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The Competition for Intercity Passenger Rail in America Act of 2011, recently proposed by Reps. John Mica (R-Fla.) and Bill Shuster (R-Penn.), raises constitutional issues regarding Amtrak compensation, according to a report recently prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I).

Mica, who chairs the committee, and Shuster, who chairs the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, have proposed to privatize Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor operations. However, Democratic members of the T&I committee have questioned “takings issues” raised in certain provisions of the draft bill, specifically a section that says Amtrak will transfer its NEC assets to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Although Amtrak relies on federal funding for support, it is viewed as a separate entity, and therefore any plan to transfer the Amtrak-owned NEC to another party “effects a taking of private property, implicating Takings Clause protections,” according to a CRS memo.

“In short, Amtrak may have a constitutional right to compensation in money or something more nearly the equivalent of money than what [the bill] offers,” the memo states. “The federal case law is not clear. It is a separate question altogether, of course, whether it would be in Amtrak’s political best interest to sue its federal funding source on this point.”