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Surface Transportation Authorization

SUMMARY OF HOUSE T&I SAFETEA-LU REAUTHORIZATION OUTLINE

On July 7, House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Mica rolled out a detailed outline of a SAFETEA-LU reauthorization bill that addresses highways, highway safety, public transportation, freight and passenger rail, and marine transportation issues. Below is a summary of the T&I outline versus U.S. Chamber recommendations, beginning with policy and then moving on to funding.

Thumbs Up to Policy Reforms:

The T&I Committee outline indicates promising and productive program and policy reforms very much in line with the Chamber’s SAFETEA-LU reauthorization policy statement. Note that at this time there is no actual legislative language or funding charts: an assessment of the outline is not the same as an assessment of the bill. From the outline, however, it appears there are many steps in a very good direction.

The Chamber’s priorities (underlined) and selected items from the Committee’s outline are:

  1. Modernization and maintenance of highway, transit and intermodal assets identified as being in the national interest:
  • The T&I outline says states will have maximum flexibility to fund the broad range of projects eligible under the current Surface Transportation Program and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Programs, but the set aside for Transportation Enhancements appears to be going away;
  • There will be a new focus on the National Highway System-more than half of the funding for highways will go to this “program.”
  1. Safety:
  • The program continues the Highway Safety Improvement Program and allows funding to be used on safety project on virtually any road;
  • Quantifiable targets for safety performance measures;
  • Incentives for graduated drivers’ licensing, with similar aims to the STANDUP Act.
  1. Freight mobility:
  • Focuses on the National Highway System;
  • Reforms the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program to enhance participation;
  • Encourages short-sea shipping;
  • Expedites Army Corps studies for navigation projects paid for with nonfederal money;
  • Ensures that Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund resources are used for their intended purpose - harbor and channel maintenance.
  1. Urban mobility - supporting congestion mitigation including strategies to use technology, supporting public transportation capacity, and increased highway capacity.
  • Removes barriers to the private sector offering transportation services and accessing intermodal facilities;
  • Streamlines New Starts and Small Starts competitive grant programs to cut project development time in half.
  1. Rural connectivity:
  • Focus on the National Highway System;
  • Increases the percentage of available formula funds for transit programs that benefit suburban and rural areas, and programs that support transit services for the elderly, disabled, and transit-dependent.
  1. Program consolidation and accountability to ensure that projects reflect the federal role and are linked to economic benefits and performance-based outcomes:
  • The T&I proposal would reduce over 100 federal transportation programs to 30, consolidating programs that serve similar purposes, and identifies programs that do not serve the national interest;
  • States will be provided flexibility to address their most critical infrastructure needs, but will be held accountable for decision-making through performance measures and transparency requirements;
  • The Committee says they will do more with less by targeting federal funding to programs and projects that have regional and national impacts and eliminating programs that do not.
  1. Improvements to the project review, approval and delivery processes:
  • The T&I outline stays its bill speeds up permitting, project delivery by allowing concurrent agency reviews, setting hard deadlines for federal agencies to approve projects, and delegating more decision-making authority to states;
  • This approach should save money by getting projects done faster (a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow) and reduce risk to potential private sector investors by reducing uncertainty in the public sector side of a project delivery process.
  1. Promoting private investment and financing:
  • TIFIA will be expanded and improved. According to the rollout, this will be along the lines of the Chamber-supported America Fast Forward infrastructure financing initiative;
  • Faster project delivery reduces risk and could help draw increased private investment;
  • States will have incentives to create State Infrastructure Banks, if they do not exist already;
  • RRIF improvements.
  1. Earmark Reform:
  • There will be no earmarks in the bill.
  1. Research and Development:
  • There was no mention of research in the Committee’s outline.

The Challenge - The Funding Level:

The T&I committee is constrained, as Chairman Mica repeatedly said during the rollout, by the House Budget and associated House Rules.

For years, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM) coalition have sounded the alarm about the impending disaster with the Highway Trust Fund and called on our nation’s leaders to develop a sustainable approach to funding highways and public transportation.

SAFETEA-LU provided $286.4 billion in obligation limitation for highways and public transportation. In 2011, Federal Aid Highway funding was slightly over $40 billion, and transit totaled close to $12 billion. Without annual funding level information only estimates can be made, but based on the House budget, new funding levels would be $28 billion for highways in 2012 - a thirty percent drop - and slightly more than $6 billion for public transportation, which will be about a fifty percent cut.

Additional information:

SUMMARY OF SENATE EPW BIPARTISAN SAFETEA-LU REAUTHORIZATION OUTLINE

On July 19, the bi-partisan leadership of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee released a brief outline of the highway and planning title for a SAFETEA-LU reauthorization bill titled Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21). This is a summary of the EPW outline versus Chamber recommendations, beginning with policy and moving on to funding.

Policy Reforms Appear to Be Positive:

The EPW Committee outline indicates program and policy reforms in line with the Chamber’s SAFETEA-LU reauthorization policy statement. This is a less detailed document than was released by the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Republicans on July 7. At this time there is no actual legislative language or funding charts: it should be noted that an assessment of the outline is not the same as an assessment of the bill. That said, the Chamber’s assessment of the outline is positive.
 

The Chamber’s priorities (underlined) and selected items from the Committee’s outline are:

  1. Modernization and maintenance of highway, transit and intermodal assets identified as being in the national interest:
  • MAP-21 focuses the highway program on key outcomes, such as reducing fatalities, improving bridges, fixing roads, and reducing congestion;
  • Consolidates the Interstate Maintenance program, the National Highway System program, and part of the Highway Bridge Program into a single program that focuses on the most critical 222,000 miles of roads in the nation.
  1. Safety:
  • Provides funds to states for infrastructure improvements on all public roads to achieve a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries;
  • Improves data collection and analysis to allow states to more accurately focus funding on the most dangerous roads.
  1. Freight mobility:
  • Provides formula funds to states for projects to improve the movement of freight on highways, including freight intermodal connectors.
  1. Urban mobility - supporting congestion mitigation including strategies to use technology, supporting public transportation capacity, and increased highway capacity:
  • Allows for increases to highway capacity;
  • Public transportation provisions will come from the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee; technology-related provisions are likely to come from the Senate Commerce Committee;
  • Creates a “Transportation Mobility Program,” but the outline lacks specifics.
  1. Rural connectivity:
  • Consolidates the Interstate Maintenance program, the National Highway System program, and part of the Highway Bridge Program into a single program that focuses on the most critical 222,000 miles of roads in the nation.
  1. Program consolidation and accountability to ensure that projects reflect the federal role and are linked to economic benefits and performance-based outcomes:
  • MAP-21 consolidates 87 programs under SAFETEA-LU to less than 30 programs, including five “core programs.” The activities for which dedicated funding has been removed have been consolidated into the very broad core programs, leaving states with the flexibility to fund these activities as they see fit;
  • States will be provided flexibility to address their most critical infrastructure needs, but will be held accountable for decision-making through performance measures and transparency requirements;
  • MAP-21 incorporates a more comprehensive performance-based approach to decision making into the Statewide and metropolitan planning in order for states and metropolitan areas to targets limited resources on projects that will most improve the condition and performance of highways and bridges;
  • States will set their own targets for improving safety, road and bridge condition, congestion, and freight movement.
  1. Improvements to the project review, approval and delivery processes:
  • Expanding the use of innovative contracting methods;
  • Creating dispute resolution procedures;
  • Allowing for early right-of-way acquisitions;
  • Reducing bureaucratic hurdles for projects with no significant environmental impact;
  • Encouraging early coordination between relevant agencies to avoid delays later in the review process;
  • Providing incentives for accelerating project delivery decisions within specified deadlines.
  1. Promoting private investment and financing:
  • Like the House proposal, TIFIA will be expanded and improved by increasing funding allocated to the TIFIA program from $122 million per year to $1 billion per year in addition to other modifications along the lines of the Chamber-supported America Fast Forward infrastructure financing initiative;
  • In addition, project delivery improvements could reduce risk and could help draw increased private investment.
  1. Earmark Reform:
  • There will be no earmarks in the bill.
  1. Research and Development:
  • Funds research and development, technology deployment, and training and education activities to further innovation in highway and bridge construction and preservation;
  • Streamlines existing research programs to focus funding on key national research areas.

Proposed Funding Levels are Good; Revenues Remain a Challenge:

MAP-21 authorizes Federal-aid highway programs for two years while maintaining current spending levels. The goal of the Committee remains attaining the optimum achievable authorization depending on the resources available and in a way that does not increase the deficit and can achieve bipartisan support.

The trade-off being made by the Senate is in the length of authorization (two years versus the customary six years). In addition, although the EPW committee can pass an authorization at levels above current receipts into the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), the Congress will still require an additional $6 billion per year over two years, or $12 billion total, to make this authorization possible.

It is now the challenge of the Senate Finance Committee to identify the $12 billion in revenues to support the EPW committee’s proposed funding levels.

The Chamber is supportive of maintaining funding at current services (current levels—also referred to as the “baseline”—plus inflation) and although a longer authorization is preferable, prioritizes maintaining funding above the length of authorization.

Additional Information: