II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 176 

To improve the job access and reverse commute program, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 8, 2009 

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

referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To improve the job access and reverse commute 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 ‘‘Job Access and Re5 verse Commute Program Improvements Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. JOB ACCESS AND REVERSE COMMUTE PROGRAM. 

7 (a) COMBINED APPLICATIONS.—Section 5316(b) of 

8 title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

9 end the following: 

10 ‘‘(3) COMBINED APPLICATIONS.— 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
2 

•S 176 IS

1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State may accept a 

2 single combined application for a project that 

3 will use funds provided under not less than two 

4 of the programs described in subparagraph (C). 

5 ‘‘(B) INCENTIVES.—For any State that de6 termines to accept combined applications under 

7 subparagraph (A), the Secretary may— 

8 ‘‘(i) reduce the amount of the cost 

9 share required under a program described 

10 in subparagraph (C); 

11 ‘‘(ii) increase the amount of funds the 

12 State may use for administrative expenses 

13 under a program described in subpara14 graph (C); or 

15 ‘‘(iii) make a grant to the State for 

16 expenses relating to accepting combined 

17 applications. 

18 ‘‘(C) PROGRAMS.—The programs described 

19 in this subparagraph are the program under 

20 this section, the elderly and disabled specialized 

21 transit program under section 5310, the new 

22 freedom program under section 5317, and any 

23 other program determined appropriate by the 

24 Secretary.’’. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
3 

•S 176 IS

1 (b) JOB ACCESS AND REVERSE COMMUTE FORMULA

2 GRANTS.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 5316 of title 49, 

4 United States Code, is amended— 

5 (A) in subsection (a)(1)— 

6 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

7 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

8 (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

9 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

10 and’’; and 

11 (iii) by adding at the end the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(E) subsidizing the costs associated with 

14 the transportation of low income high school 

15 students and young adults to career or tech16 nical education, job training, or apprenticeship 

17 programs.’’; 

18 (B) in subsection (h)(2)— 

19 (i) by striking ‘‘operating assistance 

20 may not’’ and inserting ‘‘operating assist21 ance— 

22 ‘‘(A) may not’’; 

23 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

24 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
4 

•S 176 IS

1 (iii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(B) may not exceed 80 percent of the net 

4 operating costs of the project, if the State noti5 fies the Secretary that it is necessary to achieve 

6 program goals.’’; 

7 (C) in subsection (e), by adding at the end 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘(4) TRANSFERS TO STATES.—A local govern10 mental authority may transfer to the State in which 

11 the local governmental authority is located any funds 

12 apportioned to the local governmental authority 

13 under this section. A State may use funds trans14 ferred under this paragraph for any eligible job ac15 cess or reverse commute project under this section.’’; 

16 and 

17 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(j) REPORTING AND CERTIFICATION STREAM19 LINING.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may waive 

21 or streamline reporting and certification require22 ments relating to the program under this section at 

23 the request of a State if the Secretary determines 

24 that the primary goals of the program are still being 

25 met. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
5 

•S 176 IS

1 ‘‘(2) STUDY.—The Secretary shall conduct a 

2 study of the feasibility of the elimination, revision, 

3 or reduced frequency of collection for any reporting 

4 or certification requirements relating to the program 

5 under this section, particularly examining the bur6 den on and needs of nonprofit organizations that re7 ceive funding and are unaccustomed to Federal 

8 Transit Administration regulations. 

9 ‘‘(3) FLEXIBILITY.—The Secretary shall en10 courage flexibility and experimentation by allowing 

11 States to use other assessment and eligibility meas12 ures such as outcome based assessment of the trans13 portation access improvements to targeted popu14 lations instead of documenting individuals either on 

15 a State-by-State trial basis or through the pilot pro16 gram under subsection (k). 

17 ‘‘(4) WORKFORCE BOARDS.—The Secretary 

18 shall— 

19 ‘‘(A) encourage coordination and review of 

20 applications by local workforce boards; and 

21 ‘‘(B) consider using workforce board re22 views as an alternative to streamline reporting 

23 requirements. 

24 ‘‘(k) PILOT PROGRAM.— 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
6 

•S 176 IS

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may carry 

2 out a pilot program to make grants to recipients 

3 to— 

4 ‘‘(A) improve education and employment 

5 related transportation for eligible teens and 

6 young adults, such as linking high schools to 

7 technical colleges, job centers, and apprentice8 ships; 

9 ‘‘(B) evaluate streamlined reporting and 

10 certification requirements developed under sub11 section (j) in order to determine whether the re12 quirements still ensure sufficient accountability 

13 and whether the projects are still primarily ad14 dressing the goals of this section; 

15 ‘‘(C) support more comprehensive projects 

16 that are integrated with other Federal, State, 

17 and local transportation and human service pro18 grams while ensuring the paperwork burden is 

19 minimized, including— 

20 ‘‘(i) bundling funds from and allowing 

21 combined applications with streamlined re22 porting requirements for other programs of 

23 the Department of Transportation (such as 

24 the elderly and disabled specialized transit 

25 program under section 5310 and the new 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
7 

•S 176 IS

1 freedom program under section 5317) or 

2 other Federal departments and agencies 

3 (such as the Department of Labor, the De4 partment of Health and Human Services, 

5 and the Department of Education) to ad6 dress more comprehensive human service 

7 transportation needs; 

8 ‘‘(ii) developing programs that cross 

9 local government boundaries and involve 

10 multiple localities, particularly programs 

11 that serve more than one of the categories 

12 of areas described in subparagraph (A), 

13 (B), or (C) of subsection (c)(1); and 

14 ‘‘(iii) developing comprehensive proj15 ects that integrate workforce development 

16 with transportation needs during the dif17 ferent phases of training and job place18 ment. 

19 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION.—There shall be available 

20 from the Mass Transit Account of the Highway 

21 Trust Fund $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

22 2010 through 2014 to carry out this subsection. 

23 ‘‘(l) CONTINUATION AND EXPANSION OF JARC 

24 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CLEARINGHOUSE.— 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
8 

•S 176 IS

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con2 tinue technical assistance and peer-to-peer network 

3 activities being carried out on the date of enactment 

4 of this subsection and expand the assistance and ac5 tivities as appropriate, so that the Department sup6 ports efforts that— 

7 ‘‘(A) act as an information clearinghouse 

8 and information network; 

9 ‘‘(B) provide technical assistance to poten10 tial applicants for a grant under this section; 

11 ‘‘(C) provide technical assistance to grant 

12 recipients in meeting Federal reporting and cer13 tification requirements, especially entities such 

14 as first-time grant recipients and small non15 profit organizations; 

16 ‘‘(D) conduct outreach and education of 

17 employers and employees regarding transpor18 tation assistance, including tax benefits for pro19 viding fringe benefits and earned income tax 

20 credit benefits for employees; and 

21 ‘‘(E) as appropriate, coordinate the com22 bined activities of and support memorandums 

23 of understanding between related Federal pro24 grams in the Department of Transportation or 

25 another Federal department or agency, such as 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
9 

•S 176 IS

1 the Department of Labor, the Department of 

2 Housing and Urban Development, the Eco3 nomic Development Agency, or the Department 

4 of Education. 

5 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

6 There are authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 

7 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014 to carry 

8 out expanded technical assistance and peer-to-peer 

9 network activities under this subsection.’’. 

10 (2) AUTHORIZATION.—Section 5338 of title 49, 

11 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

12 end the following: 

13 ‘‘(h) JOB ACCESS AND REVERSE COMMUTE FOR14 MULA GRANTS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be available 

16 from the Mass Transit Account of the Highway 

17 Trust Fund to carry out section 5316 of this title— 

18 ‘‘(A) $185,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; 

19 ‘‘(B) $205,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; 

20 ‘‘(C) $225,000,000 for fiscal year 2012; 

21 ‘‘(D) $245,000,000 for fiscal year 2013; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(E) $265,000,000 for fiscal year 2014. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
10 

•S 176 IS

1 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS.—Amounts 

2 made available by paragraph (1) shall remain avail3 able until expended.’’. 

4 (c) APPLICATION.—Subparagraph (B) of section 

5 5316(h)(2) of title 49, United States Code, as added by 

6 subsection (b) of this section, shall apply to unexpended 

7 amounts made available before, on, or after the date of 

8 enactment of this Act. 

9 (d) OFFSET.—Any amounts authorized to carry out 

10 a project under section 1602 of the Transportation Equity 

11 Act for the 21st Century (Public Law 105–178; 112 Stat. 

12 256) for which no funds had been obligated as of January 

13 1, 2009, are rescinded. 

Æ 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS