Metropolitan Planning Enhancement Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7962 To amend titles 23 and 49, United States Code, to improve public under- standing of how transportation investments are made by public agencies through establishing greater transparency and accountability processes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 7, 2020 Mr. DESAULNIER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend titles 23 and 49, United States Code, to improve public understanding of how transportation investments are made by public agencies through establishing greater transparency and accountability processes. 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 ‘‘Metropolitan Planning 4 Enhancement Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7962.IH H7962 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7962 IH SEC. 2. METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING. 1 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLAN.— 2 Section 134(i) of title 23, United States Code, is amend- 3 ed— 4 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) and (8) as 5 paragraphs (8) and (9); and 6 (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(7) PROJECT SELECTION TRANSPARENCY AND 9 ACCOUNTABILITY.—Projects included in the adopted 10 transportation plan shall be selected through a pub- 11 licly available transparent process that includes use 12 of criteria that directly support factors in subsection 13 (h), the national transportation goals under section 14 150(b), and applicable State transportation goals. 15 The criteria shall be used to publicly categorize the 16 highest performing projects.’’. 17 (b) METROPOLITAN TIP.—Section 134(j)(2)(A) of 18 title 23, United States Code is amended by adding after 19 the period at the end the following: 20 ‘‘Projects included in the priority list shall come from 21 the highest performing category of projects identified in 22 the transportation plan under subsection (i)(7). If a lower- 23 categorized project is included in the priority project list, 24 a public description shall be included to explain why the 25 lower-categorized project is included before a higher-cat- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7962.IH H7962 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7962 IH egorized project, including geographic balance and 1 projects in economically distressed areas.’’. 2 SEC. 3. STATEWIDE AND NONMETROPOLITAN TRANSPOR- 3 TATION PLANNING. 4 (a) LONG-RANGE STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION 5 PLAN.—Section 135(f) of title 23, United States Code, is 6 amended— 7 (1) by redesignating paragraph (9) as para- 8 graph (10); and 9 (2) by inserting after paragraph (8) the fol- 10 lowing: 11 ‘‘(9) PROJECT SELECTION TRANSPARENCY AND 12 ACCOUNTABILITY.—Projects included in the adopted 13 long-range statewide transportation plan shall be se- 14 lected through a publicly available transparent proc- 15 ess that includes use of criteria that directly support 16 factors in subsection (d), the national transportation 17 goals under section 150(b), and applicable State 18 transportation goals. The criteria shall be used to 19 publicly categorize the highest performing projects.’’. 20 (b) STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT 21 PLAN.—Section 135(g)(5)(A) of title 23, United States 22 Code is amended by adding after the period at the end 23 the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7962.IH H7962 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7962 IH ‘‘Projects included in the transportation improvement 1 program shall come from the highest performing category 2 of projects identified in the transportation plan under sub- 3 section (f)(9). If a lower-categorized project is included in 4 the priority project list, a public description shall be in- 5 cluded to explain why the lower-categorized project is in- 6 cluded before a higher-categorized project, including geo- 7 graphic balance and projects in economically distressed 8 areas.’’. 9 SEC. 4. METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING. 10 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PLAN.— 11 Section 5303(i) of chapter 53 of title 49, United States 12 Code, is amended— 13 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) and (8) as 14 paragraphs (8) and (9); and 15 (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘(7) PROJECT SELECTION TRANSPARENCY AND 18 ACCOUNTABILITY.—Projects included in the adopted 19 transportation plan shall be selected through a pub- 20 licly available transparent process that includes use 21 of criteria that directly support factors in subsection 22 (h), the national transportation goals under section 23 150(b), and applicable State transportation goals. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7962.IH H7962 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7962 IH The criteria shall be used to publicly categorize the 1 highest performing projects.’’. 2 (b) METROPOLITAN TIP.—Section 5303(j)(2)(A) of 3 chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code is amended by 4 adding after the period at the end the following: 5 ‘‘Projects included in the priority list shall come from 6 the highest performing category of projects identified in 7 the transportation plan under subsection (i)(7). If a lower- 8 categorized project is included in the priority project list, 9 a public description shall be included to explain why the 10 lower-categorized project is included before a higher-cat- 11 egorized project, including geographic balance and 12 projects in economically distressed areas.’’. 13 SEC. 5. STATEWIDE AND NONMETROPOLITAN TRANSPOR- 14 TATION PLANNING. 15 (a) LONG-RANGE STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION 16 PLAN.—Section 5304(f) of chapter 53 of title 49, United 17 States Code, is amended— 18 (1) by redesignating paragraph (9) as para- 19 graph (10); and 20 (2) by inserting after paragraph (8) the fol- 21 lowing: 22 ‘‘(9) PROJECT SELECTION TRANSPARENCY AND 23 ACCOUNTABILITY.—Projects included in the adopted 24 long-range statewide transportation plan shall be se- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7962.IH H7962 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7962 IH lected through a publicly available transparent proc- 1 ess that includes use of criteria that directly support 2 factors in subsection (d), the national transportation 3 goals under section 150(b), and applicable State 4 transportation goals. The criteria shall be used to 5 publicly categorize the highest performing projects.’’. 6 (b) STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT 7 PLAN.—Section 5304(g)(5)(A) of chapter 53 of title 49, 8 United States Code, is amended by adding after the period 9 at the end the following: 10 ‘‘Projects included in the statewide transportation 11 improvement program shall come from the highest per- 12 forming category of projects identified in the transpor- 13 tation plan under subsection (f)(9). If a lower-categorized 14 project is included in the priority project list, a public de- 15 scription shall be included to explain why the lower-cat- 16 egorized project is included before a higher-categorized 17 project, including geographic balance and projects in eco- 18 nomically distresses areas.’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Aug 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7962.IH H7962 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS