II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3842 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to establish a pilot program 

to provide assistance to certain entities in rural communities, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2020 

Mr. WICKER 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 establish a 

pilot program to provide assistance to certain entities 

in rural communities, 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 ‘‘Rural Infrastructure 

5 Advancement Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RURAL ASSISTANCE PILOT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

9 within the Build America Bureau a pilot program, 


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1 to be known as the ‘‘Rural Assistance Pilot Pro2 gram’’, to provide to eligible entities, through the 

3 services of expert firms described in subsection (c), 

4 assistance and information described in paragraph 

5 (2). 

6 (2) ASSISTANCE AND INFORMATION.—In car7 rying out the Rural Assistance Pilot Program, the 

8 Secretary may provide the following: 

9 (A) Financial, technical, and legal assist10 ance to evaluate potential projects eligible to re11 ceive funding or financing assistance under an 

12 eligible program. 

13 (B) Assistance with development phase ac14 tivities, including— 

15 (i) project planning; 

16 (ii) feasibility studies; 

17 (iii) revenue forecasting and funding 

18 and financing options analysis; 

19 (iv) environmental review; 

20 (v) preliminary engineering and de21 sign work; 

22 (vi) economic assessments and cost23 benefit analyses; 

24 (vii) public benefit studies; 


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1 (viii) statutory and regulatory frame2 work analyses; 

3 (ix) value for money studies; 

4 (x) evaluations of costs to sustain the 

5 project; 

6 (xi) evaluating opportunities for pri7 vate financing and project bundling; and 

8 (xii) any other activity determined to 

9 be appropriate by the Secretary. 

10 (C) Information about innovative financing 

11 best practices and case studies if the eligible en12 tity is interested in using innovative financing 

13 methods. 

14 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity eligible for as15 sistance under the Rural Assistance Pilot Program is an 

16 entity that— 

17 (1) is located in an area that is outside of an 

18 urbanized area (as defined by the Bureau of the 

19 Census) with a population greater than 150,000 in20 dividuals; or 

21 (2) may pursue a project located in an area de22 scribed in paragraph (1). 

23 (c) ASSISTANCE FROM EXPERT FIRMS.—The Sec24 retary may retain the services of expert firms, including 

25 counsel, in the field of municipal and project finance to 


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1 assist in providing financial, technical, and legal assistance 

2 to eligible entities. 

3 (d) WEBSITE.— 

4 (1) DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

6 make publicly available on the website of the 

7 Department a description of the Rural Assist8 ance Pilot Program, including the resources 

9 available to eligible entities. 

10 (B) CLEARINGHOUSE.—The Secretary may 

11 establish a clearinghouse for tools, templates, 

12 and best practices on the page of the website of 

13 the Department that contains the information 

14 described in subparagraph (A). 

15 (2) APPLICATION PROCESSES.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

17 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

18 the Secretary shall establish a process for sub19 mitting an application. 

20 (B) ONLINE PORTAL.—The Secretary shall 

21 develop and make available to the public an on22 line portal through which the Secretary may re23 ceive, on a rolling basis, applications. 

24 (C) REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 

2 days after the date on which the Secretary 

3 receives an application, the Secretary shall 

4 notify each eligible entity that submitted 

5 the application of the approval or dis6 approval of the application. 

7 (ii) ADDITIONAL WRITTEN NOTIFICA8 TION.— 

9 (I) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 

10 30 days after the date on which the 

11 Secretary initially notifies an eligible 

12 entity under clause (i), the Secretary 

13 shall provide to the eligible entity an 

14 additional written notification of the 

15 approval or disapproval of the applica16 tion. 

17 (II) DISAPPROVED APPLICA18 TIONS.—If an application is not ap19 proved, a written notification under 

20 subclause (I) shall include an offer for 

21 a written or telephonic debrief by the 

22 Secretary that will provide an expla23 nation of, and guidance on, the rea24 sons that the application was not ap25 proved. 


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1 (iii) INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS.— 

2 The Secretary shall not approve an appli3 cation if the application does not meet the 

4 criteria established under this section. 

5 (3) DASHBOARD.—The Secretary shall post on 

6 the website of the Department a monthly report that 

7 includes, for each application— 

8 (A) the type of entity that submitted the 

9 application; 

10 (B) the location of the potential project or 

11 projects; 

12 (C) a brief description of the assistance re13 quested; 

14 (D) the date on which the Secretary re15 ceived the application; and 

16 (E) the date on which the Secretary pro17 vided notice of approval or disapproval under 

18 paragraph (2)(C)(i). 

19 (e) EXPERTS.—An eligible entity that receives assist20 ance under the Rural Assistance Pilot Program may re21 tain the services of any expert for any phase of a project, 

22 including project development, regardless of whether the 

23 expert was retained by the Secretary under subsection (c). 

24 (f) FUNDING.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—For each of fiscal years 

2 2021 through 2025, the Secretary may use to carry 

3 out the Rural Assistance Pilot Program, including to 

4 retain the services of expert firms, any amounts 

5 made available to the Secretary that are used to pro6 vide credit assistance under eligible programs and 

7 not otherwise obligated, not to exceed— 

8 (A) $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2021; 

9 (B) $2,400,000 for fiscal year 2022; 

10 (C) $3,200,000 for fiscal year 2023; 

11 (D) $4,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; and 

12 (E) $5,200,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

13 (2) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—Not more 

14 than 20 percent of the amounts made available for 

15 grants under this subsection for a fiscal year may be 

16 used to make grants for projects in any 1 State. 

17 (g) SUNSET.—The Rural Assistance Pilot Program 

18 shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the date 

19 of enactment of this Act. 

20 (h) ADMINISTRATION OF APPLICATION PROCESS BY

21 THE BUILD AMERICA BUREAU.—Section 116(d)(1) of 

22 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

23 end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(E) The Rural Assistance Pilot Program 

2 established under the Rural Infrastructure Ad3 vancement Act of 2020.’’. 

4 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 (1) APPLICATION.—The term ‘‘application’’ 

6 means an application for assistance under the Rural 

7 Assistance Pilot Program submitted by an eligible 

8 entity to the Secretary in such form and containing 

9 such information as the Secretary may require. 

10 (2) BUILD AMERICA BUREAU.—The term 

11 ‘‘Build America Bureau’’ means the National Sur12 face Transportation and Innovative Finance Bureau 

13 established under section 116 of title 49, United 

14 States Code. 

15 (3) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

16 means the Department of Transportation. 

17 (4) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti18 ty’’ means an entity described in subsection (b). 

19 (5) ELIGIBLE PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘eligible 

20 program’’ means a program described in any of sub21 paragraphs (A), (B), and (D) of section 116(d)(1) of 

22 title 49, United States Code. 

23 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

24 the Secretary of Transportation. 

Æ 


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