I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3156 

To promote the use of smart technologies and systems in communities, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 6, 2019 

Ms. CLARKE of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To promote the use of smart technologies and systems in 

communities, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Smart Technologies Advancing Reliable Transportation 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘START Act’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

8 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Purpose. 

Sec. 3 Definitions. 

Sec. 4 Smart city and community transportation resource guide. 

Sec. 5. Smart Cities Challenge grant extension program. 


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Sec. 6. GAO study. 

Sec. 7. Reports to Secretary of Transportation and Congress. 

1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to promote smart tech3 nologies and systems to reduce transportation costs, traf4 fic congestion, air pollution, energy use, and carbon emis5 sions, and enhance security resiliency for communities of 

6 all sizes by— 

7 (1) creating a smart city and community trans8 portation resource guide; 

9 (2) promoting the quality and performance of 

10 smart city technologies while protecting— 

11 (A) the physical and cyber security of data 

12 and smart city technology systems; and 

13 (B) privacy; and 

14 (3) providing assistance to local governments 

15 interested in implementing smart city or community 

16 transportation technologies. 

17 SEC. 3 DEFINITIONS. 

18 In this Act: 

19 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON20 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con21 gress’’ means— 

22 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

23 and Transportation of the Senate; and 


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1 (B) the Committee on Transportation and 

2 Infrastructure and the Committee on Energy 

3 and Commerce of the House of Representatives. 

4 (2) DATA.—The term ‘‘data’’ includes informa5 tion and images. 

6 (3) LARGE-SIZED CITY.—The term ‘‘large-sized 

7 city’’ means a beneficiary city with a population of 

8 850,000 or greater, according to the most recent an9 nual estimates of resident population by the Bureau 

10 of the Census. 

11 (4) MEDIUM-SIZED CITY.—The term ‘‘medium12 sized city’’ means a beneficiary city with a popu13 lation between 200,000 and 850,000, according to 

14 the most recent annual estimates of resident popu15 lation by the Bureau of the Census. 

16 (5) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ 

17 means a beneficiary jurisdiction with a population 

18 between 10,000 and 75,000 people, not located with19 in an urbanized area or cluster, according to the 

20 most recent annual estimates of resident population 

21 by the Bureau of the Census. 

22 (6) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 

23 means the Secretary, acting in coordination with— 

24 (A) the Secretary of Energy; 


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1 (B) the Secretary of Housing and Urban 

2 Development; and 

3 (C) the Director of the National Science 

4 Foundation. 

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

6 the Secretary of Transportation. 

7 (8) SECURITY SOLUTIONS.—The term ‘‘security 

8 solutions’’ means video camera equipment, emer9 gency light and panic alarms, information technology 

10 and information systems. 

11 (9) SMALL CITY.—The term ‘‘small city’’ means 

12 a beneficiary city with a population between 75,000 

13 and 200,000, according to the most recent annual 

14 estimates of resident population by the Bureau of 

15 the Census. 

16 (10) SMART CITY OR COMMUNITY.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘smart city 

18 or community’’ means a community in which 

19 innovative, advanced, secure, and reliable infor20 mation and communication technologies and re21 lated mechanisms are applied— 

22 (i) to improve the quality of life for 

23 residents; 


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1 (ii) to reduce resource consumption by 

2 increasing the efficiency and cost effective3 ness of civic operations and services; 

4 (iii) to promote economic growth; and 

5 (iv) to create a community that is 

6 safer and more secure, sustainable, resil7 ient, livable, and workable. 

8 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘smart city 

9 or community’’ includes a local jurisdiction that 

10 installs smart city technology that— 

11 (i) gathers and incorporates data from 

12 systems, devices, and sensors embedded in 

13 civic systems and infrastructure to improve 

14 the effectiveness and efficiency of civic op15 erations and services; 

16 (ii) aggregates and analyzes gathered 

17 data; 

18 (iii) communicates the analysis and 

19 data in a variety of formats; 

20 (iv) makes corresponding improve21 ments to civic systems and services based 

22 on gathered data; and 

23 (v) integrates measures— 

24 (I) to ensure the resilience of 

25 civic systems against cybersecurity 


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1 threats and physical and social 

2 vulnerabilities and breaches; 

3 (II) to protect the private data of 

4 residents; and 

5 (III) to measure the impact of 

6 smart city or community technologies 

7 on the effectiveness and efficiency 

8 civic operations and services. 

9 (11) SMART CITY TECHNOLOGY.—The term 

10 ‘‘smart city technology’’ means technology and sys11 tems that gather and incorporate data from systems, 

12 devices, and sensors embedded in civic systems, se13 curity systems, transportation and traffic manage14 ment systems, and infrastructure to improve the ef15 fectiveness and efficiency of civic operations by— 

16 (A) aggregating and analyzing collected 

17 data; 

18 (B) communicating the analysis and data 

19 in a variety of forms; 

20 (C) corresponding improvements to civic 

21 systems and services based on gathered data; 

22 (D) providing innovative services in mul23 tiple modes of transport and traffic manage24 ment to enable users to be safer, better coordi25 nated and connected, and better informed; and 


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1 (E) integrating measures— 

2 (i) to protect private data of residents; 

3 and 

4 (ii) to measure the impact of smart 

5 city or community technologies on the ef6 fectiveness and efficiency of civic oper7 ations and services. 

8 (12) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 

9 (A) a State; 

10 (B) the District of Columbia; 

11 (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; 

12 and 

13 (D) any other territory or possession of the 

14 United States. 

15 (13) URBAN AREA.—The term ‘‘urban area’’ 

16 means a area designated as an urbanized area by 

17 the Bureau of the Census with a population of 

18 50,000 residents or more. 

19 SEC. 4 SMART CITY AND COMMUNITY TRANSPORTATION 

20 RESOURCE GUIDE. 

21 (a) PUBLICATION.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries, in coordina23 tion with the heads of any other applicable Federal 

24 agencies, shall create, publish, and maintain a re25 source guide designed to assist States, communities, 


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1 and cities in developing and implementing smart city 

2 or community programs. 

3 (2) INFORMATION INCLUDED.—The Secretaries, 

4 in coordination with representatives of cities, com5 munities, and industry entities, shall determine what 

6 information shall be included in the guide described 

7 in paragraph (1). 

8 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The guide published under 

9 subsection (a)— 

10 (1) shall be maintained electronically on a 

11 website; 

12 (2) shall be provided as an electronic reference 

13 guide available to the public free of charge; and 

14 (3) may include— 

15 (A) available examples of local govern16 ments engaging private sector entities in order 

17 to implement smart city or community solu18 tions, including public-private partnership mod19 els, that could be used to leverage private sector 

20 funding, reduce transportation costs, and en21 hance security resiliency; 

22 (B) best practices and lessons learned from 

23 technology demonstrations, including return on 

24 investment and performance information to help 


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1 cities decide how to initiate integration of smart 

2 technologies; 

3 (C) Federal best practices for safeguarding 

4 cybersecurity and physical security, and ensur5 ing appropriate data management and data pri6 vacy; and 

7 (D) such other topics as are determined to 

8 be necessary by the Secretaries. 

9 (c) EXISTING GUIDES.—In creating, publishing, and 

10 maintaining the guide under subsection (a), the Secre11 taries shall consider Federal guides published before, on, 

12 or after the date of enactment of this Act relating to smart 

13 city or community goals, activities, and best practices— 

14 (1) to prevent duplication of efforts by the Fed15 eral Government; and 

16 (2) to leverage existing complementary efforts. 

17 SEC. 5. SMART CITIES CHALLENGE GRANT EXTENSION 

18 PROGRAM. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months after 

20 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Trans21 portation shall develop and implement an additional round 

22 to the Smart Cities Challenge under which the Secretary 

23 shall provide grants on a competitive basis to small- and 

24 medium-sized communities to implement smart transpor25 tation proposals. 


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1 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

2 under this section, an entity shall be— 

3 (1) a State or local government; 

4 (2) a tribal government; 

5 (3) a transit agency or authority; 

6 (4) a public toll authority; 

7 (5) a metropolitan planning organization; 

8 (6) any other subdivision of a State or local 

9 government; or 

10 (7) a multijurisdictional group applying through 

11 a single lead applicant. 

12 (c) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity seeking a 

13 grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary an 

14 application at the time, in such manner, and containing 

15 such information as the Secretary may require. An eligible 

16 entity may only submit 1 application. 

17 (d) PRIORITY.—In selecting eligible entities to receive 

18 grants under this section, the Secretary shall prioritize ap19 plicants that— 

20 (1) identify transportation challenges and de21 scribe how smart city technologies and systems can 

22 address such challenges; 

23 (2) determine what technologies have the most 

24 potential to address the challenges identified; 


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1 (3) identify what data may be collected and 

2 analyzed using these technologies and how such data 

3 would be used to continue to address identified 

4 transportation challenges; 

5 (4) incorporate relevant security solutions based 

6 on the scope and necessity for such smart city 

7 project; and 

8 (5) comply with any other requirements that 

9 the Secretary may identify. 

10 (e) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The non-Federal share 

11 of the cost of a project for which a grant is awarded under 

12 this section shall be a minimum of 25 percent of the total 

13 cost. 

14 (f) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—The amount of a grant 

15 awarded under this section shall be a minimum of 

16 $20,000,000 and a maximum of $40,000,000. The total 

17 amount of funds awarded under this section shall not ex18 ceed $100,000,000 for one calendar year. 

19 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

20 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

21 $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024. 

22 Additionally, the Secretary may reallocate unobligated 

23 funds to carry out this section. 


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1 SEC. 6. GAO STUDY. 

2 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

3 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 

4 shall conduct a study to identify— 

5 (1) financial and procurement mechanisms cur6 rently available to public and private entities to fund 

7 smart city or community activities and associated 

8 demonstration projects, including ‘‘pay for perform9 ance’’ financing that could deliver measurable and 

10 verifiable market and non-market values to smart 

11 cities or communities; 

12 (2) new, innovative financial and procurement 

13 mechanisms under development or used experi14 mentally that may be available, in the near term, to 

15 public and private entities to fund smart city or 

16 community activities and associated demonstration 

17 projects; 

18 (3) barriers to creative financing solutions for 

19 those activities and projects, including procurement 

20 barriers faced by State and local governments; and 

21 (4) ways to leverage private sector investments 

22 in smart cities and communities. 

23 SEC. 7. REPORTS TO SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION 

24 AND CONGRESS. 

25 (a) QUARTERLY REPORT.—Each recipient of a 

26 Smart Cities Challenge grant under section 5 shall submit 


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1 a quarterly report to the Secretary regarding the develop2 ment, implementation, and operation of the project. 

3 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 years 

4 after the date of enactment of this Act the Secretary shall 

5 submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report 

6 that includes— 

7 (1) pertinent updates regarding the develop8 ment, list of recipients, implementation, and oper9 ation of projects funded under Smart Cities Chal10 lenge; 

11 (2) the impact of such projects on the transpor12 tation systems within the area served by the project 

13 and review of appropriate security protocols inte14 grated into the project; 

15 (3) the impact of such projects on frontline 

16 communities, including communities of color, 

17 women, veterans, and the elderly; 

18 (4) the extent to which the goals of the grant 

19 program have been met; and 

20 (5) any recommendations for revisions or im21 provements to the Smart Cities Challenge to guide 

22 future deployment activities. 

Æ 


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