PATH to College Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3411 To increase access to higher education by providing public transit grants. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 17, 2023 Mr. FITZPATRICK (for himself, Mr. KILMER, Mr. KEAN of New Jersey, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To increase access to higher education by providing public transit grants. 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 ‘‘Promoting Advance- 4 ment Through Transit Help to College Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘PATH to College Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. INCREASING ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION 7 THROUGH PUBLIC TRANSIT GRANTS. 8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3411.IH H3411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3411 IH (1) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘eligi- 1 ble institution’’ means— 2 (A) a community college; 3 (B) a historically Black college or univer- 4 sity; 5 (C) a Tribal College or University (as de- 6 fined in section 316 of the Higher Education 7 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c)); or 8 (D) a minority-serving institution. 9 (2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘eligible 10 recipient’’ means a public transit provider that is an 11 eligible recipient under chapter 53 of title 49, 12 United States Code, in partnership with 1 or more 13 eligible institutions. 14 (3) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI- 15 VERSITY.—The term ‘‘historically Black college or 16 university’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘part B 17 institution’’ in section 322 of the Higher Education 18 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061). 19 (4) MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTION.—The 20 term ‘‘minority-serving institution’’ means an eligi- 21 ble institution under section 371 of the Higher Edu- 22 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067q). 23 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 24 the Secretary of Transportation. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3411.IH H3411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3411 IH (b) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make grants 1 under this section to eligible recipients to enable those eli- 2 gible recipients to carry out projects described in sub- 3 section (c) to better connect students with transportation 4 to eligible institutions. 5 (c) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—An eligible recipient re- 6 ceiving a grant under this section shall use grant funds 7 to carry out one or more of the following activities to bet- 8 ter connect students with transportation to one or more 9 of the eligible institutions that are part of the eligible re- 10 cipient partnership: 11 (1) Adding bus or rail stops or routes and com- 12 plementary paratransit service that serve campuses 13 and connect to surrounding areas or other cities. 14 (2) Increasing the frequency of service or ad- 15 justing the time of bus, rail, or paratransit routes to 16 allow students to get to and from their classes. 17 (3) Operating costs for service described in 18 paragraphs (1) and (2) if such costs are eligible 19 under section 5307 or section 5311 of title 49, 20 United States Code. 21 (d) APPLICATION.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible recipient that de- 23 sires a grant under this section shall submit an ap- 24 plication to the Secretary at such time, in such man- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3411.IH H3411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3411 IH ner, and containing such information as the Sec- 1 retary may require, including information on the ex- 2 tent to which the proposed projects using grant 3 funds will improve the availability of transit access 4 for students. 5 (2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 6 section, the Secretary shall give priority to an eligi- 7 ble recipient whose partnership includes an eligible 8 institution with respect to which more than 25 per- 9 cent of students enrolled in that eligible institution 10 receive a Federal Pell Grant. 11 (e) FEDERAL SHARE.— 12 (1) CAPITAL PROJECT.—Except as provided in 13 section 5323(i) of title 49, United States Code, the 14 Federal share of the net project cost of a capital 15 project carried out using a grant under this section 16 shall be not more than 80 percent. 17 (2) OPERATING COSTS.—The Federal share of 18 net operating costs for a project carried out using a 19 grant under this section shall be not more than 50 20 percent. 21 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 22 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 23 (1) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 24 (2) $4,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3411.IH H3411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3411 IH (3) $6,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; 1 (4) $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2028; and 2 (5) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2029 3 through 2031. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3411.IH H3411 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS