Metro Accountability and Investment Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2520 To authorize additional funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 3, 2019 Mr. CONNOLLY (for himself, Mr. HOYER, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. WEXTON, and Mr. TRONE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To authorize additional funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, 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 ‘‘Metro Accountability 4 and Investment Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS. 6 Section 601(f) of the Passenger Rail Investment and 7 Improvement Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–432; 122 8 Stat. 4970) is amended to read as follows: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2520.IH H2520 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2520 IH ‘‘(f) AMOUNT.— 1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 2 ‘‘(A) ORIGINAL FUNDING.—There are au- 3 thorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of 4 Transportation for grants under this section an 5 aggregate amount not to exceed $1,500,000,000 6 to be available in increments over 10 fiscal 7 years beginning in fiscal year 2009, or until ex- 8 pended. 9 ‘‘(B) CONTINUATION OF FUNDING.—Sub- 10 ject to paragraphs (2) and (3), there are au- 11 thorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of 12 Transportation for grants under this section 13 $2,000,000,000 to be available in increments 14 over 10 fiscal years beginning in fiscal year 15 2020, or until expended. 16 ‘‘(2) RESTRICTION ON USE.— 17 ‘‘(A) OPERATING EXPENSES.— 18 $500,000,000 of the amount described in para- 19 graph (1)(B) may only be used for operating 20 expenses of the Transit Authority. 21 ‘‘(B) INSPECTOR GENERAL.— 22 $100,000,000 of the amount described in sub- 23 paragraph (A) may only be used for the Office 24 of Inspector General of the Transit Authority. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2520.IH H2520 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2520 IH ‘‘(3) REQUIRED MODIFICATIONS.—The Sec- 1 retary may not provide grants pursuant to para- 2 graph (1)(B) unless the Secretary certifies that the 3 Board of Directors of the Transit Authority has 4 passed a resolution, and is making progress imple- 5 menting such a resolution, that— 6 ‘‘(A) establishes an independent budget au- 7 thority for the Office of Inspector General of 8 the Transit Authority; 9 ‘‘(B) establishes an independent procure- 10 ment authority for the Office of Inspector Gen- 11 eral of the Transit Authority; 12 ‘‘(C) establishes an independent hiring au- 13 thority for the Office of Inspector General of 14 the Transit Authority; 15 ‘‘(D) ensures the inspector general of the 16 Transit Authority can obtain legal advice from 17 a counsel reporting directly to the director of 18 such office; 19 ‘‘(E) requires the inspector general of the 20 Transit Authority to submit recommendations 21 for corrective action to the General Manager, 22 the Board of Directors of the Transit Author- 23 ity, and the appropriate congressional commit- 24 tees; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2520.IH H2520 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2520 IH ‘‘(F) requires the inspector general of the 1 Transit Authority to publish any recommenda- 2 tion described in subparagraph (E) on the 3 website of the Office of Inspector General of the 4 Transit Authority, except that the Inspector 5 General may redact personally identifiable in- 6 formation and information that, in the deter- 7 mination of the Inspector General, would pose 8 a security risk to the systems of the Transit 9 Authority. 10 ‘‘(4) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN FUNDS.— 11 The amounts described in paragraph (2) are not 12 subject to the requirements of paragraphs (2) and 13 (3) of subsection (b). 14 ‘‘(5) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 15 ‘appropriate congressional committees’ means the 16 Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 17 the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and the 18 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep- 19 resentatives and the Committee on Banking, Hous- 20 ing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee on Ap- 21 propriations of the Senate.’’. 22 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL GRANTS. 23 (a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to other funding pro- 24 vided to the Transit Authority pursuant to any other pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:09 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2520.IH H2520 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2520 IH vision of law, the Secretary of Transportation may make 1 grants to the Transit Authority for the purpose of funding 2 the capital and preventive maintenance projects included 3 in the Capital Improvement Program approved by the 4 Board of Directors of the Transit Authority. 5 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—A grant made pursuant to this 6 section shall be subject to the following limitations and 7 conditions: 8 (1) The work for which such grant is author- 9 ized shall be subject to the provisions of the Com- 10 pact, including any future amendments to the Com- 11 pact. 12 (2) Each such grant shall be for 50 percent of 13 the net project cost of the project involved, and shall 14 be provided in cash from sources other than Federal 15 funds or revenues from the operation of public mass 16 transportation systems. Consistent with the terms of 17 the amendment to the Compact, or any future 18 amendments to such Compact, any funds so pro- 19 vided shall be solely from undistributed cash sur- 20 pluses, replacement or depreciation funds of reserves 21 available in cash, or new capital. 22 (c) APPLICABILITY OF REQUIREMENTS FOR MASS 23 TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL PROJECTS RECEIVING FUNDS 24 UNDER FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION LAW.—Except as 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2520.IH H2520 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2520 IH specifically provided in this section, the use of any 1 amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization under 2 this section shall be subject to the requirements applicable 3 to capital projects for which funds are provided under 4 chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code, except to the 5 extent the Secretary determines that the requirements are 6 inconsistent with this Act, its purposes, or any subsequent 7 rules of guidance issued pursuant to this Act. 8 (d) AMOUNT AND REQUIREMENT.— 9 (1) AMOUNT.—There is authorized to be appro- 10 priated to the Secretary of Transportation for grants 11 under this section $2,000,000,000 to be available in 12 increments over 20 fiscal years beginning in fiscal 13 year 2020, or until expended. 14 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary may not 15 award a grant authorized under this subsection un- 16 less the Secretary certifies, on an annual basis, 17 that— 18 (A) the Transit Authority is making 19 progress toward goals and metrics for system 20 performance established by the Secretary in col- 21 laboration with the signatories to the Compact 22 on safety, reliability, and operation costs as 23 measured by vehicle revenue hours; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2520.IH H2520 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 2520 IH (B) the signatories to the Compact have 1 established a dedicated funding source for cap- 2 ital projects for the Transit Authority that is 3 expected to raise, in total, at least 4 $300,000,000 annually. 5 (e) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant 6 to the authorization under this section shall remain avail- 7 able until expended. 8 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 9 (1) the term ‘‘Transit Authority’’ means the 10 Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority es- 11 tablished under Article III of the Compact; and 12 (2) the term ‘‘Compact’’ means the Washington 13 Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Compact (Pub- 14 lic Law 89–774; 80 Stat. 1324). 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2520.IH H2520 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS