I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1827 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for the establishment 

of a flexibility incentive grant program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 31, 2009 

Ms. MATSUI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for the 

establishment of a flexibility incentive grant program. 

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 ‘‘Flexibility Incentive 

5 Grant Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FLEXIBILITY INCENTIVE GRANT PILOT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 53 of title 49, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘§ 5341. Flexibility incentive grant pilot program 

2 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 

3 provide incentives to encourage States to establish new 

4 sources of revenue for public transportation projects and 

5 services and to reward States for creating more flexibility 

6 in the use of their existing transportation funds. 

7 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary 

8 of Transportation shall establish a flexibility incentive 

9 grant pilot program in accordance with this section. 

10 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State may submit an ap12 plication to the Secretary for a grant under the sec13 tion for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2013 not 

14 later than the August 1 preceding the first day of 

15 such fiscal year. 

16 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—An application of a State for 

17 a grant for a fiscal year under this section shall con18 tain, at a minimum, the aggregate amount that the 

19 State and the counties of the State expended (ex20 cluding amounts from Federal sources) on public 

21 transportation projects and services for each of the 

22 State’s 2 fiscal years preceding the date of the appli23 cation, together with such supporting documentation 

24 as the Secretary may require by regulation. 

25 ‘‘(d) DETERMINATIONS BY THE SECRETARY.—Not 

26 later than September 1 of each of calendar years 2010 


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1 through 2013, the Secretary shall determine for each 

2 State that submitted an application for a grant under sub3 section (c) for the fiscal year beginning on September 30th 

4 of that calendar year if the State and the counties of the 

5 State increased the aggregate amount that the State and 

6 such counties expended (excluding amounts from Federal 

7 sources) on public transportation projects and services 

8 from the State’s second fiscal year preceding such Sep9 tember 1 to the State’s first fiscal year preceding such 

10 September 1, the amount of such increase, and the per11 centage of such increase over the State’s second preceding 

12 fiscal year. 

13 ‘‘(e) GRANTS FOR INCREASED PUBLIC TRANSPOR14 TATION FUNDING.— 

15 ‘‘(1) STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF 10 PER16 CENT OR MORE.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph 

18 (2) and subsection (g), the Secretary shall make 

19 a grant for each of fiscal years 2010 through 

20 2013 to each State— 

21 ‘‘(i) whose percentage increase, as de22 termined by the Secretary under sub23 section (d) with respect to such fiscal year, 

24 in expenditures for public transportation 

25 projects and services over the preceding 


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1 fiscal year of the State was 10 percent or 

2 more; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) whose aggregate expenditures for 

4 such projects and services in the State’s 

5 preceding fiscal year was $1,000,000,000 

6 or less, as determined by the Secretary 

7 under subsection (d); and 

8 ‘‘(B) AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant 

9 under subparagraph (A) shall be equal to the 

10 increase in the aggregate amount that the State 

11 and the counties of the State expended (exclud12 ing amounts from Federal sources) on public 

13 transportation projects and services from the 

14 second preceding fiscal year of the State to the 

15 first preceding fiscal year of the State, as deter16 mined by the Secretary under subsection (d). 

17 ‘‘(2) LARGE STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF 1

18 PERCENT OR MORE.—Subject to subsection (g), for 

19 each of fiscal years 2010 through 2013, the Sec20 retary shall make a grant of $50,000,000 to each 

21 State— 

22 ‘‘(A) whose percentage increase, as deter23 mined by the Secretary under subsection (d) 

24 with respect to such fiscal year, in expenditures 

25 for public transportation projects and services 


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1 over the preceding fiscal year of the State was 

2 1 percent or more; and 

3 ‘‘(B) whose aggregate expenditures for 

4 such projects and services in the State’s pre5 ceding fiscal year was more than 

6 $1,000,000,000, as determined by the Secretary 

7 under subsection (d). 

8 ‘‘(f) STATES CREATING FLEXIBLE TRANSPORTATION

9 FUNDS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) NEW DEDICATED SOURCE OF REVENUE.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection 

12 (g), for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2013, 

13 the Secretary shall make a grant of 

14 $10,000,000 to each State that established in 

15 the first preceding fiscal year of the State a 

16 dedicated source of revenue for carrying out 

17 only public transportation projects and services 

18 that the Secretary— 

19 ‘‘(i) determines was not in effect in 

20 the second preceding fiscal year of the 

21 State; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) projects will result in an increase 

23 of 10 percent in State funds available for 

24 expenditure on such projects and services 


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1 within 2 years after the date of such imple2 mentation. 

3 ‘‘(B) DEDICATED SOURCE OF REVENUES

4 DEFINED.—For purposes of this paragraph, the 

5 term ‘dedicated source of revenue’ may include 

6 the dedication of a State motor fuels tax or 

7 sales tax, interest on existing highway funds, 

8 motor vehicle excise tax, tolls, loans to be made 

9 out of highway funds, and such other sources of 

10 revenue as the Secretary determines. 

11 ‘‘(2) UNRESTRICTED USE OF HIGHWAY

12 FUNDS.—Subject to subsection (h), for each of fiscal 

13 years 2010 through 2013, the Secretary shall make 

14 a grant of $10,000,000 to each State that in the 

15 preceding fiscal year of the State amended State law 

16 or the State constitution to allow funds that were re17 stricted for highway purposes only to be used for 

18 public transportation projects and services as well as 

19 highway purposes. 

20 ‘‘(g) LIMITATION FOR STATES ELIGIBILITY FOR

21 MULTIPLE GRANTS.—If the Secretary determines that a 

22 State is eligible for a grant under more than one of sub23 sections (e)(1), (e)(2), (f)(1), and (f)(2) for a fiscal year, 

24 the Secretary may only make the grant to the State that 


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1 is for the greatest amount the State is eligible for under 

2 such subsections. 

3 ‘‘(h) USE OF GRANTS.—A State may obligate funds 

4 granted to it under this section for any project or activity 

5 eligible for assistance under title 23 or this chapter. 

6 ‘‘(i) GRANT REQUIREMENTS.—Except as otherwise 

7 provided in this section— 

8 ‘‘(1) a grant under this section being used for 

9 a public transportation project or activity shall be 

10 subject to all of the terms and conditions to which 

11 a grant made under section 5307 is subject; and 

12 ‘‘(2) a grant under this section being used for 

13 a highway project or activity shall be subject to all 

14 of the terms and conditions that would be applicable 

15 to such project or activity if such project or activity 

16 were being carried out under title 23. 

17 ‘‘(j) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of the 

18 cost of a project or activity funded under this section shall 

19 be 100 percent. 

20 ‘‘(k) AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

22 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2013 $250,000,000. 

23 Such sums shall remain available until expended. 


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1 ‘‘(l) PROGRAM EVALUATION.—Not later than 5 years 

2 after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary 

3 shall— 

4 ‘‘(1) conduct a study to evaluate the pilot pro5 gram authorized by this section; and 

6 ‘‘(2) submit to the Committee on Transpor7 tation and Infrastructure of the House of Represent8 atives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

9 Urban Affairs of the Senate a report describing the 

10 results of the study.’’. 

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 

12 such chapter is amended by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: 

‘‘5341. Flexibility incentive grant pilot program.’’. 

Æ 


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