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For Immediate Release: Midwestern Legislators Urge Passage of Rail Reform Washington, D.C. (July 28, 2008) — A conference of legislators from 11 Midwestern states has joined the growing chorus of individuals and groups calling on Congress to pass rail reform legislation. The Midwestern Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments has adopted a resolution urging Congress to pass both the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act (H.R.1650 in the House and S.772 in the Senate) and the Railroad Competition and Service Improvement Act (H.R.2125 in the House and S.953 in the Senate). “The lack of competition has led to an increase in captive shippers, rising rail rates, and deterioration in service quality,” the resolution states. “For many products, including grain from some elevators, it is not feasible to ship by any means other than rail, leaving some of the shippers of these products (and their consumers) captive to the single railroad.” The two bills before Congress would reform the railroads’ ineffective regulator, the Surface Transportation Board (STB), and ensure that the railroad industry complies with the same antitrust laws as their customers and all other American industries. “The railroads’ monopoly practices are hitting consumers with a hidden tax on just about everything we buy,” said Bob Szabo, Executive Director of Consumers United for Rail Equity (CURE), “and farmers and those living in rural communities are hit especially hard by the railroads’ abuse of monopoly power. Both pieces of legislation would enact common sense reforms that inject much-needed competition into the current system, and would ultimately help consumers. Congress needs to act now to pass these reforms.” The Midwestern Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments is a nonpartisan, nonprofit association representing all three branches of state government in eleven states - Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The author of the resolution, Minnesota State Rep. Al Juhnke, said they encountered opposition from the railroad lobbyists trying to stop the measure. “That all fell apart when our members learned about the railroads’ surcharges and the lack of response by the STB,” Juhnke said. In supporting the legislation, the Conference joins a broad coalition of organizations calling on Congress to act on rail reform legislation. Last week, a coalition of thirteen organizations representing consumers, state regulators and rail customers also called for an end to the railroads’ special exemptions from antitrust law. The antitrust legislation has passed both House and Senate Judiciary Committees by a bipartisan voice vote. It awaits action by the full House and Senate. ### Consumers United for Rail Equity (CURE) represents a wide variety of rail customers
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