Build America Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 180 To provide dedicated funding for the national infrastructure investment program and the capital investment grant program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Mr. HASTINGS (for himself, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, and Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To provide dedicated funding for the national infrastructure investment program and the capital investment grant 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 ‘‘Build America Act of 4 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H180.IH H180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 180 IH SEC. 2. NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT PRO- 1 GRAM. 2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Transpor- 3 tation shall carry out a national infrastructure investment 4 program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘program’’) 5 for capital investments in surface transportation infra- 6 structure in accordance with the requirements of this sec- 7 tion. 8 (b) DISCRETIONARY GRANTS.—The Secretary shall 9 distribute funds made available to carry out the program 10 as discretionary grants to be awarded to a State, local gov- 11 ernment, or transit agency, or a collaboration among such 12 entities, on a competitive basis for projects that will have 13 a significant impact on the Nation, a metropolitan area, 14 or a region. 15 (c) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—Projects that are eligible 16 for funding under the program include, at a minimum, 17 the following: 18 (1) Highway and bridge projects eligible under 19 title 23, United States Code. 20 (2) Public transportation projects eligible under 21 chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code. 22 (3) Passenger and freight rail transportation 23 projects. 24 (4) Port infrastructure investments (including 25 inland port infrastructure and land ports of entry). 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H180.IH H180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 180 IH (d) TIFIA.—The Secretary may use up to 20 percent 1 of the funds made available to carry out the program for 2 a fiscal year for the purpose of paying the subsidy and 3 administrative costs of projects eligible for Federal credit 4 assistance under chapter 6 of title 23, United States Code, 5 if the Secretary finds that such use of the funds would 6 advance the purposes of the program. 7 (e) DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.—In distributing funds 8 provided under the program, the Secretary shall take 9 measures to ensure— 10 (1) an equitable geographic distribution of 11 funds; 12 (2) an appropriate balance in addressing the 13 needs of urban and rural areas; and 14 (3) investment in a variety of transportation 15 modes. 16 (f) FAIR CONSIDERATION.—The Secretary shall en- 17 sure that— 18 (1) eligible projects receive fair consideration 19 under the program; and 20 (2) funds made available to carry out the pro- 21 gram are used to provide funding for eligible 22 projects to the maximum extent practicable. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H180.IH H180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 180 IH (g) GRANT AMOUNTS.—A grant funded under the 1 program shall be not less than $5,000,000 and not greater 2 than $45,000,000. 3 (h) AWARDS IN SINGLE STATE.—Not more than 10 4 percent of the funds made available under the program 5 for a fiscal year may be awarded to projects in a single 6 State. 7 (i) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the 8 costs for which an expenditure is made under the program 9 shall be, at the option of the recipient, up to 80 percent. 10 (j) PRIORITY PROJECTS.—In carrying out the pro- 11 gram, the Secretary shall give priority to projects that re- 12 quire a contribution of Federal funds in order to complete 13 an overall financing package. 14 (k) RURAL AREAS.— 15 (1) SET ASIDE.—Not less than 20 percent of 16 the funds provided under the program for a fiscal 17 year shall be for projects located in rural areas (as 18 defined in section 101(a) of title 23, United States 19 Code). 20 (2) GRANT AMOUNTS; FEDERAL SHARE.—For 21 projects located in rural areas— 22 (A) the minimum grant size under the pro- 23 gram shall be $1,000,000; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H180.IH H180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 180 IH (B) the Secretary may increase the Fed- 1 eral share of costs above 80 percent. 2 (l) WAGE RATE REQUIREMENTS.—Projects con- 3 ducted using funds provided under the program must com- 4 ply with the requirements of subchapter IV of chapter 31 5 of title 40, United States Code. 6 (m) ANNUAL COMPETITIONS.—For each fiscal year, 7 the Secretary shall conduct a new competition to select 8 projects for grants and credit assistance awarded under 9 the program. 10 (n) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—To fund the 11 award and oversight of grants and credit assistance made 12 under the program, the Secretary may— 13 (1) retain up to $25,000,000 of the funds pro- 14 vided to carry out the program for a fiscal year, in- 15 cluding to appoint and fix the pay of additional per- 16 sonnel; and 17 (2) transfer portions of those funds to the Ad- 18 ministrators of the Federal Highway Administration, 19 the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal 20 Railroad Administration, and the Maritime Adminis- 21 tration. 22 (o) PERIOD FOR OBLIGATION OF FUNDS.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Funds made available for a 24 fiscal year to carry out the program shall remain 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H180.IH H180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 180 IH available to the Secretary for obligation under the 1 program for a period of 3 years after the last day 2 of the fiscal year for which the funds are authorized. 3 (2) TRANSFER OF UNOBLIGATED FUNDS.—Any 4 amounts made available to carry out the program 5 that remain unobligated at the end of the 3-year pe- 6 riod referred to in paragraph (1) shall be transferred 7 to the Highway Trust Fund. 8 (p) FUNDING.—There shall be available, without fur- 9 ther appropriation, from the National Infrastructure In- 10 vestment Trust Fund for expenditure by the Secretary to 11 carry out the program $3,000,000,000 for each fiscal 12 year. 13 SEC. 3. FIXED GUIDEWAY CAPITAL INVESTMENT GRANTS. 14 (a) FUNDING.—There shall be available from the Na- 15 tional Infrastructure Investment Trust Fund, without fur- 16 ther appropriation, for expenditure by the Secretary of 17 Transportation to carry out section 5309 of title 49, 18 United States Code, $9,000,000,000 for each fiscal year. 19 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the amounts 20 made available for a fiscal year under subsection (a) to 21 carry out section 5309 of title 49, United States Code, 22 the Secretary may retain not more than 1 percent of the 23 total funds made available to carry out such section to 24 administer the award and oversee grants made under the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H180.IH H180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 180 IH program, including to appoint and fix the pay of additional 1 personnel. 2 (c) PERIOD FOR OBLIGATION OF FUNDS.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Funds made available for a 4 fiscal year under subsection (a) to carry out section 5 5309 of title 49, United States Code, shall remain 6 available to the Secretary for obligation under that 7 section for a period of 4 years after the last day of 8 the fiscal year for which the funds are authorized. 9 (2) TRANSFER OF UNOBLIGATED FUNDS.—Any 10 amounts made available under subsection (a) to 11 carry out section 5309 of title 49, United States 12 Code, that remain unobligated at the end of the 4- 13 year period referred to in paragraph (1) shall be de- 14 posited in the Highway Trust Fund. 15 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF TRUST FUND. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 98 of the 17 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at 18 the end thereof the following: 19 ‘‘SEC. 9512. NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT 20 TRUST FUND. 21 ‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab- 22 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 23 to be known as the ‘National Infrastructure Investment 24 Trust Fund’, consisting of such amounts as may be appro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H180.IH H180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 180 IH priated or credited to the National Infrastructure Invest- 1 ment Trust Fund as provided in this section or section 2 9602(b). 3 ‘‘(b) TRANSFER TO NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN- 4 VESTMENT TRUST FUND OF AMOUNTS EQUIVALENT TO 5 CERTAIN TAXES.—There are hereby appropriated to the 6 National Infrastructure Investment Trust Fund amounts 7 equivalent to 25 percent of the portion of the taxes re- 8 ceived in the Treasury under the rates described in clauses 9 (i) and (iii) of section 4081(a)(2)(A), and section 10 4081(a)(2)(D), but only to the extent such amounts are 11 attributable to the increase in rates under such clauses, 12 and such section, by reason of the amendments made by 13 section 5 of the Build America Act of 2019. For purposes 14 of the preceding sentence, taxes received under section 15 4041 and 4081 shall be determined without reduction for 16 credits under section 6426. 17 ‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES FROM NATIONAL INFRASTRUC- 18 TURE INVESTMENT TRUST FUND.—Amounts in the Na- 19 tional Infrastructure Investment Trust Fund shall be 20 available, without further appropriation, to the Secretary 21 of Transportation for making expenditures after October 22 1, 2020, under section 5309 of title 49, United States 23 Code, pursuant to the authorization in section 3 of the 24 Build America Act of 2019.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H180.IH H180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 180 IH (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 1 for subchapter A of chapter 98 of the Internal Revenue 2 Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end thereof 3 the following new items: 4 ‘‘Sec. 9512. National Infrastructure Investment Trust Fund.’’. SEC. 5. INCREASE IN TAX ON MOTOR FUELS. 5 (a) GASOLINE OTHER THAN AVIATION GASOLINE.— 6 Section 4081(a)(2)(A)(i) of the Internal Revenue Code of 7 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘18.3 cents’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘53.3 cents’’. 9 (b) DIESEL FUEL OR KEROSENE.—Section 10 4081(a)(2)(A)(iii) of such Code is amended by striking 11 ‘‘24.3 cents’’ and inserting ‘‘59.3 cents’’. 12 (c) INCREASE FOR INFLATION.—Section 4081(a)(2) 13 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol- 14 lowing new subparagraph: 15 ‘‘(E) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.—In 16 the case of any calendar year beginning after 17 2019, the rates of tax contained in clauses (i) 18 and (iii) of subparagraph (A) shall each be in- 19 creased by an amount equal to— 20 ‘‘(i) such rate, multiplied by 21 ‘‘(ii) the cost of living adjustment de- 22 termined under section 1(f)(3) for the cal- 23 endar year, determined by substituting 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H180.IH H180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 180 IH ‘calendar year 2018’ for ‘calendar year 1 1992’ in subparagraph (B) thereof. 2 Any increase under the preceding sentence shall 3 be rounded to the nearest 0.1 cents.’’. 4 (d) DIESEL-WATER FUEL EMULSION.—Section 5 4081(a)(2)(D) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘sub- 6 stituting ‘‘19.7 cents’’ for ‘‘24.3 cents’’.’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘substituting a rate equal to 81 percent of the rate in ef- 8 fect for the calendar year under such subparagraph.’’. 9 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 10 this section shall apply to fuels removed, entered, or sold 11 after October 1, 2019. 12 SEC. 6. HIGHWAY TRUST FUND. 13 (a) COORDINATION WITH NATIONAL INFRASTRUC- 14 TURE INVESTMENT TRUST FUND.—Section 9503(b)(4) of 15 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 16 ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph (C), by striking the pe- 17 riod at the end of subparagraph (D) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, 18 and by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: 19 ‘‘(E) clauses (i) and (iii) of section 20 4081(a)(2)(A), and section 4081(a)(2)(D), but 21 only to the extent of amounts equivalent to the 22 portion of such taxes as are appropriated to the 23 National Infrastructure Investment Trust Fund 24 under section 9513(b).’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:44 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H180.IH H180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 180 IH (b) MASS TRANSIT PORTION ADJUSTED.—Section 1 9503(e)(2)(A) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘2.86 2 cents’’ and inserting ‘‘6.25 cents’’. 3 (c) TRANSFER OF UNOBLIGATED NATIONAL INFRA- 4 STRUCTURE INVESTMENT AMOUNTS.—Section 9503(f) of 5 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by redesig- 6 nating paragraph (10) as paragraph (11) and by inserting 7 after paragraph (9) the following new paragraph: 8 ‘‘(10) FURTHER TRANSFERS TO TRUST 9 FUND.— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby ap- 11 propriated to the Highway Trust Fund 12 amounts to be transferred to the Trust Fund 13 pursuant to sections 2(o) and 3(c)(2) of the 14 Build America Act of 2019. 15 ‘‘(B) TRANSFER OF PORTION TO MASS 16 TRANSIT ACCOUNT.—From such amounts, the 17 Secretary shall transfer to the Mass Transit Ac- 18 count so much as bears the same ratio to such 19 amount as the mass transit portion (as defined 20 in subsection (e)(2)) bears to all taxes imposed 21 with respect to fuel by sections 4041 and 4081 22 and otherwise deposited into the Highway Trust 23 Fund.’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:12 Jan 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H180.IH H180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS