II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5446 

To establish a program to fund electric public transportation in rural 

communities. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 5, 2024 

Mr. WELCH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish a program to fund electric public transportation 

in rural communities. 

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 ‘‘Electrifying Rural 

5 Transportation Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RURAL PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ELECTRIFICA7 TION PROGRAM. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) ELECTRIC BUS.—The term ‘‘electric bus’’ 

10 means a battery-electric or plug-in hybrid bus. 


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1 (2) ELECTRIC VEHICLE.—The term ‘‘electric 

2 vehicle’’— 

3 (A) means a battery-electric or plug-in hy4 brid vehicle; and 

5 (B) includes an electric bus. 

6 (3) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘eligible 

7 recipient’’ means a State or Indian tribe that is eli8 gible for a grant under section 5311 of title 49, 

9 United States Code. 

10 (4) MICROTRANSIT.—The term ‘‘micro11 transit’’— 

12 (A) means a technology-enabled service 

13 that— 

14 (i) uses multi-passenger vehicles to 

15 provide shared-ride on-demand services 

16 with dynamically generated routing; and 

17 (ii) is traditionally provided in a des18 ignated service area; and 

19 (B) includes service models such as— 

20 (i) first mile or last mile connections 

21 to fixed route services; 

22 (ii) hub to hub zone-based services; 

23 (iii) the commingling of ADA com24 plementary paratransit services with gen25 eral transit service; and 


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1 (iv) point-to-point service within a 

2 specific zone or geographic area. 

3 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of Transportation. 

5 (b) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall award 

6 grants to eligible recipients, in accordance with the for7 mula under section 5311(c) of title 49, United States 

8 Code, for the electrification of buses, microtransit vehicles, 

9 and other public transportation fleet vehicles. 

10 (c) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—An eligible recipient may 

11 use a grant received under subsection (b)— 

12 (1) to purchase— 

13 (A) an electric bus; 

14 (B) an electric vehicle, other than an elec15 tric bus, used for microtransit; or 

16 (C) charging infrastructure; 

17 (2) to renovate a bus facility by upgrading ex18 isting charging infrastructure or adding new charg19 ing infrastructure; or 

20 (3) for operating assistance for electric public 

21 transportation, including electric vehicles. 

22 (d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may 

23 use not more than 5 percent of the amounts made avail24 able to carry out this section for a fiscal year to provide 

25 technical assistance to eligible recipients. 


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1 (e) WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT TRAINING.—An eli2 gible recipient may use not more than 5 percent of the 

3 amount of a grant received under subsection (b) for work4 force development training for a transit agency in a rural 

5 area, as defined in section 5302 of title 49, United States 

6 Code, including— 

7 (1) costs associated with obtaining proper oper8 ating and driving licenses for electric vehicles; 

9 (2) the cost of training for operations and 

10 maintenance of electric buses and other electric vehi11 cles; and 

12 (3) the cost of training for operations and 

13 maintenance of charging equipment for electric vehi14 cles. 

15 (f) APPLICABILITY OF SECTION 5311 REQUIRE16 MENTS.—The requirements under section 5311 of title 49, 

17 United States Code, (other than subsection (f)) shall apply 

18 with respect to a grant awarded under this section in the 

19 same manner as if the grant were awarded under such 

20 section 5311. 

21 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

22 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

23 out this section $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 

24 through 2029. 

Æ 


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