119th Congress (2025-2026)

HR 8699

Safe Transit for All Act of 2026

Introduced

Jurisdiction

US Congress

Session

119th Congress (2025-2026)

Official source

Chamber

House

Session

119th Congress (2025-2026)

Jurisdiction

US Congress

Bill overview

The Safe Transit for All Act of 2026 aims to improve safety on public transit by requiring recipients of federal assistance to collect data on passenger harassment, specifically street harassment. The bill mandates the creation of programs to gather information about incidents, including details on the nature of the harassment, passenger demographics, and its impact. It also establishes a national transit database to store this collected street harassment data.

Key provisions

Requires transit agencies to establish programs to collect data on street harassment.
Mandates data collection on incident frequency, type, location, and time.
Requires data collection on passenger demographics (race, ethnicity, etc.).
Requires accessible reporting mechanisms for passengers.
Requires publication of aggregated data on a public website.
Defines ‘street harassment’ as unwanted actions based on personal characteristics.
Establishes a national transit database to store street harassment data.
Specifies data reporting requirements for recipients receiving assistance under section 5307.

Who is affected

Public transit agencies
Federal transit funding recipients
Public transit passengers
Individuals experiencing street harassment
Government

Notable changes

Adds requirements for collecting data on street harassment to existing transit safety plans.

Positions across the country

No public positions recorded for this legislation.

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Arguments opposed

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Legislative history

2026-05-07House

Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

2026-05-07

Introduced in House

2026-05-07

Introduced in House

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May 7, 2026XMLView source

119th CONGRESS — 2d Session

H. R. 8699

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require certain recipients of Federal assistance for public transit systems to establish a program to collect data on passenger harassment on public transit systems, and for other purposes.

1.Short title

This Act may be cited as the

Safe Transit for All Act of 2026

2.Inclusion of assaults on transit passengers in public transportation safety program

(a)Public transportation agency safety planSection 5329(d) of title 49, United States Code, is amended—

(1)

in paragraph (1)—

(A)

in subparagraph (I)(ii) by striking the period and inserting ; and; and

(B)

by adding at the end the following:

(J)in the case of a recipient receiving assistance under section 5307 that is serving an urbanized area with a population of 200,000 or more, a program to collect data on street harassment on public transit systems targeted at passengers, including—

(i)establishing accessible digital and in-person reporting mechanisms to collect data from passengers who have experienced or witnessed an incident of street harassment on a public transit system operated by the recipient, including the ability to collect data on—

(I)the frequency, type, location, and time of the incident experienced or witnessed by the passenger, including whether such street harassment was verbal harassment, a physical assault, or a sexual assault;

(II)the demographic information of the passenger or passengers that experienced the incident, including race, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, income, primary language, sex, and sexual orientation;

(III)the actual or perceived characteristics that may have served as the basis for the incident; and

(IV)the impact of the incident on the passenger, including whether and in what way street harassment affects the use of public transit by the passenger;

(ii)collecting data and conducting outreach in multiple languages to understand safety concerns and experiences of passengers with limited English language proficiency;

(iii)in a timely manner after data is collected pursuant to clauses (i) and (ii), publishing on a publicly available website the data collected, excluding any personally identifiable information; and

(iv)establishing protocols for responding to reports of street harassment received through the reporting mechanisms established in clause (i).

; and

(2)

by adding at the end the following:

(6)Definition of street harassmentIn this subsection, the term street harassment means any word, gesture, or other action directed at an individual because of an actual or perceived personal characteristic of the individual, including a characteristic protected under title VI or VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.), in a public place, without the consent of the individual, in which the individual experiences such word, gesture, or action as intimidating or threatening to the safety of the individual.

(b)National transit database

Section 5335 of title 49, United States Code, is amended—

(1)in subsection (c)—

(A)

in paragraph (2) by striking and;

(B)

in paragraph (3) by striking the period and inserting ; and; and

(C)

by adding at the end the following:

(4)any data on street harassment of passengers collected by the recipient pursuant to section 5329(d).

HR 8699

Bill overview

Key provisions

Who is affected

Notable changes

Sponsors

Primary sponsor

Cosponsors

Positions across the country

Arguments in favor

Arguments opposed

Bill text

Positions across the country