II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3331 

To establish an intermodal transportation infrastructure pilot program, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 15, 2023 

Mr. WARNER (for himself and Mr. SULLIVAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish an intermodal transportation infrastructure pilot 

program, 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 ‘‘Alleviating Spaceport 

5 Traffic by Rewarding Operators Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE 

7 IMPROVEMENT PILOT PROGRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may establish a 

9 pilot program to issue grants to operators of launch and 

10 reentry sites for projects to construct, repair, maintain, 


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1 or improve transportation infrastructure and facilities at 

2 such sites. 

3 (b) PILOT PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS.—The Sec4 retary may enter into agreements under this section to 

5 issue a grant to an operator only if the operator— 

6 (1) has submitted an application to the Sec7 retary in such form, at such time, and containing 

8 such information as prescribed by the Secretary; 

9 (2) demonstrates to the Secretary’s satisfaction 

10 that the project for which the application has been 

11 submitted is for a permitted use under subsection 

12 (c); and 

13 (3) agrees to maintain such records relating to 

14 the grant as the Secretary may require and to make 

15 such records available to the Secretary or the Comp16 troller General of the United States upon request. 

17 (c) PERMITTED USE OF PILOT PROGRAM GRANTS.— 

18 An operator may use a grant provided under this section 

19 for a project to construct, repair, maintain, or improve in20 frastructure and facilities that— 

21 (1) are located at, or adjacent to, a launch or 

22 reentry site; 

23 (2) directly enable or support transportation 

24 safety or covered transportation activities; and 


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1 (3) shall be made generally available subject to 

2 reasonable commercial and other terms as appro3 priate. 

4 (d) PILOT PROGRAM GRANTS.— 

5 (1) GRANT FORMULA.—Subject to the avail6 ability of appropriations, at the beginning of each 

7 fiscal year after fiscal year 2024, the Secretary may 

8 issue to an operator that qualifies for the pilot pro9 gram under subsection (b) a grant in an amount 

10 equal to the sum of— 

11 (A) $250,000 for each launch or reentry 

12 operation under a license described in section 

13 50905 of title 51, United States Code, con14 ducted from the applicable launch or reentry 

15 site or at any adjacent Federal launch range in 

16 the previous fiscal year; and 

17 (B) $100,000 for each launch or reentry 

18 operation conducted under a permit (as defined 

19 in section 50902 of title 51, United States 

20 Code) from the applicable launch or reentry site 

21 or at any adjacent Federal launch range in the 

22 previous fiscal year. 

23 (2) MAXIMUM GRANT.—Except as provided in 

24 subsection (e)(5), a grant issued to an operator 


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1 under this subsection shall not exceed $2,500,000 

2 for a fiscal year. 

3 (3) ADJACENCY.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—In issuing a grant to 

5 an operator under paragraph (1), the Secretary 

6 shall determine whether a launch or reentry site 

7 is adjacent to a Federal launch range. 

8 (B) LIMITATION.—In the event that more 

9 than 1 operator adjacent to a Federal launch 

10 range seeks funding under paragraph (1), the 

11 Secretary shall determine which operator re12 ceives the grant based on criteria set forth in 

13 section 50901(b)(4) of title 51, United States 

14 Code. 

15 (C) MULTIPLE LAUNCH OR REENTRY

16 SITES OPERATED BY 1 OPERATOR.—If an oper17 ator holds a license to operate more than 1 

18 launch site or more than 1 reentry site that are 

19 adjacent to a Federal launch range, the Sec20 retary shall consider such launch or reentry 

21 sites as 1 launch or reentry site for purposes of 

22 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1). 

23 (e) SUPPLEMENTAL GRANTS IN SUPPORT OF STATE, 

24 LOCAL, OR PRIVATE MATCHING.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may issue a 

2 supplemental grant to an operator, subject to the re3 quirements of this subsection. 

4 (2) DOLLAR-FOR-DOLLAR MATCHING.—If a 

5 qualified entity provides an operator an amount 

6 equal to or greater than the amount of a grant pro7 vided in a fiscal year under subsection (d) (for the 

8 explicit purpose of matching such grant), the Sec9 retary may issue a supplemental grant to the oper10 ator that is equal to 25 percent of such grant in the 

11 following fiscal year. 

12 (3) ADDITIONAL NON-FEDERAL MATCHING.—If 

13 a qualified entity provides an operator an amount 

14 equal to or greater than 2 times the amount of a 

15 grant provided in a fiscal year to the operator under 

16 subsection (d) (for the explicit purpose of matching 

17 such grant), the Secretary may issue a supplemental 

18 grant to the operator that is equal to 50 percent of 

19 such grant in the following fiscal year. 

20 (4) SUPPLEMENTAL GRANT LIMITATIONS.— 

21 (A) MATCH TIMING.—The Secretary may 

22 issue a supplemental grant under paragraph (2) 

23 or (3) only if an amount provided by a qualified 

24 entity is provided to the operator in the same 


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1 fiscal year as the grant issued under subsection 

2 (d). 

3 (B) NON-DUPLICATION OF MATCHING

4 GRANTS.—If the Secretary issues a supple5 mental grant to the operator of a launch site 

6 under paragraph (3), the Secretary may not 

7 issue a supplemental grant under paragraph (2) 

8 to the same operator in the same fiscal year. 

9 (5) NON-APPLICATION OF GRANT CEILING.— 

10 The limitation on a grant amount under subsection 

11 (d)(2) shall not apply to supplemental grants issued 

12 under this subsection. 

13 (f) FUNDING.— 

14 (1) PILOT PROGRAM GRANT FUNDS.—The 

15 grants issued under this section shall be issued from 

16 funds made available out of amounts available under 

17 section 106(k) of title 49, United States Code. 

18 (2) MAXIMUM ANNUAL LIMIT ON PILOT PRO19 GRAM.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The total amount of all 

21 grants issued under this section shall not ex22 ceed $20,000,000 in any fiscal year. 

23 (B) GRANT REDUCTION.—In complying 

24 with subparagraph (A), the Secretary— 


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1 (i) may proportionally reduce the 

2 amount of, or decline to issue, a supple3 mental grant under subsection (e); and 

4 (ii) if the reduction under clause (i) is 

5 insufficient, shall proportionally reduce 

6 grants issued under subsection (d). 

7 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) COVERED TRANSPORTATION ACTIVITY.— 

9 The term ‘‘covered transportation activity’’ means 

10 the movement of people or property to, from, or 

11 within a launch site and the necessary or incidental 

12 activities associated with such movement through 

13 the use of— 

14 (A) a vehicle (as defined in section 4 of 

15 title 1, United States Code); 

16 (B) a vessel (as defined in section 3 of title 

17 1, United States Code); 

18 (C) a railroad (as defined in section 20102 

19 of title 49, United States Code); 

20 (D) an aircraft (as defined in section 

21 40102 of title 49, United States Code); or 

22 (E) a pipeline facility (as defined in section 

23 60101 of title 49, United States Code). 

24 (2) LAUNCH; LAUNCH SITE; LAUNCH VEHICLE; 

25 REENTRY SITE; REENTRY VEHICLE.—The terms 


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1 ‘‘launch’’, ‘‘launch site’’, ‘‘launch vehicle’’, ‘‘reentry 

2 site’’, and ‘‘reentry vehicle’’ have the meanings given 

3 those terms in section 50902 of title 51, United 

4 States Code. 

5 (3) OPERATOR.—The term ‘‘operator’’ means a 

6 person licensed by the Secretary to operate a launch 

7 or reentry site. 

8 (4) QUALIFIED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘qualified 

9 entity’’ means a State, local, territorial, or Tribal 

10 government or private sector entity, or any combina11 tion thereof. 

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

13 the Secretary of Transportation. 

14 (h) PILOT PROGRAM SUNSET.—This section shall 

15 cease to be effective on October 1, 2028. 

Æ 


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