II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 625 

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

planning organizations into statewide transportation planning, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 17, 2011 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. ALEXANDER) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment 

and Public Works 

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 the policy board of an 

6 organization established or designated under section 

7 135(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;’’; 

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

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

20 (4) in paragraph (3)— 

21 (A) by striking ‘‘coordination of’’ and in22 serting ‘‘coordinate’’; and 

23 (B) by striking ‘‘the transportation im24 provement program’’ and inserting ‘‘transpor25 tation improvement programs’’. 


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1 (c) LONG-RANGE STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION

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

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

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘(B) NONMETROPOLITAN AREAS.—With 

6 respect to nonmetropolitan areas, the statewide 

7 transportation plan shall be developed in co8 operation with affected nonmetropolitan local 

9 officials with responsibility for transportation 

10 through regional transportation planning orga11 nizations.’’; and 

12 (2) in subparagraph (D)(i), by striking ‘‘and 

13 local agencies responsible for’’ and inserting ‘‘re14 gional, and local agencies responsible for economic 

15 development, emergency management, transportation 

16 planning,’’. 

17 (d) STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT

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

19 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph 

20 (B) and inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(B) NONMETROPOLITAN AREAS.—With 

22 respect to each nonmetropolitan area in the 

23 State, the program shall be developed in co24 operation with affected nonmetropolitan local 

25 officials with responsibility for transportation 


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1 through regional transportation planning orga2 nizations.’’; and 

3 (2) in the first sentence of paragraph (5), by 

4 inserting ‘‘through regional transportation planning 

5 organizations’’ before the period at the end. 

6 (e) FUNDING.—Section 135(h) of such title is amend7 ed by striking ‘‘section 104(f)’’ and inserting ‘‘sections 

8 104(f) and 505’’. 

9 (f) DESIGNATION OF REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION

10 PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS.—Section 135 of such title is 

11 amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(k) DESIGNATION OF REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION

13 PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out the transpor15 tation planning process required under this section, 

16 States shall establish, designate, and use amounts 

17 made available to the State to carry out this section 

18 to fund regional transportation planning organiza19 tions to enhance the planning, coordination, and im20 plementation of statewide transportation plans and 

21 programs, with an emphasis on addressing the needs 

22 of nonmetropolitan areas of the State. 

23 ‘‘(2) STRUCTURE.—Each regional transpor24 tation planning organization shall be established as 

25 a multi-jurisdictional organization of nonmetropoliVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:53 Mar 23, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S625.IS S625

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1 tan local officials or their designees who volunteer 

2 for such organization and representatives of local 

3 transportation systems who volunteer for such orga4 nization. 

5 ‘‘(3) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.— 

6 Each regional transportation planning organization 

7 shall be formed by a memorandum of understanding 

8 between the State and nonmetropolitan local officials 

9 or as otherwise provided under State law. 

10 ‘‘(4) FUNCTION.—Each regional transportation 

11 planning organization shall work cooperatively to 

12 plan, coordinate, and implement transportation sys13 tems in nonmetropolitan areas. 

14 ‘‘(5) REQUIREMENTS.—Each regional transpor15 tation planning organization shall establish, at a 

16 minimum— 

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

18 which shall be comprised of nonmetropolitan 

19 local officials, or their designees, and which 

20 shall include, as appropriate, additional rep21 resentatives from the State, private business, 

22 transportation service providers, economic de23 velopment practitioners, and the public in the 

24 region; and 


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

2 such as an existing regional planning and devel3 opment organization, to provide professional 

4 planning, management, and administrative sup5 port. 

6 ‘‘(6) DUTIES.—The regional transportation 

7 planning organization shall— 

8 ‘‘(A) ensure that nonmetropolitan local of9 ficials are meaningfully involved in the state10 wide transportation planning process; 

11 ‘‘(B) develop and maintain, in cooperation 

12 with the State, regional long-range multimodal 

13 transportation plans; 

14 ‘‘(C) develop a regional transportation im15 provement program for consideration by the 

16 State; 

17 ‘‘(D) foster the coordination of local plan18 ning, land use, and economic development plans 

19 with State, regional, and local transportation 

20 plans and programs; 

21 ‘‘(E) provide technical assistance to local 

22 officials; 

23 ‘‘(F) participate in national, multi-State, 

24 and State policy and planning development 


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1 processes to ensure the regional and local input 

2 of nonmetropolitan areas; 

3 ‘‘(G) provide a forum for public participa4 tion in the statewide and regional transpor5 tation planning processes; 

6 ‘‘(H) consider and share plans and pro7 grams with neighboring regional transportation 

8 planning organizations, metropolitan planning 

9 organizations, and, as appropriate, tribal orga10 nizations; and 

11 ‘‘(I) conduct other duties, as necessary, to 

12 support and enhance the statewide planning 

13 process described in subsection (d).’’. 

Æ 


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