Improving Access to Services Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6463 To amend title 23 and title 49, United States Code, to require transportation planners to consider projects and strategies to improve safe and conven- ient access to services by all modes of travel for all users, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 7, 2020 Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois (for himself, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. COHEN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. RUSH, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, and Mr. SOTO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 23 and title 49, United States Code, to require transportation planners to consider projects and strategies to improve safe and convenient access to serv- ices by all modes of travel for all 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 ‘‘Improving Access to 4 Services Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6463.IH H6463 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6463 IH SEC. 2. CONSIDERATION OF PROJECTS AND STRATEGIES 1 TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO SERVICES. 2 (a) NATIONAL HIGHWAY PERFORMANCE PRO- 3 GRAM.—Section 119(f) of title 23, United States Code, is 4 amended— 5 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘CONDITIONS’’ 6 and inserting ‘‘CONDITIONS; SAFE AND CONVEN- 7 IENT ACCESS TO SERVICES’’; and 8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(3) SAFE AND CONVENIENT ACCESS TO SERV- 10 ICES ON PUBLIC ROADS.— 11 ‘‘(A) PENALTY.—Subject to subparagraph 12 (A), if a State reports, in a performance target 13 report under section 150(e), that the State has 14 not achieved the targets of the State for per- 15 formance measures described in section 150(d) 16 pertaining to the minimum standards for public 17 roads established by the Secretary under sec- 18 tion 150(c)(7), the State shall be required, dur- 19 ing the following fiscal year— 20 ‘‘(i) to obligate, from the amounts ap- 21 portioned to the State under section 22 104(b)(1), an amount equal to ten percent 23 of funds apportioned to the State for the 24 previous fiscal year for the purpose of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6463.IH H6463 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6463 IH achieving the targets through projects on 1 Federal-aid highways; and 2 ‘‘(ii) to obligate, from the amounts 3 apportioned to the State under section 4 104(b)(2) (other than amounts suballo- 5 cated to metropolitan areas and other 6 areas of the State under section 133(d)), 7 an amount equal to 10 percent of the 8 amount of funds apportioned to the State 9 for the previous fiscal year for the purpose 10 of achieving the targets through projects 11 on Federal-aid highways. 12 ‘‘(B) RESTORATION.—The obligation re- 13 quirement in subparagraph (A)(i) for a fiscal 14 year shall remain in effect for each subsequent 15 fiscal year until the date on which the Secretary 16 determines that the State has achieved the tar- 17 gets of the State for performance measures de- 18 scribed in section 150(d) pertaining to the min- 19 imum standards for public roads established by 20 the Secretary under section 150(c)(7).’’. 21 (b) METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING.— 22 (1) FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAYS.—Section 134(h) 23 of title 23, United States Code, is amended— 24 (A) in paragraph (1)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6463.IH H6463 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6463 IH (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 1 (F) through (J) as subparagraphs (G) 2 through (K), respectively; and 3 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph 4 (E) the following: 5 ‘‘(F) improve safe and convenient access to 6 services by all modes of travel for all users;’’; 7 and 8 (B) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION ON TRANSPORTATION IM- 10 PROVEMENT PLAN.—In furtherance of the planning 11 goals described in subparagraphs (F) and (G) of 12 paragraph (1), a metropolitan planning organization 13 shall not approve a transportation improvement plan 14 found to increase the ratio of automobile to non- 15 automobile access in urbanized areas. 16 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 17 ‘‘(A) ACCESS.—The term ‘access’ means 18 the ability to travel by auto, transit, pedestrian, 19 and bike networks measured in terms of travel 20 times, with impedances for level of travel stress 21 for active travel and costs for low income trav- 22 elers. 23 ‘‘(B) SERVICES.—The term ‘services’ 24 means health care facilities, child care, edu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6463.IH H6463 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6463 IH cation and workforce training, affordable hous- 1 ing, food sources, banking and financial institu- 2 tions, and other retail shopping establish- 3 ments.’’. 4 (2) PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.—Section 5 5303(h) of title 49, United States Code, is amend- 6 ed— 7 (A) in paragraph (1)— 8 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 9 (F) through (I) as subparagraphs (G) 10 through (J), respectively; and 11 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph 12 (E) the following: 13 ‘‘(F) improve safe and convenient access to 14 services by all modes of travel for all users;’’; 15 and 16 (B) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 18 ‘‘(A) ACCESS.—The term ‘access’ means 19 the ability to travel by auto, transit, pedestrian, 20 and bike networks measured in terms of travel 21 times, with impedances for level of travel stress 22 for active travel and costs for low income trav- 23 elers. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6463.IH H6463 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6463 IH ‘‘(B) SERVICES.—The term ‘services’ 1 means health care facilities, child care, edu- 2 cation and workforce training, affordable hous- 3 ing, food sources, banking and financial institu- 4 tions, and other retail shopping establish- 5 ments.’’. 6 (c) STATEWIDE AND NONMETROPOLITAN TRANSPOR- 7 TATION PLANNING.— 8 (1) FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAYS.—Section 135(d) 9 of title 23, United States Code, is amended— 10 (A) in paragraph (1)— 11 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 12 (F) through (I) as subparagraphs (G) 13 through (J), respectively; and 14 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph 15 (E) the following: 16 ‘‘(F) improve safe and convenient access to 17 services by all modes of travel for all users;’’; 18 and 19 (B) by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 21 ‘‘(A) ACCESS.—The term ‘access’ means 22 the ability to travel by auto, transit, pedestrian, 23 and bike networks measured in terms of travel 24 times, with impedances for level of travel stress 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6463.IH H6463 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6463 IH for active travel and costs for low income trav- 1 elers. 2 ‘‘(B) SERVICES.—The term ‘services’ 3 means health care facilities, child care, edu- 4 cation and workforce training, affordable hous- 5 ing, food sources, banking and financial institu- 6 tions, and other retail shopping establish- 7 ments.’’. 8 (2) PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.—Section 9 5304(d) of title 49, United States Code, is amend- 10 ed— 11 (A) in paragraph (1)— 12 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 13 (F) through (I) as subparagraphs (G) 14 through (J), respectively; and 15 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph 16 (E) the following: 17 ‘‘(F) improve safe and convenient access to 18 services by all modes of travel for all users;’’; 19 and 20 (B) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 22 ‘‘(A) ACCESS.—The term ‘access’ means 23 the ability to travel by auto, transit, pedestrian, 24 and bike networks measured in terms of travel 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6463.IH H6463 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6463 IH times, with impedances for level of travel stress 1 for active travel and costs for low income trav- 2 elers. 3 ‘‘(B) SERVICES.—The term ‘services’ 4 means health care facilities, child care, edu- 5 cation and workforce training, affordable hous- 6 ing, food sources, banking and financial institu- 7 tions, and other retail shopping establish- 8 ments.’’. 9 (d) NATIONAL GOALS AND PERFORMANCE MANAGE- 10 MENT MEASURES.—Section 150 of title 23, United States 11 Code, is amended— 12 (1) in subsection (b)— 13 (A) by redesignating paragraph (7) as 14 paragraph (8); and 15 (B) by inserting after paragraph (6) the 16 following: 17 ‘‘(7) ACCESS TO SERVICES.—To improve safe 18 and convenient access to services opportunities by all 19 modes of travel for all users.’’; 20 (2) in subsection (c)— 21 (A) in paragraph (1)— 22 (i) by striking ‘‘IN GENERAL—Not 23 later than’’ and inserting the following: 24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6463.IH H6463 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6463 IH (ii) by adding at the end the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(B) UPDATES.—The Secretary shall peri- 3 odically update the rulemaking promulgated 4 under subparagraph (A) as necessary, including 5 to implement the amendments made to this sec- 6 tion by the Improving Access to Services Act.’’; 7 and 8 (B) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(7) ACCESS TO SERVICES ON PUBLIC 10 ROADS.—For the purpose of carrying out section 11 119(f)(3), the Secretary shall establish minimum 12 standards for States to use in determining and im- 13 proving safe and convenient access to services for all 14 users by all modes of travel.’’; and 15 (3) in subsection (d)(1)— 16 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (c), each State 17 shall set’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (c)(1)(A), 18 and not later than 1 year after each update of 19 the rulemaking described under subsection 20 (c)(1)(B), each State shall set or update, as ap- 21 plicable,’’; and 22 (B) by striking ‘‘and (6)’’ and inserting 23 ‘‘(6), and (7)’’. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:08 Apr 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6463.IH H6463 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS