II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1968 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to establish a pilot program 

to increase accountability with respect to outcomes of transportation 

investments, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 8, 2011 

Mr. WARNER (for himself and Mr. KIRK) 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 increase accountability with respect to 

outcomes of transportation investments, 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. MOVING TOWARD TRANSPORTATION ACCOUNT4 ABILITY. 

5 Chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code, is amend6 ed by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘§ 5341. Transportation accountability 

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

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1 ‘‘(1) METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZA2 TION.—The term ‘metropolitan planning organiza3 tion’ means an organization designated as a metro4 politan planning organization under section 5303(d) 

5 of this title or section 134(d) of title 23. 

6 ‘‘(2) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘pilot pro7 gram’ means the pilot program established under 

8 this section. 

9 ‘‘(3) PROGRAM PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘pro10 gram participant’ means a State or metropolitan 

11 planning organization selected by the Secretary to 

12 participate in the pilot program. 

13 ‘‘(4) NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION GOALS.—The 

14 term ‘national transportation goals’ includes— 

15 ‘‘(A) improving the connection of individ16 uals and goods throughout the United States; 

17 ‘‘(B) providing improved and efficient ac18 cess to jobs and services throughout metropoli19 tan areas; 

20 ‘‘(C) promoting economic growth and en21 hanced commercial productivity; 

22 ‘‘(D) integrating energy security and envi23 ronmental protection objectives with transpor24 tation policy; and 

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1 ‘‘(E) improving safety by reducing fatali2 ties and injuries. 

3 ‘‘(5) TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENT.—The 

4 term ‘transportation investment’ means Federal 

5 funding for a project included in a transportation 

6 program. 

7 ‘‘(6) TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM.—The term 

8 ‘transportation program’ means a plan or strategy 

9 prepared by a metropolitan planning organization or 

10 a State for transportation systems and facilities in 

11 the metropolitan planning area or the State, includ12 ing a transportation plan, transportation improve13 ment program, statewide transportation plan, or 

14 statewide transportation improvement program de15 veloped under section 5303 or 5304 of this title or 

16 section 134 or 135 of title 23. 

17 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab19 lish a pilot program under which the Secretary shall 

20 conduct case studies of States and metropolitan 

21 planning organizations that are designed to— 

22 ‘‘(A) provide more detailed, in-depth anal23 ysis and data collection with respect to trans24 portation programs; and 

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1 ‘‘(B) apply rigorous methods of measuring 

2 and addressing the effectiveness of program 

3 participants in achieving national transpor4 tation goals. 

5 ‘‘(2) PRELIMINARY REQUIREMENTS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) SOLICITATION.—The Secretary shall 

7 solicit applications to participate in the pilot 

8 program from States and metropolitan planning 

9 organizations. 

10 ‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION.—A State or metro11 politan planning organization that desires to 

12 participate in the pilot program shall notify the 

13 Secretary of such desire before a date deter14 mined by the Secretary. 

15 ‘‘(C) SELECTION.— 

16 ‘‘(i) NUMBER OF PROGRAM PARTICI17 PANTS.—The Secretary shall select to par18 ticipate in the pilot program— 

19 ‘‘(I) not fewer than 3, and not 

20 more than 5, States; and 

21 ‘‘(II) not fewer than 3, and not 

22 more than 5, metropolitan planning 

23 organizations. 

24 ‘‘(ii) TIMING.—The Secretary shall se25 lect program participants not later than 3 

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1 months after the date of enactment of this 

2 section. 

3 ‘‘(iii) DIVERSITY OF PROGRAM PAR4 TICIPANTS.—The Secretary shall, to the 

5 extent practicable, select program partici6 pants that represent a broad range of geo7 graphic and demographic areas (including 

8 rural and urban areas) and types of trans9 portation programs. 

10 ‘‘(c) CASE STUDIES.— 

11 ‘‘(1) BASELINE REPORT.—Not later than 6 

12 months after the date of enactment of this section, 

13 each program participant shall submit to the Sec14 retary a baseline report that— 

15 ‘‘(A) describes the reporting and data col16 lection processes of the program participant for 

17 transportation investments that are in effect on 

18 the date of the report; 

19 ‘‘(B) assesses how effective the program 

20 participant is in achieving national transpor21 tation goals; 

22 ‘‘(C) describes potential improvements to 

23 the methods and metrics used to measure the 

24 effectiveness of the program participant in 

25 achieving national transportation goals and the 

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1 hindrances to implementing such improvements; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(D) includes an assessment of whether, 

4 and specific reasons why, the preparation and 

5 submission of the baseline report may be lim6 ited, incomplete, or unduly burdensome, includ7 ing any recommendations for facilitating the 

8 preparation and submission of similar reports 

9 in the future. 

10 ‘‘(2) EVALUATION.—Each program participant 

11 shall work cooperatively with the Secretary to evalu12 ate the methods and metrics used to measure the ef13 fectiveness of the program participant in achieving 

14 national transportation goals, including by— 

15 ‘‘(A) considering the degree to which such 

16 methods and metrics take into account— 

17 ‘‘(i) the factors that influence the ef18 fectiveness of the program participant in 

19 achieving national transportation goals; 

20 ‘‘(ii) all modes of transportation; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) the transportation program as a 

22 whole, rather than individual projects with23 in the transportation program; and 

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1 ‘‘(B) identifying steps that could be used 

2 to implement the potential improvements identi3 fied under paragraph (1)(C). 

4 ‘‘(3) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 18 

5 months after the date of enactment of this section, 

6 each program participant shall submit to the Sec7 retary a comprehensive final report that— 

8 ‘‘(A) contains an updated assessment of 

9 the effectiveness of the program participant in 

10 achieving national transportation goals; and 

11 ‘‘(B) describes the ways in which the per12 formance of the program participant in col13 lecting and reporting data and carrying out the 

14 transportation program of the program partici15 pant has improved or otherwise changed since 

16 the date of submission of the baseline report 

17 under subparagraph (A). 

18 ‘‘(4) TRAINING, TECHNICAL SUPPORT, GUID19 ANCE.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in con21 sultation with the Deputy Director for Manage22 ment of the Office of Management and Budget, 

23 shall— 

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1 ‘‘(i) provide training, technical sup2 port, and methodological guidance to pro3 gram participants in— 

4 ‘‘(I) improving data collection 

5 processes; and 

6 ‘‘(II) preparing the reports, and 

7 making the evaluation required under 

8 this subsection; 

9 ‘‘(ii) facilitate coordination, collabora10 tion, and information sharing between pro11 gram participants; and 

12 ‘‘(iii) provide direction with respect to 

13 the nature of reports submitted by pro14 gram participants, including collaborating 

15 with program participants to prepare the 

16 final report required under paragraph (3). 

17 ‘‘(B) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—The Sec18 retary may provide financial assistance to a 

19 program participant, as the Secretary deter20 mines is necessary to assist the program partic21 ipant in carrying out the activities required 

22 under this subsection. 

23 ‘‘(5) COORDINATION BETWEEN STATES AND

24 METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS.—To the 

25 extent practicable, a program participant shall comstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 ordinate the activities required under this sub2 section— 

3 ‘‘(A) with the department of transportation 

4 (or equivalent agency) of the State, if the pro5 gram participant is a metropolitan planning or6 ganization; or 

7 ‘‘(B) with the metropolitan planning orga8 nizations in the State, if the program partici9 pant is a State. 

10 ‘‘(d) FEDERAL PLAN FOR MEASURING THE EFFEC11 TIVENESS OF TRANSPORTATION PROGRAMS IN ACHIEVING

12 NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION GOALS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 21 months 

14 after the date of enactment of this Act, and after an 

15 analysis of the case studies under subsection (c), the 

16 Secretary shall develop and implement a plan for the 

17 Department of Transportation to use outcome-ori18 ented performance measures to evaluate the effec19 tiveness of transportation programs in achieving na20 tional transportation goals. 

21 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF PLAN.—The plan developed 

22 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

23 ‘‘(A) an efficient method for reporting the 

24 effectiveness of transportation programs in 

25 achieving national transportation goals that is 

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1 based on requirements applicable to States and 

2 metropolitan planning organizations under sec3 tions 5303 and 5304 of this title and sections 

4 134 and 135 of title 23; 

5 ‘‘(B) effective measures of the outcome or 

6 performance of transportation programs— 

7 ‘‘(i) across all modes of transpor8 tation; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) with respect to the transpor10 tation program as a whole, rather than in11 dividual projects within the transportation 

12 program; and 

13 ‘‘(C) a strategy to ensure that the Sec14 retary continuously refines and standardizes 

15 data elements, models, and other estimating 

16 methods to steadily improve public and political 

17 confidence in the use of the outcome-oriented 

18 performance measures established under para19 graph (1) as a basis for making transportation 

20 investments. 

21 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY OF PLAN.—The Secretary 

22 shall make the plan developed under paragraph (1) 

23 available to the public on the website of the Depart24 ment of Transportation. 

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1 ‘‘(e) COMPREHENSIVE REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not 

2 later than 21 months after the date of enactment of this 

3 section, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a com4 prehensive report on the pilot program that includes— 

5 ‘‘(1) a summary of the results of the case stud6 ies under subsection (c); 

7 ‘‘(2) the plan developed under subsection (d); 

8 ‘‘(3) a summary of lessons learned with respect 

9 to challenges encountered by each program partici10 pant; and 

11 ‘‘(4) recommendations, if any, for legislation to 

12 improve— 

13 ‘‘(A) the guidance provided to States and 

14 metropolitan planning organizations for gener15 ating and collecting sound, outcome-based data; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(B) data-based performance measure18 ment, analysis, and accountability for transpor19 tation programs. 

20 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 is authorized to be appropriated from the Highway Trust 

22 Fund to carry out this section, $15,000,000 for the 2- 

23 year period beginning on the date of enactment of this 

24 section.’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

2 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

3 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

4 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

5 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

6 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

7 by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, pro8 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

9 vote on passage. 

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