I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5231 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve the transportation 

alternatives program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2019 

Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself and Mr. LARSEN of Washington) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 

and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve the 

transportation alternatives program, 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 ‘‘Transportation Alter5 natives Enhancements Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES PROGRAM. 

7 (a) SET-ASIDE.—Section 133(h)(1) of title 23, 

8 United States Code, is amended— 

9 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘RESERVATION

10 OF FUNDS’’ and inserting ‘‘IN GENERAL’’; and 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘for each fiscal year,’’ and all 

2 that follows through the end and inserting ‘‘for fis3 cal year 2021 and each fiscal year thereafter, the 

4 Secretary shall set aside an amount equal to 10 per5 cent to carry out this subsection.’’. 

6 (b) ALLOCATION.—Section 133(h) of title 23, United 

7 States Code, is amended by striking paragraph (2) and 

8 inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION WITHIN A STATE.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

11 subparagraph (B), funds set aside for a State 

12 under paragraph (1) shall be obligated within 

13 that State in the manner described in sub14 section (d), except that, for purposes of this 

15 paragraph (after funds are made available 

16 under paragraph (5))— 

17 ‘‘(i) for fiscal year 2021 and each fis18 cal year thereafter, the percentage referred 

19 to in paragraph (1)(A) of that subsection 

20 shall be deemed to be 66 percent; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) paragraph (3) of subsection (d) 

22 shall not apply. 

23 ‘‘(B) LOCAL CONTROL.—A State may allo24 cate up to 100 percent of the funds referred to 

25 in subparagraph (A)(i) if— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the State submits to the Sec2 retary a plan that describes— 

3 ‘‘(I) how funds will be allocated 

4 to counties, metropolitan planning or5 ganizations, regional transportation 

6 planning organizations as described in 

7 section 135(m), or local governments; 

8 ‘‘(II) how the entities described 

9 in subclause (I) will carry out a com10 petitive process to select projects for 

11 funding and report selected projects 

12 to the State; 

13 ‘‘(III) how input was gathered 

14 from the entities described in sub15 clause (I) to ensure those entities are 

16 able and willing to comply with the re17 quirements of this subsection; and 

18 ‘‘(IV) how the State will comply 

19 with paragraph (8); and 

20 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary approves the plan 

21 submitted under clause (i).’’. 

22 (c) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—Section 133(h)(3) of title 

23 23, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘reserved’’ 

24 and inserting ‘‘set aside’’. 


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1 (d) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Section 133(h)(4)(B) of 

2 title 23, United States Code, is amended— 

3 (1) by redesignating clauses (vii) and (viii) as 

4 clauses (viii) and (ix), respectively; 

5 (2) by inserting after clause (vi) the following: 

6 ‘‘(vii) a metropolitan planning organi7 zation that serves an urbanized area with 

8 a population of 200,000 or fewer;’’; 

9 (3) in clause (viii) (as so redesignated), by 

10 striking ‘‘responsible’’ and all that follows through 

11 ‘‘programs’’; and 

12 (4) in clause (ix) (as so redesignated), by in13 serting ‘‘that serves an urbanized area with a popu14 lation of over 200,000’’ after ‘‘metropolitan planning 

15 organization’’. 

16 (e) CONTINUATION OF CERTAIN RECREATIONAL

17 TRAILS PROJECTS.—Section 133(h)(5)(A) of title 23, 

18 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘reserved 

19 under this section’’ and inserting ‘‘set aside under this 

20 subsection’’. 

21 (f) STATE FLEXIBILITY.—Section 133(h)(6) of title 

22 23, United States Code, is amended— 

23 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘reserved’’ 

24 and inserting ‘‘set aside’’; and 

25 (2) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(C) IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY AND EFFI2 CIENCY.— 

3 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A State may use 

4 an amount equal to not more than 5 per5 cent of the funds set aside for the State 

6 under this subsection, after allocating 

7 funds in accordance with paragraph 

8 (2)(A), to improve the ability of applicants 

9 to access funding for projects under this 

10 subsection in an efficient and expeditious 

11 manner by— 

12 ‘‘(I) providing to applicants for 

13 projects under this subsection applica14 tion assistance, technical assistance, 

15 and assistance in reducing the period 

16 of time between the selection of the 

17 project and the obligation of funds for 

18 the project; and 

19 ‘‘(II) by providing funding for 1 

20 or more full-time State employee posi21 tions to administer this subsection. 

22 ‘‘(ii) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts used 

23 under clause (i) may be expended— 

24 ‘‘(I) directly by the State; or 


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1 ‘‘(II) through contracts with 

2 State agencies, private entities, or 

3 nonprofit entities.’’. 

4 (g) FEDERAL SHARE.—Section 133(h) of title 23, 

5 United States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating paragraph (7) as para7 graph (8); and 

8 (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(7) FEDERAL SHARE.— 

11 ‘‘(A) REQUIRED AGGREGATE NON-FED12 ERAL SHARE.—The average annual non-Federal 

13 share of the total cost of all projects for which 

14 funds are obligated under this subsection in a 

15 State for a fiscal year shall be not less than the 

16 non-Federal share authorized for the State 

17 under section 120(b). 

18 ‘‘(B) FLEXIBLE FINANCING.—Subject to 

19 subparagraph (A), notwithstanding section 

20 120— 

21 ‘‘(i) funds made available to carry out 

22 section 148 may be credited toward the 

23 non-Federal share of the costs of a project 

24 under this subsection if the project— 


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1 ‘‘(I) is an eligible project de2 scribed in section 148(e)(1); and 

3 ‘‘(II) contributes to the annual 

4 safety performance targets of the 

5 State; 

6 ‘‘(ii) the non-Federal share for a 

7 project under this subsection may be cal8 culated on a project, multiple-project, or 

9 program basis; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) the Federal share of the cost of 

11 an individual project in this section may be 

12 up to 100 percent.’’. 

13 (h) STATE TRANSFERABILITY.—Section 126(b)(2) of 

14 title 23, United States Code, is amended by striking the 

15 period at the end of (2) and inserting: ‘‘and may only be 

16 transferred if the Secretary certifies that the State— 

17 ‘‘(1) held a competition in compliance with the 

18 guidance on Section 133(h) with sufficient time for 

19 applicants to apply; 

20 ‘‘(2) offered technical assistance to all eligible 

21 entities and provided it to those who requested it; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(3) can demonstrate that there were not suffi24 ciently suitable applications from eligible entities to 

25 use the funds to be transferred.’’. 


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1 (i) IMPROVED TRANSPARENCY.—Paragraph (8)(A) 

2 of section 133(h) of title 23, United States Code (as so 

3 redesignated by subsection (g)), is amended by striking 

4 clause (ii) and inserting the following: 

5 ‘‘(ii) the list of each project selected 

6 for funding for each year, including for 

7 each project the year selected, the fiscal 

8 year in which the project is anticipated to 

9 be funded, the recipient, the location, the 

10 type, and a brief description.’’. 

11 (j) SAFE ROUTES TO HIGH SCHOOLS.—Section 1404 

12 of SAFETEA–LU (23 U.S.C. 402 note) is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘primary and 

14 middle’’ and inserting ‘‘primary, middle, and high’’; 

15 and 

16 (2) in subsection (k)(2)— 

17 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘PRIMARY

18 AND MIDDLE’’ and inserting ‘‘PRIMARY, MID19 DLE, AND HIGH’’; 

20 (B) by striking ‘‘primary and middle’’ and 

21 inserting ‘‘primary, middle, and high’’; and 

22 (C) by striking ‘‘eighth grade’’ and insert23 ing ‘‘12th grade’’. 


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1 (k) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section and the amend2 ments made by this section shall take effect on October 

3 1, 2020. 

Æ 


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