CAGTC Members,
This evening, House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) released an infrastructure discussion draft, intended “to further the national conversation about the current state of America’s infrastructure and highlight some of the major roadblocks to funding and improving our transportation network.”
Among other things, the plan calls for:
- The creation of a Highway Trust Fund Commission that would make recommendations about the long-term solvency of the HTF and any legislation need to enact the recommendations (Similar to the revenue commissions established under SAFETEA-LU);
- The establishment of a national, volunteer-based pilot demonstration program to explore if a per-mile user fee can replace the existing Federal gas tax;
- The increase of the Federal gas tax by 15 cents per gallon and the Federal diesel gas by 20 cents per gallon over a period of three calendar years, after which time they should be indexed to inflation;
- The extension of the FAST Act for one additional year, through fiscal year 2021, with all programs funded at FY2020 rates;
- Permanent statutory authorization of the TIGER/ BUILD program, known as the National Infrastructure Investments Program, up to $3 billion of general fund appropriations annually. It would include a 30 percent set aside for rural projects and another set aside for incentive grants (“would be given to eligible applicants that have leased an infrastructure asset to the private sector and have certified that the proceeds from the lease will be used to make other infrastructure improvements.”). It also increases the minimum grant size to $25 million (in recent rounds the minimum size has been $5 million – and in the most recent round, the maximum award size was $25 million). There is also a $500 million set-aside annually that would allow Congress to assign dollars, as opposed to USDOT, through an “Act of Congress.”
- Two significant changes to the INFRA program: 1) Increased decision making transparency on the part of USDOT: the Secretary must send Congress project application evaluations. 2) USDOT shall reserve $200 million in contract authority over three years (2019-2021) for unsuccessful prior-year applicants “for allocation by an Act of Congress;” and
- Various accelerated project delivery reforms, including a one federal decision process and a pilot program to study the use of innovative practices for environmental reviews.
The homepage for this proposal is online here. You can find the full draft text here, a section-by-section analysis here, Chairman Shuster’s vision for the draft here, and a timeline of U.S. transportation infrastructure here. I have also attached these materials to this email. Chairman Shuster is not seeking reelection to Congress and his term expires at the close of the 115th Congress. At this time, the draft bill does not have any co-sponsors.
Thank you,
Katie Cross
Manager, Member Communications & Policy
Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors
1625 K Street NW
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
tradecorridors.org