II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1748 

To provide for improved investment in national transportation infrastructure. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 9, 2015 

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Ms. COLLINS, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To provide for improved investment in national 

transportation infrastructure. 

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 ‘‘Transportation Infra5 structure Grants and Economic Reinvestment Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti9 ty’’ means— 

10 (A) a State; 

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1 (B) an Indian tribe; 

2 (C) the District of Columbia; 

3 (D) a territory of the United States; 

4 (E) a local government; 

5 (F) a port authority; 

6 (G) a metropolitan planning organization; 

7 (H) a transit agency; 

8 (I) another political subdivision of a State 

9 or local government; and 

10 (J) 2 or more of the entities described in 

11 subparagraphs (A) through (I), working in col12 laboration. 

13 (2) ELIGIBLE PROJECT.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 

15 project’’ means a transportation project that, as 

16 determined by the Secretary, would have a sig17 nificant beneficial impact on a State, a metro18 politan area, a region, or the United States. 

19 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘eligible 

20 project’’ includes— 

21 (i) a highway or bridge project eligible 

22 for funding under chapter 1 of title 23, 

23 United States Code (including a project re24 lated to bicycles or pedestrians); 

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1 (ii) a public transportation project eli2 gible for funding under chapter 53 of title 

3 49, United States Code; 

4 (iii) a passenger or freight rail trans5 portation project; 

6 (iv) a port infrastructure project; and 

7 (v) an intermodal project. 

8 (3) ELIGIBLE PROJECT COSTS.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 

10 project costs’’ means costs relating to an eligi11 ble project, such as the costs of— 

12 (i) development phase activities, in13 cluding planning, feasibility analysis, rev14 enue forecasting, environmental review, 

15 permitting, preliminary engineering and 

16 design work, and other preconstruction ac17 tivities; 

18 (ii) construction, reconstruction, reha19 bilitation, replacement, and acquisition of 

20 real property (including land related to the 

21 eligible project and improvements to land), 

22 environmental mitigation, construction con23 tingencies, and acquisition of equipment; 

24 and 

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1 (iii) capitalized interest necessary to 

2 meet market requirements, reasonably re3 quired reserve funds, capital issuance ex4 penses, and other carrying costs during 

5 construction. 

6 (B) DREDGING ACTIVITIES.—The term 

7 ‘‘eligible project costs’’— 

8 (i) includes the costs of dredging ac9 tivities that are part of a berth reconstruc10 tion or rehabilitation project; and 

11 (ii) does not include the costs of 

12 dredging activities that are the responsi13 bility of the Army Corps of Engineers. 

14 (4) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ 

15 means any area not in an urbanized area (as that 

16 term is defined by the Census Bureau). 

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

18 the Secretary of Transportation. 

19 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 

20 (A) any of the 50 States; or 

21 (B) the District of Columbia. 

22 (7) SUBSTANTIAL COMPLETION.—The term 

23 ‘‘substantial completion’’ means the opening of an 

24 eligible project to vehicular or passenger traffic. 

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1 SEC. 3. NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT PRO2 GRAM. 

3 (a) PROGRAM.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

4 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall by regula5 tion establish a program under which the Secretary shall 

6 provide competitive grants to eligible entities for use in 

7 carrying out eligible projects. 

8 (b) GRANT REQUIREMENTS.— 

9 (1) AMOUNT.—Except as provided in paragraph 

10 (5)(B)(i), a grant under this Act shall be in an 

11 amount that is not less than $10,000,000 and not 

12 greater than $200,000,000. 

13 (2) GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION; BALANCE; 

14 INVESTMENT.—In providing grants under this Act, 

15 the Secretary shall take such measures as are nec16 essary to ensure, to the maximum extent prac17 ticable— 

18 (A) an equitable geographical distribution 

19 of funds; 

20 (B) an appropriate balance in addressing 

21 the needs of urban and rural areas; and 

22 (C) investment in a variety of transpor23 tation modes. 

24 (3) MAXIMUM PERCENTAGE PER STATE.—Not 

25 more than 25 percent of the amounts made available 

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1 to provide grants under this Act for a fiscal year 

2 may be provided for eligible projects in a State. 

3 (4) FEDERAL SHARE.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

5 paragraph (5)(B)(ii), the Federal share of the 

6 cost of carrying out any eligible project funded 

7 by a grant under this Act shall be, at the option 

8 of the eligible entity receiving the grant, up to 

9 80 percent. 

10 (B) PRIORITY.—In providing grants under 

11 this Act, the Secretary shall give priority to eli12 gible projects that require a contribution of 

13 Federal funds in order to complete an overall fi14 nancing package for the eligible projects. 

15 (5) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS IN RURAL AREAS.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not less than 20 per17 cent of the amounts made available to provide 

18 grants under this Act for a fiscal year shall be 

19 provided for eligible projects located in rural 

20 areas. 

21 (B) MINIMUM GRANT AMOUNT; FEDERAL

22 SHARE.—With respect to an eligible project lo23 cated in a rural area— 

24 (i) the minimum amount of a grant 

25 under this Act shall be $1,000,000; and 

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1 (ii) the Secretary may increase the 

2 Federal share of the cost of carrying out 

3 the eligible project up to 100 percent. 

4 (6) SET-ASIDES FOR CERTAIN COSTS, 

5 PROJECTS, AND TRANSFERS.—Of the amounts made 

6 available under this Act for a fiscal year, the Sec7 retary may— 

8 (A) use an amount not to exceed 

9 $20,000,000 for grants that pay for the plan10 ning, preparation, or design of eligible projects; 

11 and 

12 (B) use an amount not to exceed 

13 $20,000,000 to fund the provision and over14 sight of grants under this Act, including trans15 fers of funds from that amount to the Adminis16 trators of the Federal Highway Administration, 

17 the Federal Transit Administration, the Fed18 eral Railroad Administration, and the Maritime 

19 Administration to fund the provision and over20 sight of grants under this Act for eligible 

21 projects under the administrative jurisdiction of 

22 those agencies. 

23 (c) SELECTION AMONG ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.— 

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1 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es2 tablish criteria for use in selecting among eligible 

3 projects to receive funding under this Act. 

4 (2) SELECTION CRITERIA.— 

5 (A) PRIMARY SELECTION CRITERIA.—The 

6 Secretary shall select among eligible projects by 

7 evaluating the extent to which an eligible 

8 project provides significant benefits to a State, 

9 a metropolitan area, a region, or the United 

10 States, including the extent to which an eligible 

11 project— 

12 (i) improves the safety of transpor13 tation facilities and systems; 

14 (ii) improves the condition of existing 

15 transportation facilities and systems; 

16 (iii) contributes to economic competi17 tiveness over the medium- to long-term; 

18 (iv) improves the environment, im19 proves energy efficiency, reduces depend20 ence on oil, or reduces greenhouse gas 

21 emissions; and 

22 (v) improves access to transportation 

23 facilities and systems. 

24 (B) SECONDARY SELECTION CRITERIA.— 

25 In addition to considering the primary selection 

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1 criteria described in subparagraph (A), the Sec2 retary shall consider the extent to which a 

3 project— 

4 (i) uses innovative strategies or tech5 nologies to pursue any of those primary se6 lection criteria; and 

7 (ii) demonstrates strong collaboration 

8 among a broad range of participants, or 

9 the integration of transportation with 

10 other public service efforts. 

11 (d) APPLICATION REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary 

12 shall require an analysis of project benefits and costs in 

13 each application for a construction grant under this Act. 

14 (e) FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS.—The following provi15 sions of law shall apply to funds made available under this 

16 Act and eligible projects carried out using those funds: 

17 (1) Subchapter IV of chapter 31 of title 40, 

18 United States Code. 

19 (2) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 

20 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.). 

21 (3) The National Environmental Policy Act of 

22 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 

23 (4) The Uniform Relocation Assistance and 

24 Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 (42 

25 U.S.C. 4601 et seq.). 

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1 (f) TRANSPARENCY.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall include 

3 in any notice of funding availability a full descrip4 tion of how applications will be evaluated against all 

5 selection criteria. 

6 (2) CONSULTATIONS ON DECISIONS.—After 

7 provision of grants and credit assistance under this 

8 Act for a fiscal year, the Secretary (or a designee) 

9 shall be available to meet with any applicant, at a 

10 time and place that is mutually acceptable to the 

11 Secretary and the applicant, to review the applica12 tion of the applicant. 

13 SEC. 4. TIFIA SUBSIDY AND ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS. 

14 The Secretary may use up to 20 percent of the 

15 amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization under 

16 section 6 to pay the subsidy and administrative costs of 

17 projects eligible for Federal credit assistance under chap18 ter 6 of title 23, United States Code, if the Secretary de19 termines that such use of funds would advance the pur20 poses of this Act. 

21 SEC. 5. STATE AND LOCAL PERMITS. 

22 Financial assistance under this Act with respect to 

23 an eligible project shall not— 

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1 (1) relieve any recipient of the assistance of any 

2 obligation to obtain any required State or local per3 mit or approval with respect to the eligible project; 

4 (2) limit the right of any unit of State or local 

5 government to approve or regulate any rate of re6 turn on private equity invested in the eligible 

7 project; or 

8 (3) otherwise supersede any State or local law 

9 (including any regulation) applicable to the construc10 tion or operation of the eligible project. 

11 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro13 priated to carry out this Act such sums as may be nec14 essary for each of the fiscal years 2016 through 2021. 

15 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated for a fis16 cal year pursuant to this section shall be available for obli17 gation during the 3-year period beginning on the first day 

18 of such fiscal year. 

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