Interstate Rail Compacts Advancement Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3090 To establish a grant program to support interstate rail compacts and improve the safety, efficiency, or reliability of passenger and freight rail transpor- tation systems, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 11, 2021 Mr. COHEN (for himself, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illi- nois, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To establish a grant program to support interstate rail com- pacts and improve the safety, efficiency, or reliability of passenger and freight rail transportation systems, 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 ‘‘Interstate Rail Com- 4 pacts Advancement Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3090 IH SEC. 2. INTERSTATE RAIL COMPACTS. 1 (a) IDENTIFICATION.—Section 410 of the Amtrak 2 Reform and Accountability Act of 1997 (Public Law 105– 3 134; 49 U.S.C. 24101 note) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (b)(2) by striking ‘‘(except 5 funds made available for Amtrak)’’; and 6 (2) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(c) INTERSTATE RAIL COMPACTS PROGRAM.—The 8 Secretary of Transportation shall— 9 ‘‘(1) make available on a publicly accessible 10 website a list of interstate rail compacts established 11 in accordance with subsection (a); 12 ‘‘(2) provide information to the public regarding 13 interstate rail compacts, including how States may 14 establish interstate rail compacts under subsection 15 (a); and 16 ‘‘(3) annually update the information provided 17 under paragraph (2).’’. 18 (b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—Chapter 229 of title 49, 19 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 20 following: 21 ‘‘§ 22909. Interstate rail compacts support program 22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop and 23 implement a program for providing administrative assist- 24 ance grants to an applicant, on a competitive basis, to sup- 25 port interstate and regional efforts— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3090 IH ‘‘(1) to improve the safety, efficiency, or reli- 1 ability of intercity passenger rail; and 2 ‘‘(2) to promote and develop intercity passenger 3 rail service, including through initiating, restoring, 4 or enhancing intercity passenger rail service. 5 ‘‘(b) APPLICANT SELECTION CRITERIA.— 6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In awarding grants under 7 this section, the Secretary shall consider— 8 ‘‘(A) the amount of funding received (in- 9 cluding funding from railroads) or other signifi- 10 cant participation by State, local, and regional 11 governmental and private entities; 12 ‘‘(B) the applicant’s work to facilitate and 13 encourage regional planning for passenger rail 14 improvement, enhancement, and development; 15 ‘‘(C) the applicant’s work to foster, 16 through rail transportation systems, economic 17 development, particularly in rural communities 18 and for disadvantaged populations; 19 ‘‘(D) the applicant’s efforts to provide 20 guidance to local communities on public and 21 private resources relate to community concerns, 22 such as congestion, rail and grade crossing 23 safety, trespasser prevention, quiet zones, 24 idling, and rail line relocations; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3090 IH ‘‘(E) whether the applicant seeks to restore 1 service over routes formerly operated by Am- 2 trak, including routes described in section 3 11304(a) of the Passenger Rail Reform and In- 4 vestment Act of 2015 (title XI of division A of 5 Public Law 114–94); 6 ‘‘(F) the applicant’s dedication to pro- 7 viding intercity passenger rail service to regions 8 and communities that are underserved or not 9 served by other intercity public transportation; 10 ‘‘(G) whether the applicant is enhancing 11 connectivity and geographic coverage of the ex- 12 isting national network of intercity rail pas- 13 senger service; 14 ‘‘(H) the applicant’s efforts to engage with 15 entities to deploy railroad safety technology or 16 programs, including trespassing prevention, rail 17 integrity inspection systems, or grade crossing 18 safety; 19 ‘‘(I) whether the applicant prepares re- 20 gional rail and corridor service development 21 plans and corresponding environmental anal- 22 ysis; 23 ‘‘(J) whether the applicant would maximize 24 the net benefits of the funds authorized for use 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3090 IH under this section, considering the cost-benefit 1 analysis of the proposed project, including an- 2 ticipated private and public benefits relative to 3 the costs of the proposed project; and 4 ‘‘(K) whether the applicant has engaged 5 with the Federal, local, or State government 6 and transportation planning agencies to identify 7 projects necessary to enhance multimodal con- 8 nections or facilitate service integration between 9 rail service and other modes, including between 10 intercity rail passenger transportation and 11 intercity bus service, commercial air service, or 12 commuter rail service. 13 ‘‘(2) PREFERENCE.—In selecting grant recipi- 14 ents, the Secretary shall give preference to appli- 15 cants that are initiating, restoring, or enhancing 16 intercity rail passenger transportation. 17 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION PROCESS.—The Secretary shall 18 prescribe the form and manner of filing applications under 19 this section. 20 ‘‘(d) PERFORMANCE MEASURES.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab- 22 lish performance measures for each grant recipient 23 to assess progress in achieving strategic goals and 24 objectives. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3090 IH ‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORT.— The Secretary shall 1 require grant recipients to submit an annual report 2 of the activities of such recipient and information re- 3 lated to applicable performance measures, which 4 may include— 5 ‘‘(A) a demonstration of progress to 6 achieve or advance the relevant criteria de- 7 scribed in subsection (c); and 8 ‘‘(B) receipt of non-Federal matching 9 funds from each member State at least once 10 during each fiscal year. 11 ‘‘(e) FEDERAL SHARE OF TOTAL PROJECT COST.— 12 The Secretary shall require each recipient of a grant under 13 this subsection to provide a non-Federal match of not less 14 than 50 percent of the administrative costs of the inter- 15 state rail compact. 16 ‘‘(f) APPLICABLE REQUIREMENTS.—The use of any 17 amounts appropriated for grants under this section shall 18 be subject to the applicable requirements under this chap- 19 ter. 20 ‘‘(g) APPLICABILITY.—Amounts appropriated to 21 carry out this section shall remain available until ex- 22 pended. 23 ‘‘(h) LIMITATIONS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3090 IH ‘‘(1) MAXIMUM FUNDING PER APPLICANT.— 1 The Secretary may not award a grant under this 2 section in an amount exceeding $500,000 for each 3 applicant in any fiscal year. 4 ‘‘(2) NUMERIC LIMITATION.—The Secretary 5 may not provide grants under this section to more 6 than 10 interstate rail compacts in any fiscal year. 7 ‘‘(i) USE OF INTERSTATE RAIL COMPACT GRANTS 8 AND OTHER FEDERAL FUNDING.—A recipient of an 9 interstate rail compact grant under this section may use 10 such grant in combination with other Federal grants 11 awarded that would benefit the applicable use. 12 ‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 13 ‘‘(1) APPLICANT.—The term ‘applicant’ means 14 an interstate rail compact or an interstate commis- 15 sion composed of 2 or more States that has been es- 16 tablished to promote, develop, or operate intercity 17 passenger rail transportation systems. 18 ‘‘(2) INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE.— 19 The term ‘intercity passenger rail service’ has the 20 meaning given the term ‘intercity rail passenger 21 transportation’ in section 24102.’’. 22 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap- 23 ter 229 of title 49, United States code, is amended by 24 adding at the end the following: 25 ‘‘22909. Interstate rail compacts support program.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3090 IH (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 1 20117(a)(4) of title 49, United States Code, is amended 2 to read as follows: 3 ‘‘(4) REGIONAL PLANNING GUIDANCE.—The 4 Secretary may withhold up to $20,000,000 annually 5 of the amount made available for each fiscal year 6 under paragraph (1) to facilitate and provide guid- 7 ance for regional planning processes, including not 8 more than $2,000,000 to provide funding for inter- 9 state rail compacts and commissions.’’. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:42 Jun 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3090.IH H3090 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS