Transportation Alternatives Enhancements Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5231 To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve the transportation alternatives program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 21, 2019 Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself and Mr. LARSEN of Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve the transportation alternatives 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 ‘‘Transportation Alter- 4 natives Enhancements Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES PROGRAM. 6 (a) SET-ASIDE.—Section 133(h)(1) of title 23, 7 United States Code, is amended— 8 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘RESERVATION 9 OF FUNDS’’ and inserting ‘‘IN GENERAL’’; and 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5231.IH H5231 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5231 IH (2) by striking ‘‘for each fiscal year,’’ and all 1 that follows through the end and inserting ‘‘for fis- 2 cal year 2021 and each fiscal year thereafter, the 3 Secretary shall set aside an amount equal to 10 per- 4 cent to carry out this subsection.’’. 5 (b) ALLOCATION.—Section 133(h) of title 23, United 6 States Code, is amended by striking paragraph (2) and 7 inserting the following: 8 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION WITHIN A STATE.— 9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 10 subparagraph (B), funds set aside for a State 11 under paragraph (1) shall be obligated within 12 that State in the manner described in sub- 13 section (d), except that, for purposes of this 14 paragraph (after funds are made available 15 under paragraph (5))— 16 ‘‘(i) for fiscal year 2021 and each fis- 17 cal year thereafter, the percentage referred 18 to in paragraph (1)(A) of that subsection 19 shall be deemed to be 66 percent; and 20 ‘‘(ii) paragraph (3) of subsection (d) 21 shall not apply. 22 ‘‘(B) LOCAL CONTROL.—A State may allo- 23 cate up to 100 percent of the funds referred to 24 in subparagraph (A)(i) if— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5231.IH H5231 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5231 IH ‘‘(i) the State submits to the Sec- 1 retary a plan that describes— 2 ‘‘(I) how funds will be allocated 3 to counties, metropolitan planning or- 4 ganizations, regional transportation 5 planning organizations as described in 6 section 135(m), or local governments; 7 ‘‘(II) how the entities described 8 in subclause (I) will carry out a com- 9 petitive process to select projects for 10 funding and report selected projects 11 to the State; 12 ‘‘(III) how input was gathered 13 from the entities described in sub- 14 clause (I) to ensure those entities are 15 able and willing to comply with the re- 16 quirements of this subsection; and 17 ‘‘(IV) how the State will comply 18 with paragraph (8); and 19 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary approves the plan 20 submitted under clause (i).’’. 21 (c) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—Section 133(h)(3) of title 22 23, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘reserved’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘set aside’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5231.IH H5231 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5231 IH (d) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Section 133(h)(4)(B) of 1 title 23, United States Code, is amended— 2 (1) by redesignating clauses (vii) and (viii) as 3 clauses (viii) and (ix), respectively; 4 (2) by inserting after clause (vi) the following: 5 ‘‘(vii) a metropolitan planning organi- 6 zation that serves an urbanized area with 7 a population of 200,000 or fewer;’’; 8 (3) in clause (viii) (as so redesignated), by 9 striking ‘‘responsible’’ and all that follows through 10 ‘‘programs’’; and 11 (4) in clause (ix) (as so redesignated), by in- 12 serting ‘‘that serves an urbanized area with a popu- 13 lation of over 200,000’’ after ‘‘metropolitan planning 14 organization’’. 15 (e) CONTINUATION OF CERTAIN RECREATIONAL 16 TRAILS PROJECTS.—Section 133(h)(5)(A) of title 23, 17 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘reserved 18 under this section’’ and inserting ‘‘set aside under this 19 subsection’’. 20 (f) STATE FLEXIBILITY.—Section 133(h)(6) of title 21 23, United States Code, is amended— 22 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘reserved’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘set aside’’; and 24 (2) by adding at the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5231.IH H5231 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5231 IH ‘‘(C) IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY AND EFFI- 1 CIENCY.— 2 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A State may use 3 an amount equal to not more than 5 per- 4 cent of the funds set aside for the State 5 under this subsection, after allocating 6 funds in accordance with paragraph 7 (2)(A), to improve the ability of applicants 8 to access funding for projects under this 9 subsection in an efficient and expeditious 10 manner by— 11 ‘‘(I) providing to applicants for 12 projects under this subsection applica- 13 tion assistance, technical assistance, 14 and assistance in reducing the period 15 of time between the selection of the 16 project and the obligation of funds for 17 the project; and 18 ‘‘(II) by providing funding for 1 19 or more full-time State employee posi- 20 tions to administer this subsection. 21 ‘‘(ii) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts used 22 under clause (i) may be expended— 23 ‘‘(I) directly by the State; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5231.IH H5231 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5231 IH ‘‘(II) through contracts with 1 State agencies, private entities, or 2 nonprofit entities.’’. 3 (g) FEDERAL SHARE.—Section 133(h) of title 23, 4 United States Code, is amended— 5 (1) by redesignating paragraph (7) as para- 6 graph (8); and 7 (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘(7) FEDERAL SHARE.— 10 ‘‘(A) REQUIRED AGGREGATE NON-FED- 11 ERAL SHARE.—The average annual non-Federal 12 share of the total cost of all projects for which 13 funds are obligated under this subsection in a 14 State for a fiscal year shall be not less than the 15 non-Federal share authorized for the State 16 under section 120(b). 17 ‘‘(B) FLEXIBLE FINANCING.—Subject to 18 subparagraph (A), notwithstanding section 19 120— 20 ‘‘(i) funds made available to carry out 21 section 148 may be credited toward the 22 non-Federal share of the costs of a project 23 under this subsection if the project— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5231.IH H5231 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5231 IH ‘‘(I) is an eligible project de- 1 scribed in section 148(e)(1); and 2 ‘‘(II) contributes to the annual 3 safety performance targets of the 4 State; 5 ‘‘(ii) the non-Federal share for a 6 project under this subsection may be cal- 7 culated on a project, multiple-project, or 8 program basis; and 9 ‘‘(iii) the Federal share of the cost of 10 an individual project in this section may be 11 up to 100 percent.’’. 12 (h) STATE TRANSFERABILITY.—Section 126(b)(2) of 13 title 23, United States Code, is amended by striking the 14 period at the end of (2) and inserting: ‘‘and may only be 15 transferred if the Secretary certifies that the State— 16 ‘‘(1) held a competition in compliance with the 17 guidance on Section 133(h) with sufficient time for 18 applicants to apply; 19 ‘‘(2) offered technical assistance to all eligible 20 entities and provided it to those who requested it; 21 and 22 ‘‘(3) can demonstrate that there were not suffi- 23 ciently suitable applications from eligible entities to 24 use the funds to be transferred.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5231.IH H5231 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 5231 IH (i) IMPROVED TRANSPARENCY.—Paragraph (8)(A) 1 of section 133(h) of title 23, United States Code (as so 2 redesignated by subsection (g)), is amended by striking 3 clause (ii) and inserting the following: 4 ‘‘(ii) the list of each project selected 5 for funding for each year, including for 6 each project the year selected, the fiscal 7 year in which the project is anticipated to 8 be funded, the recipient, the location, the 9 type, and a brief description.’’. 10 (j) SAFE ROUTES TO HIGH SCHOOLS.—Section 1404 11 of SAFETEA–LU (23 U.S.C. 402 note) is amended— 12 (1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘primary and 13 middle’’ and inserting ‘‘primary, middle, and high’’; 14 and 15 (2) in subsection (k)(2)— 16 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘PRIMARY 17 AND MIDDLE’’ and inserting ‘‘PRIMARY, MID- 18 DLE, AND HIGH’’; 19 (B) by striking ‘‘primary and middle’’ and 20 inserting ‘‘primary, middle, and high’’; and 21 (C) by striking ‘‘eighth grade’’ and insert- 22 ing ‘‘12th grade’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5231.IH H5231 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 5231 IH (k) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section and the amend- 1 ments made by this section shall take effect on October 2 1, 2020. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 Dec 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5231.IH H5231 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS