COMMUTE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1517 To require the Secretary of Transportation to carry out a pilot program to develop and provide to States and transportation planning organiza- tions accessibility data sets, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 5, 2019 Mr. DESAULNIER (for himself, Mr. CURTIS, and Mr. MCADAMS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To require the Secretary of Transportation to carry out a pilot program to develop and provide to States and transportation planning organizations accessibility data sets, 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 ‘‘Connecting Opportuni- 4 ties through Mobility Metrics and Unlocking Transpor- 5 tation Efficiencies Act’’ or the ‘‘COMMUTE Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1517.IH H1517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1517 IH SEC. 2. ACCESSIBILITY DATA PILOT PROGRAM. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 2 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor- 3 tation (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 4 carry out an accessibility data pilot program (referred to 5 in this section as the ‘‘pilot program’’). 6 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the pilot program is 7 to develop or make available an accessibility data set for 8 each eligible entity selected to participate in the pilot pro- 9 gram to improve transportation planning of those eligible 10 entities by measuring the level of access by multiple trans- 11 portation modes to important destinations, such as— 12 (1) jobs, including areas with a concentration of 13 available jobs; 14 (2) health care facilities; 15 (3) child care services; 16 (4) educational and workforce training facilities; 17 (5) affordable housing; and 18 (6) food sources. 19 (c) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity eligible to par- 20 ticipate in the pilot program is— 21 (1) a State (as defined in section 101(a) of title 22 23, United States Code); 23 (2) a metropolitan planning organization; or 24 (3) a rural planning organization. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1517.IH H1517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1517 IH (d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to participate in 1 the pilot program, an eligible entity shall submit to the 2 Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 3 and containing such information as the Secretary may re- 4 quire. 5 (e) SELECTION.—The Secretary shall select eligible 6 entities to participate in the program on a competitive 7 basis, including— 8 (1) 5 States; 9 (2) 10 metropolitan planning organizations, of 10 which— 11 (A) 5 shall each serve an area with a popu- 12 lation of not more than 200,000 people; and 13 (B) 5 shall each serve an area with a pop- 14 ulation of 200,000 or more people; and 15 (3) 5 rural planning organizations. 16 (f) DUTIES.—For each eligible entity participating in 17 the pilot program, the Secretary shall— 18 (1) develop or acquire an accessibility data set 19 described in subsection (b); and 20 (2) submit the data set to the eligible entity. 21 (g) METHODOLOGY.—In calculating the measures for 22 the data set under the pilot program, the Secretary shall 23 ensure that methodology is open source. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1517.IH H1517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1517 IH (h) AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall make an ac- 1 cessibility data set under the pilot program available to— 2 (1) units of local government within the juris- 3 diction of the eligible entity participating in the pilot 4 program; and 5 (2) researchers. 6 (i) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the last 7 date on which the Secretary submits data sets to the eligi- 8 ble entity under subsection (f), the Secretary shall submit 9 to Congress a report on the results of the program, includ- 10 ing the feasibility of developing and providing periodic ac- 11 cessibility data sets for all States, regions, and localities. 12 (j) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall carry out the 13 pilot program using amounts made available to the Sec- 14 retary for administrative expenses to carry out programs 15 under the authority of the Secretary. 16 (k) SUNSET.—The pilot program shall terminate on 17 the date that is 8 years after the date on which the pilot 18 program is implemented. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Mar 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1517.IH H1517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS