Toll Credit Marketplace Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1808 To establish a pilot program for the transfer and sale of toll credits, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 25, 2021 Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To establish a pilot program for the transfer and sale of toll credits, 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 ‘‘Toll Credit Market- 4 place Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. TRANSFER AND SALE OF TOLL CREDITS. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 (1) ORIGINATING STATE.—The term ‘‘origi- 8 nating State’’ means a State that— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1808 IS (A) is eligible to use a credit under section 1 120(i) of title 23, United States Code; and 2 (B) has been selected by the Secretary 3 under subsection (d)(2). 4 (2) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘pilot pro- 5 gram’’ means the pilot program established under 6 subsection (b). 7 (3) RECIPIENT STATE.—The term ‘‘recipient 8 State’’ means a State that receives a credit by trans- 9 fer or by sale under this section from an originating 10 State. 11 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 12 the Secretary of Transportation. 13 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 14 ing given the term in section 101(a) of title 23, 15 United States Code. 16 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM.—Not 17 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, 18 the Secretary shall establish and implement a toll credit 19 exchange pilot program in accordance with this section. 20 (c) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the pilot program 21 are— 22 (1) to identify the extent of the demand to pur- 23 chase toll credits; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1808 IS (2) to identify the cash price of toll credits 1 through bilateral transactions between States; 2 (3) to analyze the impact of the purchase or 3 sale of toll credits on transportation expenditures; 4 (4) to test the feasibility of expanding the pilot 5 program to allow all States to participate on a per- 6 manent basis; and 7 (5) to identify any other repercussions of the 8 toll credit exchange. 9 (d) SELECTION OF ORIGINATING STATES.— 10 (1) APPLICATION.—In order to participate in 11 the pilot program as an originating State, a State 12 shall submit to the Secretary an application at such 13 time, in such manner, and containing such informa- 14 tion as the Secretary may require, including, at a 15 minimum, such information as is required for the 16 Secretary to verify— 17 (A) the amount of unused toll credits for 18 which the State has submitted certification to 19 the Secretary that are available to be sold or 20 transferred under the pilot program, includ- 21 ing— 22 (i) toll revenue generated and the 23 sources of that revenue; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1808 IS (ii) toll revenue used by public, quasi- 1 public, and private agencies to build, im- 2 prove, or maintain highways, bridges, or 3 tunnels that serve the public purpose of 4 interstate commerce; and 5 (iii) an accounting of any Federal 6 funds used by the public, quasi-public, or 7 private agency to build, improve, or main- 8 tain the toll facility, to validate that the 9 credit has been reduced by a percentage 10 equal to the percentage of the total cost of 11 building, improving, or maintaining the fa- 12 cility that was derived from Federal funds; 13 (B) the documentation of maintenance of 14 effort for toll credits earned by the originating 15 State; and 16 (C) the accuracy of the accounting system 17 of the State to earn and track toll credits. 18 (2) SELECTION.—Of the States that submit an 19 application under paragraph (1), the Secretary may 20 select not more than 10 States to be designated as 21 an originating State. 22 (3) LIMITATION ON SALES.—At any time, the 23 Secretary may limit the amount of unused toll cred- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1808 IS its that may be offered for sale under the pilot pro- 1 gram. 2 (e) TRANSFER OR SALE OF CREDITS.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pilot 4 program, the Secretary shall provide that an origi- 5 nating State may transfer or sell to a recipient State 6 a credit not previously used by the originating State 7 under section 120(i) of title 23, United States Code. 8 (2) WEBSITE SUPPORT.—The Secretary shall 9 make available a publicly accessible website on which 10 originating States shall post the amount of toll cred- 11 its, verified under subsection (d)(1)(A), that are 12 available for sale or transfer to a recipient State. 13 (3) BILATERAL TRANSACTIONS.—An origi- 14 nating State and a recipient State may enter into a 15 bilateral transaction to sell or transfer verified toll 16 credits. 17 (4) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 days 18 after the date on which a credit is transferred or 19 sold, the originating State and the recipient State 20 shall jointly submit to the Secretary a written notifi- 21 cation of the transfer or sale, including details on— 22 (A) the amount of toll credits that have 23 been sold or transferred; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1808 IS (B) the price paid or other value trans- 1 ferred in exchange for the toll credits; 2 (C) the intended use by the recipient State 3 of the toll credits, if known; 4 (D) the intended use by the originating 5 State of the cash or other value transferred; 6 (E) an update on the toll credit balance of 7 the originating State and the recipient State; 8 and 9 (F) any other information about the trans- 10 action that the Secretary may require. 11 (5) USE OF CREDITS BY TRANSFEREE OR PUR- 12 CHASER.—A recipient State may use a credit re- 13 ceived under paragraph (1) toward the non-Federal 14 share requirement for any funds made available to 15 carry out title 23 or chapter 53 of title 49, United 16 States Code, in accordance with section 120(i) of 17 title 23, United States Code. 18 (6) USE OF PROCEEDS FROM SALE OF CRED- 19 ITS.—An originating State shall use the proceeds 20 from the sale of a credit under paragraph (1) for a 21 project eligible for assistance under title 23 or chap- 22 ter 53 of title 49, United States Code. 23 (f) METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION AND 24 LOCAL GOVERNMENT TOLL CREDIT ALLOCATION.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1808 IS (1) PURCHASE OF TOLL CREDITS.—On request 1 of a metropolitan planning organization or local gov- 2 ernment in the State, and with a timely payment of 3 the amount of the toll credits, a State may purchase 4 toll credits under this section on behalf of the metro- 5 politan planning organization or local government. 6 (2) ALLOCATION OF TOLL CREDITS.—On ap- 7 proval of the applicable metropolitan planning orga- 8 nization or local government, a State may allocate 9 toll credits purchased by the State for use by the 10 metropolitan planning organization or local govern- 11 ment. 12 (g) LIMITATION ON USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS FOR 13 THE PURCHASE OF TOLL CREDITS.—A State, metropoli- 14 tan planning organization, or local government may not 15 use Federal funds to purchase toll credits on a toll credit 16 marketplace. 17 (h) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 18 (1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 19 after the date on which the pilot program is estab- 20 lished, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee 21 on Environment and Public Works of the Senate 22 and the Committee on Transportation and Infra- 23 structure of the House of Representatives a report 24 on the progress of the pilot program. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1808 IS (2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 3 years 1 after the date on which the pilot program is estab- 2 lished, the Secretary shall— 3 (A) submit to the Committee on Environ- 4 ment and Public Works of the Senate and the 5 Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc- 6 ture of the House of Representatives a report 7 that— 8 (i) determines whether a toll credit 9 marketplace is viable and cost effective; 10 (ii) describes the buying and selling 11 activities under the pilot program; 12 (iii) describes the average sale price of 13 toll credits; 14 (iv) determines whether the pilot pro- 15 gram could be expanded to more States or 16 all States or to non-State operators of toll 17 facilities; 18 (v) provides updated information on 19 the toll credit balance accumulated by each 20 State; and 21 (vi) describes the list of projects that 22 were assisted by the pilot program; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1808 IS (B) make the report under subparagraph 1 (A) publicly available on the website of the De- 2 partment. 3 (i) TERMINATION.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may termi- 5 nate the pilot program or the participation of any 6 State in the pilot program if the Secretary deter- 7 mines that— 8 (A) the pilot program is not serving a pub- 9 lic benefit; or 10 (B) it is not cost effective to carry out the 11 pilot program. 12 (2) PROCEDURES.—The termination of the pilot 13 program or the participation of a State in the pilot 14 program shall be carried out consistent with Federal 15 requirements for project closeout, adjustment, and 16 continuing responsibilities. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1808.IS S1808 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS