House Democrats release surface transportation reauthorization addressing county priorities

Key Takeaways

On June 4, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, led by House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), introduced H.R. 7095, the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation (INVEST) in America Act. The five-year, $494 billion surface transportation reauthorization contains an extension of current law (P.L. 114-94) for highway and transit programs (plus some additional Highway Trust Fund authority) for FY 2021, followed by new and existing authorizations for these programs from FY 2022 to FY 2025. It also includes new, five-year reauthorizations for the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Current law, P.L. 114-94, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015, is set expire on September 30, 2020.

The 864-page bill follows the January release of House Democrats’ comprehensive infrastructure framework and is the second time Congress has acted to reauthorize surface transportation programs ahead of the current law’s expiration in September, though it is the first complete reauthorization bill released in either chamber. The U.S. Senate’s only official reauthorization action to date remains the favorable passage of a bipartisan highway title (S. 2302, the America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act) out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works last summer.

Counties own 45 percent of America’s public road miles, 38 percent of the National Bridge Inventory and directly support 78 percent of the nation’s public transit systems that connect people with places in every corner of the country. The 864-page House bill would provide critical funding for local communities and includes multiple provisions important for counties, including:

• Increasing direct funding opportunities for counties by creating or reviving over 20 new grant programs
• Diverting funds traditionally apportioned through formulas to states to competitive programs that counties could apply for directly through USDOT
• Allowing FY 2021 funds to be used at a 100 percent federal cost share to aid communities recovering from COVID-19
• Increasing authorization levels for USDOT’s highway, transit, rail and safety administrations
• Maintaining and increasing the off-system bridge set-aside to over $1 billion annually (currently roughly $777 million)
• Expanding local decision-making in projects completed under the surface transportation block grant by adding a new population tranche
• Creating a new, $2.4 billion grant program for locally owned infrastructure that counties could apply for directly through USDOT
• Addressing climate change and resiliency needs of transportation and infrastructure assets with new grant programs and carbon emission reduction requirements
• Significantly increasing funding for rail and transit projects and programs
• Prioritizing returning transportation and infrastructure assets to states of good repair over adding new capacity for motor vehicles
• Growing the CRISI grant program by over 320 percent
• Creating a new, $2.5 billion grant program to address at-grade rail-highway crossings for counties to make improvements or eliminate these crossings all together wherever possible
• Extend the amount of time a local government has to apply for highway emergency funds from two years to six years
• Weakening the High Risk Rural Road special rule by allowing states to obligate funds over the following two fiscal years after the rule is triggered (states are currently required to obligate all funds to address the HRRR in the year the rule is triggered)
• Creating several new intergovernmental working groups for USDOT
• Implementing new reporting and planning requirements for counties and local transportation agencies, with a focus on environmental and employee protections
• Beginning to address the looming insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund by establishing federal and state vehicle miles traveled pilot programs

NACo has released a comprehensive analysis of the bill, which can be viewed here. NACo’s analysis of S. 2302, the Senate’s highway bill, can be viewed here.

To date, neither the House nor the Senate proposals include a “pay for” to account for projected shortfalls in revenue from the HTF – which is predicted to be insolvent as early as 2021. At least $140 billion in additional revenue sources would need to be identified to fund the INVEST in America Act. Once both chambers have developed and passed complete authorizations, the two versions must be conferenced. The INVEST in America Act does not currently enjoy bipartisan support, though it likely will not need it to pass both the House T&I Committee and the House itself, setting up difficult negotiations in the Senate to work out what appears will be significant differences between the two. Should lawmakers reach an agreement in the form of a conference report, both chambers will need to approve the legislation prior to the deal going to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

This timeline – in conjunction with COVID-19 and the 2020 elections – will likely set up one or more short-term extensions of the FAST Act once it expires on September 30, 2020, as is partially proposed in the first year of the INVEST in America Act, and as has been the case with most recent reauthorizations. It is likely that we will see a special rule in the House in coming weeks that separates the INVEST in America Act into two bills, with the one-year FAST Act extension contained in Division A becoming standalone legislation.

NACo will continue to work with our congressional champions to ensure county priorities are included in any final surface transportation reauthorization.