Transportation Alternatives Enhancements Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 614 To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve the transportation alternatives program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 5, 2021 Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve the transportation alternatives program, 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 ‘‘Transportation Alter- 4 natives Enhancements Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES PROGRAM. 6 (a) SET-ASIDE.—Section 133(h)(1) of title 23, 7 United States Code, is amended— 8 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘RESERVATION 9 OF FUNDS’’ and inserting ‘‘IN GENERAL’’; and 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S614.IS S614 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 614 IS (2) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 1 by striking ‘‘for each fiscal year’’ and all that follows 2 through the period at the end of subparagraph 3 (B)(ii) and inserting ‘‘for fiscal year 2022 and each 4 fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary shall set aside 5 an amount equal to 10 percent to carry out this sub- 6 section.’’. 7 (b) ALLOCATION.—Section 133(h) of title 23, United 8 States Code, is amended by striking paragraph (2) and 9 inserting the following: 10 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION WITHIN A STATE.— 11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 12 subparagraph (B), funds set aside for a State 13 under paragraph (1) shall be obligated within 14 that State in the manner described in sub- 15 section (d), except that, for purposes of this 16 paragraph (after funds are made available 17 under paragraph (5))— 18 ‘‘(i) for fiscal year 2022 and each fis- 19 cal year thereafter, the percentage referred 20 to in paragraph (1)(A) of that subsection 21 shall be deemed to be 66 percent; and 22 ‘‘(ii) paragraph (3) of subsection (d) 23 shall not apply. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S614.IS S614 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 614 IS ‘‘(B) LOCAL CONTROL.—A State may allo- 1 cate up to 100 percent of the funds referred to 2 in subparagraph (A)(i) if— 3 ‘‘(i) the State submits to the Sec- 4 retary a plan that describes— 5 ‘‘(I) how funds will be allocated 6 to counties, metropolitan planning or- 7 ganizations, regional transportation 8 planning organizations as described in 9 section 135(m), or local governments; 10 ‘‘(II) how the entities described 11 in subclause (I) will carry out a com- 12 petitive process to select projects for 13 funding and report selected projects 14 to the State; 15 ‘‘(III) how input was gathered 16 from the entities described in sub- 17 clause (I) to ensure those entities are 18 able and willing to comply with the re- 19 quirements of this subsection; and 20 ‘‘(IV) how the State will comply 21 with paragraph (8); and 22 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary approves the plan 23 submitted under clause (i).’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S614.IS S614 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 614 IS (c) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—Section 133(h)(3) of title 1 23, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘reserved’’ 2 and inserting ‘‘set aside’’. 3 (d) ACCESS TO FUNDS.—Section 133(h)(4) of title 4 23, United States Code, is amended— 5 (1) by striking subparagraph (A); 6 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as sub- 7 paragraph (A); 8 (3) in subparagraph (A) (as so redesignated)— 9 (A) by redesignating clauses (vii) and (viii) 10 as clauses (viii) and (ix), respectively; 11 (B) by inserting after clause (vi) the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(vii) a metropolitan planning organi- 14 zation that serves an urbanized area with 15 a population of 200,000 or fewer;’’; 16 (C) in clause (viii) (as so redesignated), by 17 striking ‘‘responsible’’ and all that follows 18 through ‘‘programs’’; and 19 (D) in clause (ix) (as so redesignated), by 20 inserting ‘‘that serves an urbanized area with a 21 population of over 200,000’’ after ‘‘metropoli- 22 tan planning organization’’; and 23 (4) by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S614.IS S614 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 614 IS ‘‘(B) COMPETITIVE PROCESS.—A State or 1 metropolitan planning organization required to 2 obligate funds in accordance with paragraph (2) 3 shall develop a competitive process to allow eli- 4 gible entities to submit projects for funding 5 that achieve the objectives of this subsection. 6 ‘‘(C) SELECTION.—A metropolitan plan- 7 ning organization for an area described in sub- 8 section (d)(1)(A)(i) shall select projects under 9 the competitive process described in subpara- 10 graph (B) in consultation with the relevant 11 State. 12 ‘‘(D) PRIORITIZATION.—The competitive 13 process described in subparagraph (B) shall in- 14 clude prioritization of project location and im- 15 pact in high-need areas as defined by the State, 16 such as low-income, transit-dependent, rural, or 17 other areas.’’. 18 (e) CONTINUATION OF CERTAIN RECREATIONAL 19 TRAILS PROJECTS.—Section 133(h)(5)(A) of title 23, 20 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘reserved 21 under this section’’ and inserting ‘‘set aside under this 22 subsection’’. 23 (f) STATE FLEXIBILITY.—Section 133(h)(6) of title 24 23, United States Code, is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S614.IS S614 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 614 IS (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘reserved’’ 1 and inserting ‘‘set aside’’; and 2 (2) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(C) IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY AND EFFI- 4 CIENCY.— 5 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A State may use 6 an amount equal to not more than 5 per- 7 cent of the funds set aside for the State 8 under this subsection, after allocating 9 funds in accordance with paragraph 10 (2)(A), to improve the ability of applicants 11 to access funding for projects under this 12 subsection in an efficient and expeditious 13 manner by— 14 ‘‘(I) providing to applicants for 15 projects under this subsection applica- 16 tion assistance, technical assistance, 17 and assistance in reducing the period 18 of time between the selection of the 19 project and the obligation of funds for 20 the project; and 21 ‘‘(II) by providing funding for 1 22 or more full-time State employee posi- 23 tions to administer this subsection. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S614.IS S614 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 614 IS ‘‘(ii) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts used 1 under clause (i) may be expended— 2 ‘‘(I) directly by the State; or 3 ‘‘(II) through contracts with 4 State agencies, private entities, or 5 nonprofit entities.’’. 6 (g) FEDERAL SHARE.—Section 133(h) of title 23, 7 United States Code, is amended— 8 (1) by redesignating paragraph (7) as para- 9 graph (8); and 10 (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol- 11 lowing: 12 ‘‘(7) FEDERAL SHARE.— 13 ‘‘(A) REQUIRED AGGREGATE NON-FED- 14 ERAL SHARE.—The average annual non-Federal 15 share of the total cost of all projects for which 16 funds are obligated under this subsection in a 17 State for a fiscal year shall be not less than the 18 non-Federal share authorized for the State 19 under section 120(b). 20 ‘‘(B) FLEXIBLE FINANCING.—Subject to 21 subparagraph (A), notwithstanding section 22 120— 23 ‘‘(i) funds made available to carry out 24 section 148 may be credited toward the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S614.IS S614 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 614 IS non-Federal share of the costs of a project 1 under this subsection if the project— 2 ‘‘(I) is an eligible project de- 3 scribed in section 148(e)(1); and 4 ‘‘(II) contributes to the annual 5 safety performance targets of the 6 State; 7 ‘‘(ii) the non-Federal share for a 8 project under this subsection may be cal- 9 culated on a project, multiple-project, or 10 program basis; and 11 ‘‘(iii) the Federal share of the cost of 12 an individual project in this section may be 13 up to 100 percent.’’. 14 (h) IMPROVED TRANSPARENCY.—Paragraph (8)(A) 15 of section 133(h) of title 23, United States Code (as redes- 16 ignated by subsection (g)(1)), is amended— 17 (1) in the matter preceding clause (i), by strik- 18 ing ‘‘describes’’ and inserting ‘‘includes’’; and 19 (2) by striking clause (ii) and inserting the fol- 20 lowing: 21 ‘‘(ii) a list of each project selected for 22 funding for each fiscal year, including, for 23 each project— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S614.IS S614 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 614 IS ‘‘(I) the fiscal year during which 1 the project was selected; 2 ‘‘(II) the fiscal year in which the 3 project is anticipated to be funded; 4 ‘‘(III) the recipient; 5 ‘‘(IV) the location, including the 6 congressional district; 7 ‘‘(V) the type; and 8 ‘‘(VI) a brief description.’’. 9 (i) STATE TRANSFERABILITY.—Section 126(b)(2) of 10 title 23, United States Code, is amended— 11 (1) by striking the period at the end and insert- 12 ing ‘‘; and’’; 13 (2) by striking ‘‘for a fiscal year may’’ and in- 14 serting the following: ‘‘for a fiscal year— 15 ‘‘(A) may’’; and 16 (3) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(B) may only be transferred if the Sec- 18 retary certifies that the State— 19 ‘‘(i) held a competition in compliance 20 with the guidance issued to carry out sec- 21 tion 133(h) and provided sufficient time 22 for applicants to apply; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S614.IS S614 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 614 IS ‘‘(ii) offered to each eligible entity, 1 and provided on request of an eligible enti- 2 ty, technical assistance; and 3 ‘‘(iii) demonstrates that there were 4 not sufficiently suitable applications from 5 eligible entities to use the funds to be 6 transferred.’’. 7 (j) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section and the amend- 8 ments made by this section shall take effect on October 9 1, 2021. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:12 Apr 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S614.IS S614 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS