TRAVEL Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1516 To amend titles 23 and 49, United States Code, to encourage travel and tourism, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 29, 2021 Ms. CORTEZ MASTO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend titles 23 and 49, United States Code, to encourage travel and tourism, 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 Re- 4 sources to Add Vital Economic Longevity Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘TRAVEL Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7 Congress finds that— 8 (1) travel is the seventh-largest industry in the 9 United States, with respect to employment; 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1516 IS (2) the Department of Transportation docu- 1 ment entitled ‘‘National Travel and Tourism Infra- 2 structure Strategic Plan FY 2020–2024’’ and dated 3 January 2021— 4 (A) states that— 5 (i) the travel and tourism industry in 6 the United States— 7 (I) supports 1 out of 10 United 8 States jobs; 9 (II) accounts for— 10 (aa) 2.9 percent of the an- 11 nual gross domestic product; and 12 (bb) more than 15,000,000 13 jobs; and 14 (III) annually contributes 15 $2,600,000,000,000 in economic ac- 16 tivity across each State and territory; 17 (ii) the national intermodal transpor- 18 tation network is the backbone of the trav- 19 el and tourism industry, facilitating the 20 large-scale movement of business and lei- 21 sure travelers throughout the United 22 States; 23 (iii) the performance of the highway 24 network, as in existence on the date of en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1516 IS actment of this Act, has been suboptimal 1 for travel in urban areas of all sizes, lead- 2 ing to steadily increasing travel time in all 3 urban areas, including— 4 (I) small urban areas with a pop- 5 ulation of less than 500,000 individ- 6 uals; and 7 (II) very large urban areas with 8 a population of more than 3,000,000 9 individuals; 10 (iv) seamless, multimodal travel op- 11 tions are critical to supporting business 12 and leisure travel in the United States; 13 (v)(I) approximately 9 out of 10 long- 14 distance passenger trips covering a dis- 15 tance of more than 50 miles involve the 16 use of a personal vehicle; and 17 (II) most tourist travel in the United 18 States occurs in personal vehicles; 19 (vi)(I) intercity buses and motor 20 coaches are also significant modes of trav- 21 el; and 22 (II) in calendar year 2015, there were 23 more than 600,000,000 passenger trips 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1516 IS taken by motor coach, a number that rep- 1 resents— 2 (aa) nearly as many passenger 3 trips as were taken through United 4 States airlines; and 5 (bb) 20 times as many passenger 6 trips as were taken on Amtrak; and 7 (vii)(I) the usage of public roads as of 8 the date of enactment of this Act is greater 9 than such usage 30 years before that date 10 of enactment; but 11 (II) road capacity has increased by 12 approximately 8 percent, while vehicle 13 miles traveled has increased by approxi- 14 mately 50 percent; 15 (B) forecasts that— 16 (i) by 2023— 17 (I) domestic long-distance trips 18 will increase, as compared to 2018 19 levels, by 8.6 percent; and 20 (II) leisure trips will comprise 21 approximately 80 percent of all do- 22 mestic trips in the United States each 23 year; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1516 IS (ii) by 2045, significant congestion is 1 expected on many United States highways, 2 which will greatly affect tourism travel, as 3 passenger vehicles and motor coaches will 4 be caught in congested highway stretches 5 alongside major freight networks; 6 (C) finds that international tourism across 7 all countries— 8 (i) increased from 1,000,000,000 trips 9 during calendar year 2012 to 10 1,400,000,000 during calendar year 2018; 11 and 12 (ii) is estimated to increase to 13 1,800,000,000 or more trips during cal- 14 endar year 2030; 15 (D) describes financial barriers, including 16 the findings that— 17 (i) the Department of Transportation 18 administers several funding programs, 19 some of which apply models and ap- 20 proaches that typically emphasize peak-pe- 21 riod commuting and freight movement, 22 rather than temporary or seasonal visita- 23 tion; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1516 IS (ii) while travel and tourism trips may 1 benefit from investments under the pro- 2 grams described in clause (i), areas with 3 small resident populations but significant 4 tourism traffic may not receive funding 5 that corresponds to applicable demands on 6 transportation infrastructure; and 7 (E) includes strategies to improve inter- 8 modal connectivity, such as— 9 (i) developing guidance and best prac- 10 tices to help States and metropolitan plan- 11 ning organizations to address the new trav- 12 el and tourism planning factor; 13 (ii) modernizing data collection and 14 modeling and forecasting approaches for 15 long-distance trips; 16 (iii) assessing the means by which for- 17 mula and discretionary funding programs 18 of the Department of Transportation could 19 benefit travel and tourism projects; and 20 (iv) communicating key travel and 21 tourism facilities and corridors; 22 (3) 83 percent of all travel- and tourism-de- 23 pendent businesses are small businesses; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1516 IS (4) the economic benefits of travel depend on 1 the condition and performance of the national trans- 2 portation network; and 3 (5) as of the date of enactment of this Act, 4 aging infrastructure, increased demand and conges- 5 tion, poor or no multimodal connectivity, and a mul- 6 titude of other challenges are— 7 (A) impairing travel mobility in the United 8 States; and 9 (B) causing strain on the ability to sustain 10 and grow the travel and tourism industry in the 11 United States. 12 SEC. 3. NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT FREIGHT, HIGHWAY, 13 AND TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS. 14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 117 of title 23, United 15 States Code, is amended— 16 (1) in the section heading, by striking 17 ‘‘freight and highway’’ and inserting 18 ‘‘freight, highway, and transportation’’; 19 (2) in subsection (a)— 20 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘freight 21 and highway’’ and inserting ‘‘freight, highway, 22 and transportation’’; and 23 (B) in paragraph (2)(D), by striking 24 ‘‘freight’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1516 IS (3) in subsection (d)— 1 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 2 (i) in clause (iii)(II), by striking ‘‘or’’ 3 at the end; 4 (ii) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 5 the end and inserting ‘‘or’’; and 6 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(v) a surface transportation project 9 eligible for Federal assistance under this 10 title, if the Secretary determines that the 11 project is— 12 ‘‘(I) functionally connected to, 13 and increases the efficiency of, the 14 National Highway Freight Network; 15 or 16 ‘‘(II) carried out in accordance 17 with the National Travel and Tourism 18 Infrastructure Strategic Plan under 19 section 1431(e) of Public Law 114–94 20 (49 U.S.C. 301 note); and’’; 21 (B) by striking paragraph (2); 22 (C) by striking the subsection designation 23 and heading and all that follows through ‘‘Ex- 24 cept as’’ in the matter preceding subparagraph 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1516 IS (A) of paragraph (1) and inserting the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—Except as’’; 3 (D) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 4 and (B) as paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively, 5 and indenting the paragraphs appropriately; 6 (E) in paragraph (1) (as so redesig- 7 nated)— 8 (i) by redesignating clauses (i) 9 through (v) (as added by subparagraph 10 (A)(iii)) as subparagraphs (A) through 11 (E), respectively, and indenting the sub- 12 paragraphs appropriately; and 13 (ii) in each of subparagraphs (B), (C), 14 and (E) (as so redesignated), by redesig- 15 nating subclauses (I) and (II) as clauses 16 (i) and (ii), respectively, and indenting the 17 clauses appropriately; and 18 (F) in paragraph (2) (as so redesig- 19 nated)— 20 (i) by redesignating clauses (i) and 21 (ii) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respec- 22 tively, and indenting the subparagraphs 23 appropriately; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1516 IS (ii) in subparagraph (B) (as so redes- 1 ignated), by redesignating subclauses (I) 2 and (II) as clauses (i) and (ii), respec- 3 tively, and indenting the clauses appro- 4 priately; 5 (4) in subsection (e)(1)— 6 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (d)(1)(A)’’ and 7 inserting ‘‘subsection (d)(1)’’; and 8 (B) by striking ‘‘subsection (d)(1)(B)’’ and 9 inserting ‘‘subsection (d)(2)’’; 10 (5) by redesignating subsections (i) through (n) 11 as subsections (j) through (o), respectively; 12 (6) by inserting after subsection (h) the fol- 13 lowing: 14 ‘‘(i) MULTISTATE CORRIDOR PLANNING, OPER- 15 ATIONS, AND MANAGEMENT.— 16 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF MULTISTATE CORRIDOR 17 ORGANIZATION.—In this subsection, the term 18 ‘multistate corridor organization’ means an organi- 19 zation— 20 ‘‘(A) that is— 21 ‘‘(i) comprised of— 22 ‘‘(I) States; and 23 ‘‘(II) applicable metropolitan 24 planning organizations; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1516 IS ‘‘(ii) developed through cooperative 1 agreements, coalitions, or other arrange- 2 ments; and 3 ‘‘(B) the purpose of which is to promote 4 regional cooperation, planning, and shared 5 project implementation for programs and 6 projects to improve transportation system man- 7 agement and operations for a shared transpor- 8 tation corridor. 9 ‘‘(2) RESERVATION.—The Secretary shall re- 10 serve not less than 10 percent of the amounts made 11 available under this section for each fiscal year to 12 make grants to multistate corridor organizations to 13 promote regional cooperation and the planning of 14 projects and activities to improve multimodal trans- 15 portation system operations and management in 16 critical transportation corridors. 17 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds reserved under 18 paragraph (2) may be used— 19 ‘‘(A) to support— 20 ‘‘(i) multistate coordination for plan- 21 ning, development, and construction of 22 major multimodal capital projects; and 23 ‘‘(ii) development of information tech- 24 nology and operations that improve the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1516 IS intermodal movement of freight and pas- 1 sengers; 2 ‘‘(B) to enhance coordination and imple- 3 mentation of interagency efforts in response to 4 incidents; and 5 ‘‘(C) to develop a corridor-wide, 6 multimodal traveler information system that 7 provides agencies and travelers with accurate 8 and timely information regarding incidents, 9 congestion, and construction activity. 10 ‘‘(4) CONSIDERATIONS.—In making grants 11 under this subsection, the Secretary shall— 12 ‘‘(A) give priority to projects located in 13 corridors that— 14 ‘‘(i) are part of the Interstate System; 15 or 16 ‘‘(ii) will be designated as part of the 17 Interstate System after completion of the 18 work described in an application received 19 by the Secretary; and 20 ‘‘(B) take into consideration— 21 ‘‘(i) the extent to which— 22 ‘‘(I) a corridor provides a link be- 23 tween 2 existing segments of the 24 Interstate System; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1516 IS ‘‘(II) a project will facilitate re- 1 gional mobility, accessibility, and eco- 2 nomic growth and development in 3 areas underserved by existing highway 4 infrastructure; 5 ‘‘(III) international truck-borne 6 commodities move through a corridor; 7 and 8 ‘‘(IV) a project will make im- 9 provements to an existing segment of 10 the Interstate System that will result 11 in a decrease in congestion; 12 ‘‘(ii) the reduction in commercial and 13 other travel time through a major freight 14 corridor expected as a result of a project; 15 and 16 ‘‘(iii) the value of the cargo carried by 17 commercial vehicle traffic in a corridor and 18 the economic costs arising from congestion 19 in the corridor.’’; and 20 (7) in paragraph (1)(B) of subsection (n) (as so 21 redesignated), by striking ‘‘subsection (d)(1)(A)(iii)’’ 22 and inserting ‘‘subsection (d)(1)(C)’’. 23 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 24 chapter 1 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:10 Jun 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1516.IS S1516 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 14 •S 1516 IS striking the item relating to section 117 and inserting the 1 following: 2 ‘‘§ 117. Nationally significant freight, highway, and transportation projects.’’. SEC. 4. FEDERAL SHARE PAYABLE. 3 Section 120(c) of title 23, United States Code, is 4 amended by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(4) LOCAL OR REGIONAL ECONOMIC GENER- 6 ATOR.—At the discretion of the applicable State, the 7 Federal share payable on account of a project, pro- 8 gram, or activity carried out with funds apportioned 9 under section 104(b) may be up to 100 percent, if 10 the Secretary determines that the project, program, 11 or activity— 12 ‘‘(A) results in significant local or eco- 13 nomic growth, including increased travel and 14 tourism; 15 ‘‘(B) is— [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]