I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4355 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require reporting by the Department of Transportation on requests for funding projects or programs, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 9, 2017 

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require reporting 

by the Department of Transportation on requests for 

funding projects or programs, 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 ‘‘Missed Opportunities 

5 in Transportation Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) the United States relies on an integrated, 

2 multimodal system of transportation to facilitate the 

3 movement of people and goods across the Nation; 

4 (2) the United States has a history of investing 

5 in forward-thinking ideas to improve transportation; 

6 (3) Congress has a duty to do all it can to im7 prove transportation in the United States; 

8 (4) both Congress and the States have failed to 

9 meet the needs of the American people in recent 

10 years; 

11 (5) inflation-adjusted public spending on trans12 portation infrastructure has declined over the past 

13 decade; 

14 (6) Americans are suffering from the con15 sequences of that inaction; 

16 (7) investment in transportation and infrastruc17 ture is vital to national security and prosperity; 

18 (8) failure to invest adequately in United States 

19 infrastructure will continue to impede economic 

20 growth and harm the health and competitiveness of 

21 the United States economy; 

22 (9) proposals to improve transportation in the 

23 United States exceed available funds; 

24 (10) the American people deserve to be in25 formed about and consider possible solutions for the 


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1 gridlock and disrepair they experience every day; 

2 and 

3 (11) Congress must have good information 

4 about potential projects for transportation mod5 ernization in order to make reasonable judgments 

6 about funding levels for transportation projects and 

7 research. 

8 SEC. 3. ANNUAL REPORTING ON MISSED OPPORTUNITIES. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 3 of title 49, United 

10 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘§ 312. Annual reporting on missed opportunities 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than December 31 of 

14 each year, the Secretary of Transportation shall submit 

15 to Congress a report on missed opportunities for each 

16 competitive or discretionary grant program administered 

17 by the Department of Transportation in the preceding fis18 cal year. 

19 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—For each grant program described 

20 in subsection (a), the report shall detail the 10 individual 

21 applications, proposals, or requests for funding that— 

22 ‘‘(1) were not funded or awarded, completely or 

23 partially; but 

24 ‘‘(2) showed the greatest potential to improve 

25 transportation in the United States, according to the 


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1 selection criteria and established goals of that grant 

2 program. 

3 ‘‘(c) REPORTING DATE FLEXIBILITY.—If a law re4 quires an annual report to Congress with respect to a 

5 grant program described in subsection (a), the report on 

6 missed opportunities required under this section for that 

7 program may— 

8 ‘‘(1) be included in that annual report; and 

9 ‘‘(2) be submitted on or before the date that 

10 annual report is due. 

11 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC TRANSPARENCY.—Upon submission of 

12 a report on missed opportunities to Congress under this 

13 section, the Secretary shall make the report available to 

14 the public on an internet website of the Department of 

15 Transportation in a manner that is user friendly and able 

16 to be searched and downloaded by users of the website. 

17 ‘‘(e) TRADE SECRETS AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMA18 TION.—Nothing in this section authorizes the Secretary 

19 to disclose any information that is a trade secret or con20 fidential information subject to section 552(b)(4) of title 

21 5 or section 1905 of title 18.’’. 

22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap23 ter 3 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by insert24 ing after the item relating to section 311 the following: 

‘‘312. Annual reporting on missed opportunities.’’. 

Æ 


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