Investments in Rural Transit Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4468 To increase the Federal share of operating costs for certain projects that receive grants under the Formula Grants to Rural Areas Program of the Federal Transit Administration. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 6, 2020 Ms. SMITH (for herself, Mr. ROUNDS, and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Bank- ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To increase the Federal share of operating costs for certain projects that receive grants under the Formula Grants to Rural Areas Program of the Federal Transit Adminis- tration. 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 ‘‘Investments in Rural 4 Transit Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Aug 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4468.IS S4468 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4468 IS SEC. 2. INCREASED FEDERAL SHARE OF OPERATING COSTS 1 FOR CERTAIN AREAS. 2 Section 5311(g)(2)(B) of title 49, United States 3 Code, is amended— 4 (1) in the subparagraph heading, by striking 5 ‘‘EXCEPTION’’ and inserting ‘‘EXCEPTIONS’’; 6 (2) by striking ‘‘A State’’ and inserting the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(i) STATES WITH NONTAXABLE IN- 9 DIAN LANDS OR PUBLIC DOMAIN LANDS.— 10 Subject to clause (ii), a State’’; and 11 (3) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(ii) AREAS WITH PARTICULAR 13 NEEDS.— 14 ‘‘(I) DEFINITION.—In this 15 clause, the term ‘area of persistent 16 poverty’ means— 17 ‘‘(aa) any county in which 18 not less than 20 percent of the 19 population has lived in poverty 20 during the most recent 30-year 21 period, as measured by— 22 ‘‘(AA) the second and 23 third most recent decennial 24 censuses; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Aug 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4468.IS S4468 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4468 IS ‘‘(BB) the Small Area 1 Income and Poverty Esti- 2 mates of the Bureau of the 3 Census for the most recent 4 year for which the Estimates 5 are available; or 6 ‘‘(bb) any census tract with 7 a poverty rate of not less than 20 8 percent, as measured by most re- 9 cent 5-year data series available 10 from the American Community 11 Survey of the Bureau of the Cen- 12 sus. 13 ‘‘(II) INCREASED FEDERAL 14 SHARE.—A grant made under this 15 section for operating assistance to an 16 operator of public transportation that 17 serves an area that meets one or more 18 of the criteria under subclause (III) 19 shall be for 80 percent of the net op- 20 erating costs of the project, as deter- 21 mined by the Secretary. 22 ‘‘(III) CRITERIA.—The criteria 23 referred to in subclause (II) are that 24 an area— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Aug 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4468.IS S4468 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4468 IS ‘‘(aa) is an area of per- 1 sistent poverty; 2 ‘‘(bb) is a county in which 3 not less than 25 percent of resi- 4 dents are age 65 or older, accord- 5 ing to the most recent 5-year es- 6 timate of the American Commu- 7 nity Survey of the Bureau of the 8 Census; 9 ‘‘(cc) is a county that, or is 10 a county that includes a site 11 that— 12 ‘‘(AA) has been des- 13 ignated by the Secretary of 14 Health and Human Services 15 as a health professional 16 shortage area under section 17 332(a) of the Public Health 18 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 19 254e(a)) on the basis of a 20 primary care or mental 21 health care shortage; and 22 ‘‘(BB) received a health 23 professional shortage area 24 score for the most recent 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Aug 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4468.IS S4468 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4468 IS program year, with respect 1 to primary care or mental 2 health care, that was not 3 less than the lowest min- 4 imum score, as designated 5 by the Secretary of Health 6 and Human Services for 7 that program year, nec- 8 essary for the site to be eli- 9 gible for the assignment of 10 National Health Service 11 Corps members providing 12 primary care or mental 13 health care, respectively, for 14 fulfillment of obligated serv- 15 ice under the National 16 Health Service Corps Schol- 17 arship Program; or 18 ‘‘(dd) is a county with a 19 population density of not more 20 than 20 persons per square mile 21 of land area, based on the most 22 recent decennial census.’’. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Aug 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4468.IS S4468 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS