PLACE Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 385 To direct the Secretary of Transportation to make grants for the operation of a clearinghouse to collect, conduct, and fund research on the influences of highly automated vehicles on land use, urban design, transportation, real estate, and municipal budgets, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 21, 2021 Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself and Ms. BONAMICI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech- nology, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and Infra- structure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To direct the Secretary of Transportation to make grants for the operation of a clearinghouse to collect, conduct, and fund research on the influences of highly automated vehicles on land use, urban design, transportation, real estate, and municipal budgets, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Feb 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 385 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preparing Localities 2 for an Autonomous and Connected Environment Act’’ or 3 the ‘‘PLACE Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. NATIONAL HIGHLY AUTOMATED VEHICLE AND MO- 5 BILITY INNOVATION CLEARINGHOUSE. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 55 of title 7 49, United States Code, is further amended by adding at 8 the end the following: 9 ‘‘§ 5506. National highly automated vehicle and mo- 10 bility innovation clearinghouse 11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make a 12 grant to an institution of higher education engaged in re- 13 search on the secondary impacts of highly automated vehi- 14 cles and mobility innovation to— 15 ‘‘(1) operate a national highly automated vehi- 16 cle and mobility innovation clearinghouse; 17 ‘‘(2) collect, conduct, and fund research on the 18 secondary impacts of highly automated vehicles and 19 mobility innovation; 20 ‘‘(3) make such research available on a public 21 website; and 22 ‘‘(4) conduct outreach and dissemination of the 23 information described in this subsection to assist 24 communities. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Feb 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 385 IH ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1 is authorized to be appropriated out of the Highway Trust 2 Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) to carry out 3 this section $2,000,000 for each fiscal year from funds 4 made available to carry out sections 512 through 518 of 5 title 23, United States Code. 6 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 ‘‘(1) HIGHLY AUTOMATED VEHICLE.—The term 8 ‘highly automated vehicle’ means a motor vehicle 9 that— 10 ‘‘(A) is capable of performing the entire 11 task of driving (including steering, accelerating 12 and decelerating, and reacting to external stim- 13 ulus) without human intervention; and 14 ‘‘(B) is designed to be operated exclusively 15 by a Level 3, Level 4, or Level 5 automated 16 driving system for all trips according to the rec- 17 ommended practice standards published on 18 June 15, 2018, by the Society of Automotive 19 Engineers International (J3016l201806) or 20 equivalent standards adopted by the Secretary 21 with respect to automated motor vehicles. 22 ‘‘(2) MOBILITY INNOVATION.—The term ‘mobil- 23 ity innovation’ means an activity described in section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Feb 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 385 IH 5316, including mobility on demand and mobility as 1 a service (as such terms are defined in such section). 2 ‘‘(3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 3 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 4 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 5 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 6 ‘‘(4) SECONDARY IMPACTS.—The term ‘sec- 7 ondary impacts’ means the impacts on land use, 8 urban design, transportation systems, real estate, 9 accessibility, municipal budgets, social equity, avail- 10 ability and quality of jobs, air quality and climate, 11 energy consumption, and the environment.’’. 12 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap- 13 ter 55 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by add- 14 ing at the end the following: 15 ‘‘5506. National highly automated vehicle and mobility innovation clearing- house.’’. (c) DEADLINE FOR CLEARINGHOUSE.—The Sec- 16 retary of Transportation shall ensure that the institution 17 of higher education that receives the grant described in 18 section 5506(a)(1) of title 49, United States Code, as 19 added by subsection (a), shall establish the national highly 20 automated vehicle clearinghouse described in such section 21 not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 22 this Act. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Feb 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H385.IH H385 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS