Fixing America’s Bridges Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1299 To permit the Secretary of Transportation to approve Federal participation in the replacement or rehabilitation of certain bridges, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 24, 2021 Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana (for himself and Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To permit the Secretary of Transportation to approve Fed- eral participation in the replacement or rehabilitation of certain bridges, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fixing America’s 4 Bridges Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. HIGHWAY BRIDGE REPLACEMENT AND REHABILI- 6 TATION PROGRAM. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 144 of title 23, United 8 States Code, is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1299 IH (1) in the section heading by striking ‘‘Na- 1 tional bridge and tunnel inventory and 2 inspection standards’’ and inserting ‘‘High- 3 way bridge replacement and rehabilita- 4 tion’’; and 5 (2) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(l) HIGHWAY BRIDGE REPLACEMENT AND REHA- 7 BILITATION PROGRAM.— 8 ‘‘(1) PARTICIPATION.—On application by a 9 State or States to the Secretary for assistance for 10 one or more highway bridges that have been deter- 11 mined to be eligible for replacement or rehabilitation 12 under subsection (b), the Secretary may approve 13 Federal participation in— 14 ‘‘(A) replacing a bridge with a comparable 15 facility; or 16 ‘‘(B) rehabilitating a bridge. 17 ‘‘(2) TYPES OF ASSISTANCE.—On application 18 by a State or States to the Secretary, the Secretary 19 may approve Federal assistance for any of the fol- 20 lowing activities for a highway bridge that has been 21 determined to be eligible for replacement or rehabili- 22 tation under subsection (b): 23 ‘‘(A) Painting. 24 ‘‘(B) Seismic retrofit. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1299 IH ‘‘(C) Systematic preventive maintenance. 1 ‘‘(D) Installation of scour countermea- 2 sures. 3 ‘‘(E) Application of calcium magnesium ac- 4 etate, sodium acetate/formate, or other environ- 5 mentally acceptable, minimally corrosive anti- 6 icing and de-icing compositions. 7 ‘‘(3) BASIS FOR DETERMINATION.—The Sec- 8 retary shall determine the eligibility of highway 9 bridges for replacement or rehabilitation for each 10 State based on highway bridges found to be in poor 11 condition in the State. 12 ‘‘(4) SPECIAL RULE FOR PREVENTIVE MAINTE- 13 NANCE.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 14 this subsection, a State may carry out a project 15 under paragraph (2)(B), (2)(C), or (2)(D) for a 16 highway bridge without regard to whether the bridge 17 is eligible for replacement or rehabilitation under 18 this section. 19 ‘‘(5) APPORTIONMENT.— 20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Funds authorized to 21 carry out this section shall be apportioned 22 among the several States on October 1 of the 23 fiscal year for which authorized in accordance 24 with this subsection. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1299 IH ‘‘(B) CATEGORIES OF DEFICIENCY.—Each 1 deficient bridge shall be placed into one of the 2 following categories: 3 ‘‘(i) Federal-aid system bridges eligi- 4 ble for replacement. 5 ‘‘(ii) Federal-aid system bridges eligi- 6 ble for rehabilitation. 7 ‘‘(iii) Off-system bridges eligible for 8 replacement. 9 ‘‘(iv) Off-system bridges eligible for 10 rehabilitation. 11 ‘‘(C) CALCULATION OF APPORTION- 12 MENT.— 13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The deck area of 14 deficient bridges in each category shall be 15 multiplied by the respective unit price on a 16 State-by-State basis, as determined by the 17 Secretary, and the total cost in each State 18 divided by the total cost of the deficient 19 bridges in all States shall determine the 20 apportionment factors. 21 ‘‘(ii) DETERMINATIONS.—The Sec- 22 retary shall make determinations under 23 clause (i) using the latest available data, 24 which shall be updated annually. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1299 IH ‘‘(D) SPECIAL RULE FOR APPORTION- 1 MENT.—If a State transfers funds apportioned 2 to the State under this section in a fiscal year 3 beginning after September 30, 2019, to any 4 other apportionment of funds to such State 5 under this title, the total cost of deficient 6 bridges in such State and in all States to be de- 7 termined for the succeeding fiscal year shall be 8 reduced by the amount of such transferred 9 funds. 10 ‘‘(E) LIMITATION OF APPORTIONMENT.— 11 No State shall receive more than 10 percent or 12 less than 0.25 percent of the total apportion- 13 ment for any one fiscal year. 14 ‘‘(F) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Funds 15 apportioned under this section shall be available 16 for expenditure for the period specified in sec- 17 tion 118(b). 18 ‘‘(G) REAPPORTIONMENT OF FUNDS.—Any 19 funds not obligated at the expiration of the pe- 20 riod described in subparagraph (F) shall be re- 21 apportioned by the Secretary to the other 22 States in accordance with this subsection. 23 ‘‘(H) SPECIAL RULE FOR USE OF 24 FUNDS.—The use of funds authorized under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1299 IH this section to carry out a project for the seis- 1 mic retrofit of a bridge shall not affect the ap- 2 portionment of funds under this section. 3 ‘‘(6) SET-ASIDE FOR OFF-SYSTEM BRIDGES.— 4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not less than 20 per- 5 cent of the amount apportioned to each State in 6 each fiscal year shall be expended for projects 7 to replace, rehabilitate, paint, perform system- 8 atic preventive maintenance or seismic retrofit 9 of, or apply calcium magnesium acetate, sodium 10 acetate/formate, or other environmentally ac- 11 ceptable, minimally corrosive anti-icing and de- 12 icing compositions to, or install scour counter- 13 measures to, highway bridges located on public 14 roads, other than those on a Federal-aid high- 15 way. 16 ‘‘(B) REDUCTION OF EXPENDITURES.— 17 The Secretary, after consultation with State 18 and local officials, may reduce the requirement 19 for expenditure for bridges not on a Federal-aid 20 highway under subparagraph (A) with respect 21 to the State if the Secretary determines that 22 the State has inadequate needs to justify the 23 expenditure. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1299 IH ‘‘(7) INVENTORIES AND REPORTS.—The Sec- 1 retary shall— 2 ‘‘(A) biennially report to the Committee on 3 Environment and Public Works of the Senate 4 and the Committee on Transportation and In- 5 frastructure of the House of Representatives on 6 projects approved under this section; 7 ‘‘(B) annually revise the current inven- 8 tories authorized by subsection (b) of this sec- 9 tion; 10 ‘‘(C) biennially report to such committees 11 on such inventories; and 12 ‘‘(D) biennially report to such committees 13 such recommendations as the Secretary may 14 have for improvements of the program author- 15 ized by this section. 16 ‘‘(8) FAIR AND EQUITABLE BASIS.—Sums ap- 17 portioned to a State under this section shall be made 18 available for obligation throughout such State on a 19 fair and equitable basis. 20 ‘‘(9) PERIODIC REVIEW OF APPLICATION PRO- 21 CEDURES.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 23 months after the date of enactment of this sub- 24 section, and periodically thereafter, the Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1299 IH retary shall review the procedure used in ap- 1 proving or disapproving applications submitted 2 under this section to determine what changes, 3 if any, may be made to expedite such proce- 4 dure. 5 ‘‘(B) IMPLEMENTATION OF CHANGES.— 6 The Secretary shall implement the changes de- 7 termined under subparagraph (A) as soon as 8 possible. 9 ‘‘(C) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 10 than 9 months after the date of enactment of 11 this subsection, the Secretary shall submit a re- 12 port to Congress which describes such review 13 and such changes, including any recommenda- 14 tions for legislative changes. 15 ‘‘(10) CREDIT FOR BRIDGES NOT ON FEDERAL- 16 AID HIGHWAYS.— 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 18 other provision of law, with respect to any 19 project not on a Federal-aid highway for the re- 20 placement of a bridge or rehabilitation of a 21 bridge that is wholly funded from State and 22 local sources, is eligible for Federal funds under 23 this section, is noncontroversial, is certified by 24 the State to have been carried out in accord- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1299 IH ance with all standards applicable to such 1 projects under this section, and is determined 2 by the Secretary upon completion to be no 3 longer a deficient bridge any amount expended 4 after the date of enactment of this subsection 5 from State and local sources for the project in 6 excess of 20 percent of the cost of construction 7 of the project may be credited to the non-Fed- 8 eral share of the cost of other bridge projects 9 in the State that are eligible for Federal funds 10 under this section. 11 ‘‘(B) CREDITING.—Crediting described 12 under subparagraph (A) shall be conducted in 13 accordance with procedures established by the 14 Secretary. 15 ‘‘(11) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 16 ‘‘(A) The term ‘rehabilitate’ means per- 17 forming major work necessary to restore the 18 structural integrity of a bridge as well as work 19 necessary to correct a major safety defect. 20 ‘‘(B) The term ‘rehabilitation’ means 21 major work necessary to restore the structural 22 integrity of a bridge as well as work necessary 23 to correct a major safety defect. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1299 IH ‘‘(12) FEDERAL SHARE.—Notwithstanding sec- 1 tion 120, the Federal share of the cost of a project 2 carried out under this subsection shall be 90 per- 3 cent. 4 ‘‘(13) TREATMENT OF OFF-SYSTEM BRIDGE 5 PROJECTS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 6 law, off-system bridge projects funded in whole, or 7 in part, under paragraphs (5) or (6) shall be treated 8 as projects on a Federal-aid highway under this 9 chapter. 10 ‘‘(14) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 11 There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as 12 may be necessary to carry out this subsection.’’. 13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap- 14 ter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by strik- 15 ing the item relating to section 144 and inserting the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘144. Highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation.’’. (c) SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BLOCK GRANT PRO- 18 GRAM.—Section 133(f) of title 23, United States Code, is 19 repealed. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:01 Mar 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1299.IH H1299 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS