Photo by Jordan Barab.

New federal legislation would require that WMATA board members appointed by the federal government be “experts.”

Maryland Congressman John Delaney is introducing the WMATA Management Reform Act this week to “make sure that Metro’s Board of Directors actually has certifiable transportation, management and financial experts. How can we expect Metro to be run well otherwise?” he said in a release.

Virginia Congresswoman Barbara Comstock has joined as the Republican lead on the legislation. ““It is clear that Metro needs a top-to-bottom cultural change and that starts with WMATA’s Board of Directors. This legislation will professionalize WMATA’s Board so that it can competently oversee the second-busiest transit system in the United States,” she said in a release.

The law would require the next three federal appointees to the WMATA board be either a certified transit, management, or financial expert. Moving forward, at least three of the federal government’s four appointees would need to have certified expertise.

It defines a transit expert as someone who has been a senior executive at a U.S. transit authority. A management expert needs to have served as a senior manager for at least five years, in charge of more than 1,000 full time employees. The law defers to New York Stock Exchange rules for defining the standards of a financial expert.

Currently, the board is comprised of 16 members—D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and the federal government each get to appoint four people. Delaney’s law would also require that the federal government “insist” that the three other jurisdictions agree to the same standards if they amend the WMATA compact.

Delaney was present when WMATA Board Chair Jack Evans, also the councilmember for Ward 2, and General Manager Paul Wiedefeld went to a Capitol Hill hearing, and he asked about the board then.

Evans responded that the board was too big in its current, 16-member form—”unwieldy to say the least.”

Delaney was more concerned about who was on the board, saying that “one of the biggest embarrassments” in the region was to be a member.

Metro has not responded to a request for comment about the law.

Delaney, like all six incumbents in Maryland, won his primary race last night.

Updated with information about Congresswoman Comstock joining the legislation.