DALLAS -- A bipartisan group of five U.S. senators proposed legislation on Thursday that would require states to divert significant portions of their federal transportation funding into new in-state competitive grant programs for local infrastructure projects.
The measure would provide an estimated total of $5 billion/ year to individual statewide programs, which is about 10% of annual federal highway and transit grants made to states from the Highway Trust Fund.
The proposed Innovation in Surface Transportation Act, S 2891, mirrors a bill of the same name (HR 4726) that was introduced in the House in June.
Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., are lead sponsors of the Senate bill. Co-sponsors include Sens. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Thad Cochran, R-Miss.
The legislation is given a 5% chance of enactment in the 2014 congressional session by govtrack.us, a website that follows federal legislation. The House and Senate adjourned just hours after the Senate measure was filed and lawmakers are not scheduled to convene again until after the November elections.
The local grants would be supported by 10% of the funds directed to individual states through the National Highway Performance Program and 33% of funds received by a state through the federal Surface Transportation Program, Highway Safety Improvement Program, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, and the Transportation Alternatives Program.
The state competitive grants would be administered by selection panels of up to 18 members that would decide which proposals would be funded. Any surface transportation project deemed eligible for federal aid could receive grants from the state programs.
State transportation grants could go to local governments, port and rail authorities, regional transportation authorities, tribal governments, and transit agencies as well as private providers of public transit and nonprofit transit organizations.
Booker said the proposed state programs would be similar to the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery competitive grant program.
"As a former mayor [of Newark], I understand local leaders are often in the best position to make sound, cost-effective investment decisions," said Booker "This proposal will give New Jersey's 565 municipalities a seat at the table and greater opportunities to fund innovative projects that will create jobs and boost the economy."
Local leaders can best determine the most cost-effective solutions to urgent transportation infrastructure needs, Wicker said.
"Local officials in Mississippi are on the front lines of America's transportation challenges but often lack the resources to pay for critical improvements," he said.
Reps. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., and Dina Titus, D-Nev., are the lead sponsors of the state grants bill pending in the House that has seven co-sponsors.
Local agencies and private investors must be part of the process of rebuilding the nation's crumbling infrastructure, said Davis. "This bill recognizes our nation's fiscal realities by giving preference to projects that strengthen the return on investment, encouraging public-private partnerships, and increasing transparency so that every federal dollar spent goes a little bit further," he said.
The measure's requirement for diversity on the grant oversight boards would ensure spending decisions are made by locals who now have limited input on projects by state transportation agencies, Titus said.
"It's intended to empower state stakeholders who are impacted by state transportation investment decisions, but who aren't at the table right now," she said.
If state grant proposal is not passed in the current session, Titus said, it could be incorporated in the next multi-year surface transportation bill.
