I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1565 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to incorporate regional transportation 

planning organizations into statewide transportation planning, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 14, 2011 

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota (for himself and Mr. HANNA) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to incorporate regional transportation planning organizations into statewide transportation planning, 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. REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLANNING OR4 GANIZATIONS. 

5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 134(b) of title 23, United 

6 States Code, is amended— 

7 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and (6) as 

8 paragraphs (6) and (7), respectively; and 


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1 (2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(5) REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

4 ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘regional transportation 

5 planning organization’ means a policy board of an 

6 organization created as the result of the designation 

7 process in section 135(k).’’. 

8 (b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—Section 135(e) of 

9 such title is amended— 

10 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by 

11 striking ‘‘consider’’; 

12 (2) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 

13 following: 

14 ‘‘(1) with respect to nonmetropolitan areas, co15 operate with affected nonmetropolitan local officials 

16 with responsibility for transportation through re17 gional transportation planning organizations de18 scribed in subsection (k);’’; 

19 (3) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘the concerns’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘consider the concerns’’; and 

21 (4) in paragraph (3)— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘coordination of’’ and in23 serting ‘‘coordinate’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘the transportation im2 provement program’’ and inserting ‘‘transpor3 tation improvement programs’’. 

4 (c) LONG-RANGE STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION

5 PLAN.—Section 135(f)(2) of such title is amended— 

6 (1) by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(B) NONMETROPOLITAN AREAS.—With 

9 respect to nonmetropolitan areas, the statewide 

10 transportation plan shall be developed in co11 operation with affected nonmetropolitan local 

12 officials with responsibility for transportation 

13 through regional transportation planning orga14 nizations described in subsection (k).’’; and 

15 (2) in subparagraph (D)(i) by striking ‘‘and 

16 local agencies responsible for’’ and inserting ‘‘re17 gional, and local agencies responsible for economic 

18 development, emergency management, transportation 

19 planning,’’. 

20 (d) STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT

21 PROGRAM.—Section 135(g) of such title is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (2) by striking subparagraph 

23 (B) and inserting the following: 

24 ‘‘(B) NONMETROPOLITAN AREAS.—With 

25 respect to each nonmetropolitan area in the 


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1 State, the program shall be developed in co2 operation with affected nonmetropolitan local 

3 officials with responsibility for transportation 

4 through regional transportation planning orga5 nizations described in subsection (k).’’; and 

6 (2) in the first sentence of paragraph (5) by 

7 striking ‘‘for transportation.’’ and inserting ‘‘for 

8 transportation through regional transportation plan9 ning organizations described in subsection (k).’’. 

10 (e) FUNDING.—Section 135(h) of such title is amend11 ed by striking ‘‘104(f) of’’ and inserting ‘‘104(f) and sec12 tion 505 of’’. 

13 (f) DESIGNATION OF REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION

14 PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS.—Section 135 of such title is 

15 amended by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(k) DESIGNATION OF REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION

17 PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out the transpor19 tation planning process required by this section, 

20 States shall establish, designate, and use amounts 

21 made available to the State to carry out this section 

22 to fund regional transportation planning organiza23 tions to enhance the planning, coordination, and im24 plementation of statewide transportation plans and 


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1 programs, with an emphasis on addressing the needs 

2 of nonmetropolitan areas of the State. 

3 ‘‘(2) STRUCTURE.—A regional transportation 

4 planning organization shall be established as a 

5 multi-jurisdictional organization of nonmetropolitan 

6 local officials or their designees who volunteer for 

7 such organization and representatives of local trans8 portation systems who volunteer for such organiza9 tion. 

10 ‘‘(3) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—A 

11 regional transportation planning organization shall 

12 be formed by a memorandum of understanding be13 tween the State and nonmetropolitan local officials 

14 or as otherwise provided under State law. 

15 ‘‘(4) FUNCTION.—A regional transportation 

16 planning organization shall work cooperatively to 

17 plan, coordinate, and implement transportation sys18 tems in nonmetropolitan areas. 

19 ‘‘(5) REQUIREMENTS.—Each regional transpor20 tation planning organization shall, at a minimum, 

21 establish— 

22 ‘‘(A) a policy committee, the majority of 

23 which shall consist of nonmetropolitan local of24 ficials, or their designees, and which shall also 

25 include, as appropriate, additional representaVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:41 Apr 19, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1565.IH H1565

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1 tives from the State, private business, transpor2 tation service providers, economic development 

3 practitioners, and the public in the region; and 

4 ‘‘(B) a fiscal and administrative agent, 

5 such as an existing regional planning and devel6 opment organization, to provide professional 

7 planning, management, and administrative sup8 port. 

9 ‘‘(6) DUTIES.—The duties of a regional trans10 portation planning organization shall include— 

11 ‘‘(A) ensuring nonmetropolitan local offi12 cials are meaningfully involved in the statewide 

13 transportation planning process; 

14 ‘‘(B) developing and maintaining, in co15 operation with the State, regional long-range 

16 multimodal transportation plans; 

17 ‘‘(C) developing a regional transportation 

18 improvement program for consideration by the 

19 State; 

20 ‘‘(D) fostering the coordination of local 

21 planning, land use, and economic development 

22 plans with State, regional, and local transpor23 tation plans and programs; 

24 ‘‘(E) providing technical assistance to local 

25 officials; 


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1 ‘‘(F) participating in national, multistate, 

2 and State policy and planning development 

3 processes to ensure the regional and local input 

4 of nonmetropolitan areas; 

5 ‘‘(G) providing a forum for public partici6 pation in the statewide and regional transpor7 tation planning processes; 

8 ‘‘(H) considering and sharing plans and 

9 programs with neighboring regional transpor10 tation planning organizations, metropolitan 

11 planning organizations, and, where appropriate, 

12 tribal organizations; and 

13 ‘‘(I) conducting other duties, as necessary, 

14 to support and enhance the statewide planning 

15 process under subsection (d).’’. 

Æ 


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