DALLAS - Bills proposed in the House and Senate would require states to allocate a portion of their annual federal transportation funding to local road and transit projects through a competitive grant process.
The set-aside funds would be distributed to cities, counties, transit providers, and other entities after an evaluation by a state-appointed panel of local stakeholders, said Sen. Corey Booker, D-N.J.
"There's a long list of transportation projects that can't get done in communities across the country because local officials don't have access to adequate funding," Booker said of the Innovation in Surface Transportation Act, S. 762.
Currently only 15% of all authorized federal highway funds and a single federal transportation grant program are available to cities and counties, he said.
The legislation would require states to develop a competitive, in-state grant process for a portion of their allocations from several federal transportation programs, including 10% of funding from the National Highway Performance Program, and 33% of funding from the Surface Transportation Program, Highway Safety Improvement Program, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, and Transportation Alternatives Program.
The state-appointed panels that would decide on the grants must include at least three representatives from the state department of transportation, three from cities, three from metropolitan or rural planning organizations, and an equal number of members representing labor unions, port authorities, transit agencies, business groups, and economic development organizations.
States would be required to post the criteria used to select projects, the size of the grant requested and what was allocated, as well as the source of all non-federal funding being sought for a project.
The Senate proposal was introduced by Booker and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. Both sit on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which is responsible for developing the Senate's version of a new transportation bill. Wicker and Booker introduced similar legislation in 2014 that failed to make it out of committee.
The proposal should be part of the next transportation bill, Wicker said.
Local officials face immense transportation infrastructure challenges but often lack the financial resources to deal with them on their own, he said.
"This measure would enable communities to have a say in which projects merit attention and would direct federal dollars to meet those needs," Wicker said.
Co-sponsors include Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.
The House version of the state transportation grant bill, H.R. 1393, is sponsored by Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill. Co-sponsors include Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., Gregg Harper, R-Miss., Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., and Matt Cartwright, D-Pa.
The proposed in-state competitive grant process would give smaller cities a greater role in how federal transportation dollars are spent, Davis said.
"Too often important projects in these areas are overlooked and fail to receive their fair share of funding" he said. "This bill will also help our transportation dollars go further by encouraging public-private partnerships and creating more transparency."
Separately, Booker filed legislation that would provide more flexibility to a federal rail loan program to increase its use.
The Federal Railroad Administration has the authority to issue up to $35 billion of loans through the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program but to date has made only 33 loans totaling $1.7 billion.
Booker's Railroad Infrastructure Financing Improvement Act, S.797, extends the repayment period to 50 years from the current 35 years, and facilitates financing arrangements that include private sector loans.
