SAFE Streets Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3040 To amend title 23, United States Code, to include a special rule for the dedication of funds under the highway safety improvement program for certain vulnerable users, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 30, 2019 Ms. BROWNLEY of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 23, United States Code, to include a special rule for the dedication of funds under the highway safety improvement program for certain vulnerable users, 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 ‘‘Safe And Friendly for 4 the Environment Streets Act’’ or the ‘‘SAFE Streets Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. VULNERABLE USER SPECIAL RULE. 6 Section 148(g) of title 23, United States Code, is 7 amended by adding at the end the following: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3040.IH H3040 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3040 IH ‘‘(3) VULNERABLE USERS.— 1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a covered planning 2 area has a vulnerable user fatality rate that ex- 3 ceeds 1.5 individuals per 100,000 individuals 4 (as calculated under subparagraph (B)), the 5 State in which the covered planning area is lo- 6 cated shall obligate funding amounts (in an 7 amount described in subparagraph (C)) for the 8 fiscal year beginning after the 3-year period de- 9 scribed in subparagraph (B)(i) for projects on 10 safety improvements for vulnerable users in 11 such covered planning area. 12 ‘‘(B) CALCULATION OF VULNERABLE USER 13 FATALITY RATES.—Annually, the Secretary 14 shall— 15 ‘‘(i) for each covered planning area, 16 calculate the vulnerable user fatality rate 17 for the most recent 3-year period for which 18 data is available; 19 ‘‘(ii) for each covered planning area 20 for which such rate exceeds 1.5 individuals 21 per 100,000 individuals, determine the 22 funding amount that each State in which 23 such covered planning area is located shall 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3040.IH H3040 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3040 IH obligate in accordance with subparagraph 1 (C); and 2 ‘‘(iii) publish any rate calculated 3 under clause (i) and any funding amounts 4 determined under clause (ii) on the De- 5 partment of Transportation website. 6 ‘‘(C) CALCULATION OF FUNDING 7 AMOUNTS.—The amount described in this sub- 8 paragraph is the amount received by a State 9 under this section in a fiscal year multiplied 10 by— 11 ‘‘(i) the number of vulnerable user fa- 12 talities in the covered planning area of the 13 State, divided by 14 ‘‘(ii) the total traffic fatalities in the 15 State. 16 ‘‘(D) AUTHORIZED USER OF FUNDS.— 17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For funds obli- 18 gated for use in a covered planning area 19 under this paragraph, and except as pro- 20 vided under clause (ii), the State in which 21 such covered planning area is located, in 22 consultation with the applicable authority 23 of such area, shall carry out projects fund- 24 ed under this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3040.IH H3040 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3040 IH ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—In the case of a 1 metropolitan planning area with a popu- 2 lation of over 200,000, the metropolitan 3 planning organization shall carry out 4 projects funded under this section. 5 ‘‘(E) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph, 6 the following definitions apply: 7 ‘‘(i) COVERED PLANNING AREA.—The 8 term ‘covered planning area’ means, with 9 respect to a State— 10 ‘‘(I) an area under the jurisdic- 11 tion of a metropolitan planning orga- 12 nization; 13 ‘‘(II) a Tribal land (as defined in 14 section 2601(13) of the Energy Policy 15 Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 3501(13))); 16 or 17 ‘‘(III) all areas in the State not 18 described by subclauses (I) and (II). 19 ‘‘(ii) VULNERABLE USER.—The term 20 ‘vulnerable user’ means— 21 ‘‘(I) a pedestrian; 22 ‘‘(II) an individual on a bicycle, 23 whether such individual is a pedal- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3040.IH H3040 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3040 IH cyclist or riding a low-speed electric 1 bicycle; 2 ‘‘(III) an individual with a dis- 3 ability; or 4 ‘‘(IV) an individual using a mo- 5 bility device (including a wheelchair, 6 walker, or scooter, whether motorized 7 or non-motorized). 8 ‘‘(iii) VULNERABLE USER FATAL- 9 ITY.—The term ‘vulnerable user fatality’ 10 means a transportation-related fatality of 11 an individual while such individual is a vul- 12 nerable user.’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3040.IH H3040 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS