I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7313 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish a pilot program for 

intermodal transportation infrastructure grants, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2020 

Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to establish a pilot 

program for intermodal transportation infrastructure 

grants, 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 ‘‘21st Century Aero5 space Infrastructure Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE 

7 IMPROVEMENT PILOT PROGRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 47115 of title 49, United 

9 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(l) INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUC2 TURE IMPROVEMENT PILOT PROGRAM.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab4 lish a pilot program to issue transportation infra5 structure grants to operators of launch sites for the 

6 construction, repair, or maintenance of infrastruc7 ture and facilities at such sites. 

8 ‘‘(2) PILOT PROGRAM APPLICATION RE9 QUIRED.—In order to participate in the pilot pro10 gram established under paragraph (1), an operator 

11 shall submit an application to the Secretary in such 

12 form, at such time, and containing such information 

13 as prescribed by the Secretary. 

14 ‘‘(3) PILOT PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS.—The 

15 Secretary may only accept an operator into the pilot 

16 program established under paragraph (1) and issue 

17 a grant under this subsection to such operator if the 

18 operator— 

19 ‘‘(A) has submitted a complete and timely 

20 application under paragraph (2); 

21 ‘‘(B) certifies to the Secretary that the 

22 grant will be used for an eligible purpose under 

23 paragraph (4); and 

24 ‘‘(C) agrees to maintain such records relat25 ing to the grant as the Secretary may require 


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1 and to make such records available to the Sec2 retary or the Comptroller General of the United 

3 States upon request. 

4 ‘‘(4) PERMITTED USE OF PILOT PROGRAM

5 GRANTS.—An operator may use a grant provided 

6 under this subsection for the construction, repair, or 

7 improvement of infrastructure and facilities that— 

8 ‘‘(A) are located at, or adjacent to, a 

9 launch site; and 

10 ‘‘(B) directly enable or support transpor11 tation safety or covered transportation activi12 ties. 

13 ‘‘(5) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO AGREE14 MENTS.—The Secretary may enter into agreements 

15 to provide grants under this subsection. 

16 ‘‘(6) PILOT PROGRAM GRANTS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) GRANT FORMULA.—At the beginning 

18 of each fiscal year after fiscal year 2020, the 

19 Secretary shall issue a grant to any operator in 

20 the pilot program established under paragraph 

21 (1) an amount equal to the sum of— 

22 ‘‘(i) $250,000 for each licensed launch 

23 operation conducted from the applicable 

24 launch site or at any adjacent Federal 


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1 launch range in the previous fiscal year; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(ii) $100,000 for each permitted 

4 launch operation conducted from the appli5 cable launch site or at any adjacent Fed6 eral launch range in the previous fiscal 

7 year. 

8 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM GRANT.—Except as pro9 vided in paragraph (7)(D), a grant issued to an 

10 operator under this subsection shall not exceed 

11 $2,500,000 for a fiscal year. 

12 ‘‘(C) ADJACENCY.— 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In issuing a grant 

14 to an operator under subparagraph (A), 

15 the Secretary shall determine whether a 

16 launch site is adjacent to a Federal launch 

17 site. 

18 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—Only 1 operator 

19 may receive an amount under subpara20 graph (A) for each licensed or permitted 

21 launch operation described in such sub22 paragraph. 

23 ‘‘(iii) MULTIPLE LAUNCH SITES OPER24 ATED BY 1 OPERATOR.—If an operator 

25 holds a license to operate more than 1 


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1 launch site that is adjacent to a Federal 

2 launch range, the Secretary shall consider 

3 such launch sites as 1 launch site for pur4 poses of subparagraph (A). 

5 ‘‘(7) SUPPLEMENTAL GRANTS IN SUPPORT OF

6 STATE, LOCAL, OR PRIVATE MATCHING.—The Sec7 retary may issue a supplemental grant from the 

8 funds authorized to carry out this subsection to an 

9 operator, subject to the following conditions: 

10 ‘‘(A) DOLLAR-FOR-DOLLAR MATCHING.—If 

11 a qualified entity provides an operator an 

12 amount equal to or greater than the amount of 

13 a grant provided in a fiscal year under para14 graph (6) (for the explicit purpose of matching 

15 such grant), the Secretary may issue a supple16 mental grant to the operator that is equal to 25 

17 percent of such grant in the following fiscal 

18 year. 

19 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL NON-FEDERAL MATCH20 ING.—If a qualified entity provides an operator 

21 an amount equal to or greater than two times 

22 the amount of a grant provided in a fiscal year 

23 to the operator under paragraph (6) (for the 

24 explicit purpose of matching such grant), the 

25 Secretary may issue a supplemental grant to 


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1 the operator that is equal to 50 percent of such 

2 grant in the following fiscal year. 

3 ‘‘(C) SUPPLEMENTAL GRANT LIMITA4 TIONS.—The following limitations shall apply to 

5 supplemental grants issued to an operator pur6 suant to this paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(i) MATCH TIMING.—The Secretary 

8 may issue a supplemental grant under sub9 paragraph (A) or (B) only if an amount 

10 provided by a qualified entity is provided 

11 to the operator in the same fiscal year as 

12 the grant issued under paragraph (6). 

13 ‘‘(ii) NON-DUPLICATION OF MATCHING

14 GRANTS.—If the Secretary issues a supple15 mental grant to the operator of a launch 

16 site under subparagraph (B), the Secretary 

17 may not issue a supplemental grant under 

18 subparagraph (A) to the same operator in 

19 the same fiscal year. 

20 ‘‘(D) NON-APPLICATION OF GRANT CEIL21 ING.—The limitation on a grant amount under 

22 paragraph (6)(B) shall not apply to supple23 mental grants issued under this paragraph. 

24 ‘‘(8) PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) AWARD TIMING.—Amounts des2 ignated to carry out this section that are not 

3 obligated for grants under paragraphs (6) or 

4 (7) by July 1 of the fiscal year in which the 

5 amounts were made available shall be made 

6 available for projects in accordance with sub7 section (j). 

8 ‘‘(B) GRANT ASSURANCE APPLICA9 BILITY.—Except as provided in subparagraph 

10 (C), a grant issued under this subsection shall 

11 not be subject to the conditions of sections 

12 47106 or 47107, including any regulations pre13 scribed thereunder, or any other conditions as14 sociated with grants made under this sub15 chapter pursuant to the Secretary’s authority 

16 under chapters 471 or 475. 

17 ‘‘(C) COMBINATION WITH OTHER FEDERAL

18 FUNDS.—If an operator combines amounts re19 ceived under this subsection with Federal funds 

20 from any other source (including funds received 

21 under chapter 471 and 475), the applicable 

22 statutory or regulatory requirements associated 

23 with such funds shall apply to the total project 

24 being funded and to the funds provided under 

25 this subsection. 


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1 ‘‘(9) FUNDING.— 

2 ‘‘(A) PILOT PROGRAM GRANT FUNDS.— 

3 The grants issued under this subsection shall be 

4 issued from funds made available under sub5 section (j)(4). 

6 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM ANNUAL LIMIT ON PILOT

7 PROGRAM.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The total amount 

9 of all grants issued under this subsection 

10 shall not exceed $20,000,000 in any fiscal 

11 year. 

12 ‘‘(ii) GRANT REDUCTION.—In car13 rying out clause (i), the Secretary— 

14 ‘‘(I) may proportionally reduce 

15 the amount of, or decline to issue, a 

16 supplemental grant under paragraph 

17 (7); and 

18 ‘‘(II) if the reduction under sub19 clause (I) is insufficient, shall propor20 tionally reduce grants issued under 

21 paragraph (6). 

22 ‘‘(10) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 

23 following definitions apply: 

24 ‘‘(A) COVERED TRANSPORTATION ACTIV25 ITY.—The term ‘covered transportation activity’ 


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1 means the movement of people or property to, 

2 from, or within a launch site to any other loca3 tion and the necessary or incidental activities 

4 associated with such movement, including 

5 through use of— 

6 ‘‘(i) a vehicle; 

7 ‘‘(ii) a vessel; 

8 ‘‘(iii) an aircraft (as defined in section 

9 40102); 

10 ‘‘(iv) a railroad (as defined in section 

11 20102); 

12 ‘‘(v) a pipeline facility (as defined in 

13 section 60101); or 

14 ‘‘(vi) a launch vehicle. 

15 ‘‘(B) LAUNCH; LAUNCH SITE; LAUNCH VE16 HICLE.—The terms ‘launch’, ‘launch site’, and 

17 ‘launch vehicle’ have the meanings given those 

18 terms in section 50902 of title 51. 

19 ‘‘(C) OPERATOR.—The term ‘operator’ 

20 means a person licensed by the Secretary to op21 erate a launch site. 

22 ‘‘(D) QUALIFIED ENTITY.—The term 

23 ‘qualified entity’ means a State, local, or tribal 

24 government or private sector entity, or any 

25 combination thereof. 


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1 ‘‘(11) PILOT PROGRAM SUNSET.—This sub2 section shall cease to be effective on October 1, 

3 2023.’’. 

4 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

5 47115(j)(4) of title 49, United States Code, is amended 

6 by inserting ‘‘and subsection (l)’’ after ‘‘this subsection’’. 

Æ 


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