United States Code, to limit railroad carriers from blocking railway-highway crossings, and for other purposes.

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Jun 4, 2021). Public domain.

Don't BLock Our Communities Act or the D-BLOC Act

This bill prohibits railroad carriers from obstructing travel at public highway-rail crossings for more than 10 minutes, except under limited circumstances (e.g., safety issues).

The Department of Transportation (DOT) must investigate and send notices to carriers of repeated incidents; carriers are subject to civil penalties for violations that occur after having received notice. DOT must also establish a national database for the public to report such incidents.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Jim CooperD-TN-5Sponsor

Democrats · 4

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jun 4, 2021Introduced in House
  2. Jun 4, 2021Introduced in House
  3. Jun 4, 2021 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
  4. Jun 7, 2021 · HouseReferred to the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.
  5. Jun 7, 2021 · HouseReferred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 7, 2026 · loaded Oct 7, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 7, 2026 · loaded Oct 7, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.