Tribal Transportation Equity and Transparency Improvement Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4093 To amend title 23, United States Code, to modify the distribution of funds under the tribal transportation program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 23, 2021 Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota (for himself and Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Trans- portation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Nat- ural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak- er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju- risdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 23, United States Code, to modify the dis- tribution of funds under the tribal transportation pro- gram, 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 ‘‘Tribal Transportation 4 Equity and Transparency Improvement Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. TRIBAL TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of title 23, United 7 States Code, is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4093 IH (1) in subsection (a)(9)(A), by striking ‘‘con- 1 struction and improvement’’ and inserting ‘‘con- 2 struction, improvement, and highway safety’’; 3 (2) in subsection (b)— 4 (A) in paragraph (1)— 5 (i) by striking subparagraph (D) and 6 inserting the following: 7 ‘‘(D) ADDITIONAL FACILITIES.— 8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 9 270 days after the date of enactment of 10 the Tribal Transportation Equity and 11 Transparency Improvement Act of 2021, 12 and not less frequently than every 3 years 13 thereafter, the Secretary of the Interior 14 shall publish in the Federal Register a no- 15 tice requesting proposals from Indian 16 tribes to include additional transportation 17 facilities that are eligible for funding under 18 the tribal transportation program in the 19 inventory described in subparagraph (A), if 20 those proposed additional facilities are in- 21 cluded in the inventory in a uniform and 22 consistent manner nationally. 23 ‘‘(ii) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.— 24 Nothing in this subparagraph— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4093 IH ‘‘(I) prohibits the Secretary of 1 the Interior from including in the in- 2 ventory under subparagraph (A) addi- 3 tional transportation facilities more 4 frequently than required under clause 5 (i), including, as necessary, in re- 6 sponse to a proposal from an eligible 7 Indian tribe submitted during a pe- 8 riod not described in the notice under 9 clause (i); or 10 ‘‘(II) requires Indian tribes to 11 submit proposals to the Secretary of 12 the Interior in response to the notice 13 required under clause (i).’’; and 14 (ii) by adding at the end the fol- 15 lowing: 16 ‘‘(F) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Sec- 17 retary of the Interior shall ensure that all non- 18 confidential information within the inventory 19 described in subparagraph (A) is made avail- 20 able— 21 ‘‘(i) in a user-friendly manner on the 22 public website of the Department of the 23 Interior; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4093 IH ‘‘(ii) in a manner capable of being 1 searched and downloaded by users of the 2 public website of the Department of the 3 Interior.’’; and 4 (B) in paragraph (3)(B), in the matter 5 preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 6 2012’’ and inserting ‘‘the most recent fiscal 7 year for which data is available’’; 8 (3) in subsection (c)— 9 (A) in paragraph (3)— 10 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘; 11 and’’ at the end and inserting a period; 12 (ii) by striking subparagraph (B); and 13 (iii) in the matter preceding subpara- 14 graph (A), by striking ‘‘shall be—’’ and all 15 that follows through ‘‘selected by’’ in sub- 16 paragraph (A), and inserting ‘‘shall be se- 17 lected by’’; and 18 (B) by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(4) NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT FEDERAL 20 LANDS AND TRIBAL PROJECTS PROGRAM.—Notwith- 21 standing any other provision of this section, amounts 22 made available to Indian tribes under subsection 23 (b)(3) may be used for planning and design activi- 24 ties related to applications for grants under the na- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4093 IH tionally significant Federal lands and tribal projects 1 program under section 1123 of the FAST Act (23 2 U.S.C. 201 note; Public Law 114–94).’’; and 3 (4) in subsection (e)(2), by striking ‘‘as appro- 4 priate,’’ and inserting ‘‘subject to subsection 5 (a)(9),’’. 6 (b) INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 8 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Inspec- 9 tor General of the Department of Transportation 10 and the Inspector General of the Department of the 11 Interior shall jointly begin an audit of the tribal 12 transportation program under section 202 of title 13 23, United States Code (referred to in this section 14 as the ‘‘program’’). 15 (2) REVIEW.—The audit under paragraph (1) 16 shall include— 17 (A) a review of the data collection and 18 management processes used by the Secretary of 19 the Interior in maintaining the national inven- 20 tory of tribal transportation facilities under sec- 21 tion 202(b)(1) of title 23, United States Code; 22 and 23 (B) a review of the administration of the 24 program, including whether— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4093 IH (i) funding under the program is dis- 1 tributed in a timely manner that is con- 2 sistent with statutory and regulatory re- 3 quirements; and 4 (ii) the current procedures and prac- 5 tices used by the Secretary of the Interior 6 to allocate funding for tribal transportation 7 facilities (as defined in section 101(a) of 8 title 23, United States Code) under the 9 program are transparent and consistently 10 applied. 11 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 12 date of enactment of this Act, the Inspector General 13 of the Department of Transportation and the In- 14 spector General of the Department of the Interior 15 shall jointly submit a report describing the results of 16 the audit under paragraph (1) to— 17 (A) the Committee on Environment and 18 Public Works of the Senate; 19 (B) the Committee on Indian Affairs of the 20 Senate; 21 (C) the Committee on Transportation and 22 Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4093 IH (D) the Committee on Natural Resources 1 of the House of Representatives. 2 (c) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEW.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 4 the United States (referred to in this subsection as 5 the ‘‘Comptroller General’’) shall initiate an audit of 6 the program. 7 (2) REVIEW.—The audit under paragraph (1) 8 shall include an examination of— 9 (A) the funding formula of the program 10 under section 202(b)(3) of title 23, United 11 States Code, including key decisions made over 12 time that have affected the methods used to de- 13 termine tribal shares of program funds; 14 (B) whether, for purposes of allocating 15 funding under section 202 of title 23, United 16 States Code, the allocation methodology under 17 subpart D of part 1000 of title 24, Code of 18 Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of 19 enactment of this Act), provides an accurate 20 and reliable estimate of tribal population; 21 (C) potential alternatives to the method- 22 ology described in subparagraph (B) for pur- 23 poses of allocating funding under section 202 of 24 title 23, United States Code; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 4093 IH (D) how the Secretary of the Interior en- 1 sures that— 2 (i) the program is consistently admin- 3 istered; and 4 (ii) program decisions are trans- 5 parently and consistently made; and 6 (E) the potential effects of having the pro- 7 gram administered solely by the Secretary of 8 the Interior or the Secretary of Transportation. 9 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 540 days after 10 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 11 General shall submit a report describing the results 12 of the audit under paragraph (1) to— 13 (A) the Committee on Environment and 14 Public Works of the Senate; 15 (B) the Committee on Indian Affairs of the 16 Senate; 17 (C) the Committee on Transportation and 18 Infrastructure of the House of Representatives; 19 and 20 (D) the Committee on Natural Resources 21 of the House of Representatives. 22 (d) OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS.—Notwithstanding 23 section 1102(a) of the FAST Act (23 U.S.C. 104 note; 24 Public Law 114–94) or any other provision of law pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 4093 IH viding a limitation on obligations for Federal-aid highway 1 and highway safety construction programs for a fiscal 2 year, amounts made available to carry out the tribal trans- 3 portation program under section 202 of title 23, United 4 States Code, for a fiscal year shall not be subject to the 5 obligation limitation for that fiscal year. 6 SEC. 3. TRANSPORTATION FACILITY ELIGIBILITY. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) INVENTORY.—The term ‘‘inventory’’ means 9 the national inventory of tribal transportation facili- 10 ties under section 202(b) of title 23, United States 11 Code. 12 (2) PROPOSED ROAD.—The term ‘‘proposed 13 road’’ means a proposed road or facility (as defined 14 in section 170.5 of title 25, Code of Federal Regula- 15 tions (as in effect on the date of enactment of this 16 Act)) that is a road, including a primary access 17 route (as defined in that section). 18 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 19 the Secretary of the Interior. 20 (b) DEADLINE.—Not later than 180 days after the 21 date of enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than 22 every 3 years thereafter, the Secretary and the Secretary 23 of Transportation shall require each Indian tribe that in- 24 tends to include a proposed road in the inventory to com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 4093 IH plete and submit for approval the documentation and 1 other information required under section 170.443(a) of 2 title 25, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on No- 3 vember 6, 2019), for the proposed road. 4 (c) REPORT.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 6 after each deadline described in subsection (b), the 7 Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Indian 8 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Natural 9 Resources of the House of Representatives a report 10 describing the proposed roads approved to be in- 11 cluded in the inventory. 12 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—Each report under para- 13 graph (1) shall include, for each Indian reservation, 14 Alaska Native village, or other recognized Indian 15 community (including former Indian reservations in 16 the State of Oklahoma)— 17 (A) the mileage of proposed roads included 18 in the inventory before the deadline described in 19 subsection (b); 20 (B) the mileage of proposed roads ap- 21 proved to be included in the inventory on the 22 basis of the documentation and other informa- 23 tion submitted under subsection (b); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 4093 IH (C) an estimate, based on the documenta- 1 tion and other information submitted under 2 subsection (b), of the construction and mainte- 3 nance costs of the proposed roads described in 4 subparagraph (B). 5 SEC. 4. TRIBAL HIGHWAY SAFETY PARTNERSHIPS. 6 Section 402 of title 23, United States Code, is 7 amended— 8 (1) in subsection (b)(1)(C), by striking ‘‘by’’ 9 and inserting ‘‘by, or on behalf of,’’; and 10 (2) in subsection (h)(2)— 11 (A) by striking ‘‘Notwithstanding’’ and in- 12 serting the following: 13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding’’; 14 and 15 (B) by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(B) COOPERATION.—In accordance with 17 section 202(a)(9)(A), an Indian tribe may use 18 amounts described in subparagraph (A) in co- 19 operation with States, counties, and other local 20 subdivisions for highway safety purposes.’’. 21 SEC. 5. NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT FEDERAL LANDS AND 22 TRIBAL PROJECTS PROGRAM. 23 Section 1123 of the FAST Act (23 U.S.C. 201 note; 24 Public Law 114–94) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 4093 IH (1) in subsection (c)(3), by inserting ‘‘for a 1 project that is to be carried out by an eligible entity 2 that is not an Indian tribe,’’ before ‘‘having an’’; 3 and 4 (2) in subsection (g)(1)— 5 (A) by striking ‘‘shall be up to’’ and insert- 6 ing the following: ‘‘shall be— 7 ‘‘(A) for a project carried out by an Indian 8 tribe, up to 100 percent; and 9 ‘‘(B) for a project not described in sub- 10 paragraph (A), up to’’. 11 SEC. 6. TRIBAL TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 12 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Subject to the availability of 13 appropriations, not later than 180 days after the date of 14 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior (re- 15 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall establish 16 within the Bureau of Indian Affairs a committee, to be 17 known as the ‘‘Tribal Transportation Advisory Com- 18 mittee’’ (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Committee’’), 19 which shall replace the Tribal Transportation Program 20 Coordinating Committee established under sections 21 170.135 through 170.137 of title 25, Code of Federal 22 Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of this 23 Act). 24 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4093.IH H4093 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]