II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 654 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to carry out a pilot program 

to develop and provide to States and transportation planning organizations accessibility data sets, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 5, 2019 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself and Ms. ERNST) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to carry out 

a pilot program to develop and provide to States and 

transportation planning organizations accessibility data 

sets, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Connecting Opportuni5 ties through Mobility Metrics and Unlocking Transpor6 tation Efficiencies Act’’ or the ‘‘COMMUTE Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ACCESSIBILITY DATA PILOT PROGRAM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor4 tation (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 

5 carry out an accessibility data pilot program (referred to 

6 in this section as the ‘‘pilot program’’). 

7 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the pilot program is 

8 to develop or make available an accessibility data set for 

9 each eligible entity selected to participate in the pilot pro10 gram to improve transportation planning of those eligible 

11 entities by measuring the level of access by multiple trans12 portation modes to important destinations, such as— 

13 (1) jobs, including areas with a concentration of 

14 available jobs; 

15 (2) health care facilities; 

16 (3) child care services; 

17 (4) educational and workforce training facilities; 

18 (5) affordable housing; and 

19 (6) food sources. 

20 (c) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity eligible to par21 ticipate in the pilot program is— 

22 (1) a State (as defined in section 101(a) of title 

23 23, United States Code); 

24 (2) a metropolitan planning organization; or 

25 (3) a rural planning organization. 


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1 (d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to participate in 

2 the pilot program, an eligible entity shall submit to the 

3 Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 

4 and containing such information as the Secretary may re5 quire. 

6 (e) SELECTION.—The Secretary shall select eligible 

7 entities to participate in the program on a competitive 

8 basis, including— 

9 (1) 5 States; 

10 (2) 10 metropolitan planning organizations, of 

11 which— 

12 (A) 5 shall each serve an area with a popu13 lation of not more than 200,000 people; and 

14 (B) 5 shall each serve an area with a pop15 ulation of 200,000 or more people; and 

16 (3) 5 rural planning organizations. 

17 (f) DUTIES.—For each eligible entity participating in 

18 the pilot program, the Secretary shall— 

19 (1) develop or acquire an accessibility data set 

20 described in subsection (b); and 

21 (2) submit the data set to the eligible entity. 

22 (g) METHODOLOGY.—In calculating the measures for 

23 the data set under the pilot program, the Secretary shall 

24 ensure that methodology is open source. 


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1 (h) AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall make an ac2 cessibility data set under the pilot program available to— 

3 (1) units of local government within the juris4 diction of the eligible entity participating in the pilot 

5 program; and 

6 (2) researchers. 

7 (i) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the last 

8 date on which the Secretary submits data sets to the eligi9 ble entity under subsection (f), the Secretary shall submit 

10 to Congress a report on the results of the program, includ11 ing the feasibility of developing and providing periodic ac12 cessibility data sets for all States, regions, and localities. 

13 (j) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall carry out the 

14 pilot program using amounts made available to the Sec15 retary for administrative expenses to carry out programs 

16 under the authority of the Secretary. 

17 (k) SUNSET.—The pilot program shall terminate on 

18 the date that is 8 years after the date on which the pilot 

19 program is implemented. 

Æ 


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