II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 325 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to establish programs to facilitate 

international and interstate trade. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2005 

Mr. LEVIN (for himself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public 

Works 

A BILL 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to establish programs 

to facilitate international and interstate trade. 

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 ‘‘National Highway Bor5 ders Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COORDINATED BORDER INFRASTRUCTURE PRO7 GRAM. 

8 Subchapter I of chapter 1 of title 23, United States 

9 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘§ 165. Coordinated border infrastructure program 

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

3 ‘‘(1) BORDER REGION.—The term ‘border re4 gion’ means the portion of a border State that is lo5 cated within 100 kilometers of a land border cross6 ing with Canada or Mexico. 

7 ‘‘(2) BORDER STATE.—The term ‘border State’ 

8 means any State that has a boundary in common 

9 with Canada or Mexico. 

10 ‘‘(3) COMMERCIAL VEHICLE.—The term ‘com11 mercial vehicle’ means a vehicle that is used for the 

12 primary purpose of transporting cargo in inter13 national or interstate commercial trade. 

14 ‘‘(4) PASSENGER VEHICLE.—The term ‘pas15 senger vehicle’ means a vehicle that is used for the 

16 primary purpose of transporting individuals. 

17 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall establish and 

18 implement a coordinated border infrastructure program 

19 under which the Secretary shall make allocations to border 

20 States for projects within a border region to improve the 

21 safe movement of people and goods at or across the border 

22 between the United States and Canada and the border be23 tween the United States and Mexico. 

24 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE USES.—Allocations to States under 

25 this section may only be used in a border region for— 
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1 ‘‘(1) improvements to transportation and sup2 porting infrastructure that facilitate cross-border ve3 hicle and cargo movements; 

4 ‘‘(2) construction of highways and related safe5 ty and safety enforcement facilities that will facili6 tate vehicle and cargo movements relating to inter7 national trade; 

8 ‘‘(3) operational improvements, including im9 provements relating to electronic data interchange 

10 and use of telecommunications, to expedite cross11 border vehicle and cargo movement; 

12 ‘‘(4) international coordination of planning, 

13 programming, and border operation with Canada 

14 and Mexico relating to expediting cross-border vehi15 cle and cargo movements; 

16 ‘‘(5) projects in Canada or Mexico proposed by 

17 1 or more border States that directly and predomi18 nantly facilitate cross-border vehicle and commercial 

19 cargo movements at the international gateways or 

20 ports of entry into a border region; and 

21 ‘‘(6) planning and environmental studies. 

22 ‘‘(d) ALLOCATIONS OF FUNDS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year, the 

24 Secretary shall allocate among border States, in ac25 cordance with the formula described in paragraph 
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1 (2), funds to be used in accordance with subsection 

2 (c). 

3 ‘‘(2) FORMULA.—Subject to paragraph (3), the 

4 amount allocated to a border State under this para5 graph shall be determined by the Secretary, as fol6 lows: 

7 ‘‘(A) 25 percent in the ratio that— 

8 ‘‘(i) the average annual weight of all 

9 cargo entering the border State by com10 mercial vehicle across the international 

11 border with Canada or Mexico, as the case 

12 may be; bears to 

13 ‘‘(ii) the average annual weight of all 

14 cargo entering all border States by com15 mercial vehicle across the international 

16 borders with Canada and Mexico. 

17 ‘‘(B) 25 percent in the ratio that— 

18 ‘‘(i) the average trade value of all 

19 cargo imported into the border State and 

20 all cargo exported from the border State 

21 by commercial vehicle across the inter22 national border with Canada or Mexico, as 

23 the case may be; bears to 

24 ‘‘(ii) the average trade value of all 

25 cargo imported into all border States and 
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1 all cargo exported from all border States 

2 by commercial vehicle across the inter3 national borders with Canada and Mexico. 

4 ‘‘(C) 25 percent in the ratio that— 

5 ‘‘(i) the number of commercial vehi6 cles annually entering the border State 

7 across the international border with Can8 ada or Mexico, as the case may be; bears 

9 to 

10 ‘‘(ii) the number of all commercial ve11 hicles annually entering all border States 

12 across the international borders with Can13 ada and Mexico. 

14 ‘‘(D) 25 percent in the ratio that— 

15 ‘‘(i) the number of passenger vehicles 

16 annually entering the border State across 

17 the international border with Canada or 

18 Mexico, as the case may be; bears to 

19 ‘‘(ii) the number of all passenger vehi20 cles annually entering all border States 

21 across the international borders with Can22 ada and Mexico. 

23 ‘‘(3) DATA SOURCE.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The data used by the 

25 Secretary in making allocations under this sub-
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1 section shall be based on the Bureau of Trans2 portation Statistics Transborder Surface 

3 Freight Dataset (or other similar database). 

4 ‘‘(B) BASIS OF CALCULATION.—All for5 mula calculations shall be made using the aver6 age values for the most recent 5-year period for 

7 which data are available. 

8 ‘‘(4) MINIMUM ALLOCATION.—Notwithstanding 

9 paragraph (2), for each fiscal year, each border 

State shall receive at least 1 10 ⁄2 of 1 percent of the 

11 funds made available for allocation under this para12 graph for the fiscal year. 

13 ‘‘(e) COST SHARING.—The Federal share of the cost 

14 of a project carried out using funds allocated under this 

15 section shall not exceed 80 percent. 

16 ‘‘(f) TRANSFER OF FUNDS TO THE ADMINISTRATOR

17 OF GENERAL SERVICES.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At the request of a State, 

19 funds allocated to the State under this section shall 

20 be transferred to the Administrator of General Serv21 ices for the purpose of funding a project under the 

22 administrative jurisdiction of the Administrator in a 

23 border State if the Secretary determines, after con24 sultation with the State transportation department, 

25 as appropriate, that— 
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1 ‘‘(A) the Administrator should carry out 

2 the project; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the Administrator agrees to use the 

4 funds to carry out the project. 

5 ‘‘(2) NO AUGMENTATION OF APPROPRIA6 TIONS.—Funds transferred under paragraph (1) 

7 shall not be considered to be an augmentation of the 

8 amount of appropriations made to the General Serv9 ices Administration. 

10 ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATION.—Funds transferred 

11 under paragraph (1) shall be administered in accord12 ance with the procedures applicable to the General 

13 Services Administration, except that the funds shall 

14 be available for obligation in the same manner as 

15 other funds apportioned under this chapter. 

16 ‘‘(4) TRANSFER OF OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.— 

17 Obligation authority shall be transferred to the Ad18 ministrator of General Services in the same manner 

19 and amount as funds are transferred for a project 

20 under paragraph (1). 

21 ‘‘(g) FUNDING.— 

22 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

23 There is authorized to be appropriated from the 

24 Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit 
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1 Account) to carry out this section $200,000,000 for 

2 each of fiscal years 2006 through 2011. 

3 ‘‘(2) OBLIGATION AUTHORITY.—Funds made 

4 available to carry out this section shall be available 

5 for obligation as if the funds were apportioned in ac6 cordance with section 104. 

7 ‘‘(3) EXCLUSION FROM CALCULATION OF MIN8 IMUM GUARANTEE.—The Secretary shall calculate 

9 the amounts to be allocated among the States under 

10 section 105 without regard to amounts made avail11 able to the States under this subsection.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

13 (a) Section 1101(a) of the Transportation Equity Act 

14 for the 21st Century (112 Stat. 111) is amended by strik15 ing paragraph (9) and inserting the following: 

16 ‘‘(9) COORDINATED BORDER INFRASTRUCTURE

17 PROGRAM.—For the coordinated border infrastruc18 ture program under section 165 of title 23, United 

19 States Code, $200,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

20 2006 through 2011.’’. 

21 (b) Sections 1118 and 1119 of the Transportation 

22 Equity Act for the 21st Century (112 Stat. 161) are re23 pealed. 
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1 (c) The analysis for subchapter I of chapter 1 of title 

2 23, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the 

3 item relating to section 164 the following: 

‘‘165. Coordinated border infrastructure program.’’. 

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