I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5980 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize state of good repair 

grants to be used for public transportation resilience improvement, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 18, 2023 

Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize state 

of good repair grants to be used for public transportation 

resilience improvement, 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 ‘‘Resilient Transit Act 

5 of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 Section 5302 of title 49, United States Code, is 

8 amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (17) through 

2 (25) as paragraphs (18) through (26), respectively; 

3 and 

4 (2) by inserting after paragraph (16) the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(17) RESILIENCE IMPROVEMENT.—The term 

7 ‘resilience improvement’ has the meaning given the 

8 term in section 176(a) of title 23.’’. 

9 SEC. 3. STATE OF GOOD REPAIR GRANTS FOR PUBLIC 

10 TRANSPORTATION RESILIENCE IMPROVE11 MENT. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5337 of title 49, United 

13 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(g) PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION RESILIENCE IM16 PROVEMENT GRANTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make 

18 grants under this subsection to assist State and local 

19 government authorities in financing 1 or more eligi20 ble activities described in paragraph (2). 

21 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A recipient of a grant 

23 under this subsection may use grant amounts 

24 for public transportation resilience improve25 ments that increase the resilience of public 


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1 transportation systems from the impacts of cli2 mate change, such as sea level rise, flooding, 

3 wildfires, extreme weather events, and other 

4 natural disasters. 

5 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—Activities eligible to be 

6 carried out using grant amounts under this 

7 subsection include— 

8 ‘‘(i) the installation of mitigation 

9 measures that prevent the intrusion of 

10 floodwaters; 

11 ‘‘(ii) the installation of equipment to 

12 detect the occurrence of a flood event; 

13 ‘‘(iii) the replacement of equipment or 

14 facilities that are currently prone to flood 

15 events or will be in the future; 

16 ‘‘(iv) the purchase of new equipment 

17 to support regular maintenance of drain18 age and pumping infrastructure; 

19 ‘‘(v) the replacement of equipment 

20 stressed during extreme temperature 

21 events; 

22 ‘‘(vi) the installation of equipment to 

23 regulate temperatures and sensors to mon24 itor extreme temperatures; 


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1 ‘‘(vii) the development of backup sys2 tems to provide redundancy during the 

3 outage of a primary power source; 

4 ‘‘(viii) the assessment of system 

5 vulnerabilities to current and future weath6 er events, natural disasters, and climate 

7 change, including sea level rise; 

8 ‘‘(ix) the planning of system improve9 ments and emergency response strategies 

10 to address identified vulnerabilities; and 

11 ‘‘(x) any other activity for resilience 

12 improvement, as determined by the Sec13 retary. 

14 ‘‘(3) TYPES OF PROJECTS.—Grants under this 

15 subsection may be used to finance— 

16 ‘‘(A) standalone projects; and 

17 ‘‘(B) components of projects carried out 

18 under subsection (b)(1). 

19 ‘‘(4) PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION RESILIENCE IM20 PROVEMENT FORMULA.—Of the amounts made 

21 available under section 5338(a)(2)(L) to carry out 

22 this subsection— 

23 ‘‘(A) 97.15 percent shall be apportioned to 

24 recipients in accordance with subsection (c); 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(B) 2.85 percent shall be apportioned to 

2 recipients in accordance with subsection (d). 

3 ‘‘(5) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year 

4 after the enactment of this subsection, and annually 

5 thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Com6 mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of 

7 the Senate and the Committee on Transportation 

8 and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 

9 and publish on the website of the Department of 

10 Transportation, a report that describes the imple11 mentation of this subsection during the preceding 

12 calendar year, including— 

13 ‘‘(A) a detailed description of the activities 

14 carried out with grants provided under this sub15 section; 

16 ‘‘(B) a summary of each project financed 

17 in whole or in part by a grant provided under 

18 this subsection that benefits or is located in— 

19 ‘‘(i) a neighborhood with poverty and 

20 unemployment rates that exceed the aver21 age in the United States; 

22 ‘‘(ii) an underserved community or a 

23 medically underserved community; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) a location where the EJ Index is 

2 above the national average, as determined 

3 by EJSCREEN; 

4 ‘‘(iv) an environmental justice commu5 nity, as documented by federally recog6 nized environmental justice mapping and 

7 equity screening tools; and 

8 ‘‘(v) a neighborhood where 30 percent 

9 or more of households receive benefits 

10 under— 

11 ‘‘(I) the supplemental nutrition 

12 assistance program under the Food 

13 and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 

14 2011 et seq.); or 

15 ‘‘(II) a mandatory spending pro16 gram of the Federal Government for 

17 which, as determined by the Sec18 retary, eligibility for the benefits of 

19 the program, or the amount of such 

20 benefits, is determined on the basis of 

21 income or resources of the individual 

22 or family seeking the benefit; and 

23 ‘‘(C) recommendations to improve the ad24 ministration of this subsection. 

25 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(A) ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMU2 NITY.—The term ‘environmental justice com3 munity’ means a community with significant 

4 representation of communities of color, low-in5 come communities, or Tribal and indigenous 

6 communities, that experiences, or is at risk of 

7 experiencing higher or more adverse human 

8 health or environmental effects. 

9 ‘‘(B) EJ INDEX.—The term ‘EJ Index’ 

10 means the environmental justice indexes in 

11 EJSCREEN. 

12 ‘‘(C) EJSCREEN.—The term 

13 ‘EJSCREEN’ means the environmental justice 

14 mapping and screening tool created by the En15 vironmental Protection Agency. 

16 ‘‘(D) MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED COMMU17 NITY.—The term ‘medically underserved com18 munity’ has the meaning given such term in 

19 section 799B of the Public Health Service Act 

20 (42 U.S.C. 295p). 

21 ‘‘(E) UNDERSERVED COMMUNITY.—The 

22 term ‘underserved community’ means— 

23 ‘‘(i) a community located within a 

24 ZIP Code or census tract that is identified 

25 by the Secretary as— 


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1 ‘‘(I) a low-income community; 

2 ‘‘(II) a community of color; or 

3 ‘‘(III) a Tribal community; or 

4 ‘‘(ii) any other community that the 

5 Secretary determines is disproportionately 

6 vulnerable to, or bares a disproportionate 

7 burden of, any combination of economic, 

8 social, environmental, or climate 

9 stressors.’’. 

10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 5337 of 

11 title 49, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘sec12 tion 5338(a)(2)(K)’’ each place it appears and inserting 

13 ‘‘section 5338(a)(2)(L)’’. 

14 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATIONS. 

15 Section 5338(a) of title 49, United States Code, is 

16 amended— 

17 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

18 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

19 ‘‘$13,634,000,000’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘$13,934,000,000’’; 

21 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

22 ‘‘$13,990,000,000’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘$14,290,000,000’’; 


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1 (C) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

2 ‘‘$14,279,000,000’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘$14,579,000,000’’; and 

4 (D) in subparagraph (E), by striking 

5 ‘‘$14,642,000,000’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘$14,942,000,000’’; and 

7 (2) in paragraph (2)(L)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘$3,587,778,037’’ and in9 serting ‘‘$3,887,778,037’’; 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘$3,680,934,484’’ and in11 serting ‘‘$3,980,934,484’’; 

12 (C) by striking ‘‘$3,755,675,417’’ and in13 serting ‘‘$4,055,675,417’’; 

14 (D) by striking ‘‘$3,850,496,668’’ and in15 serting ‘‘$4,150,496,668’’; and 

16 (E) by inserting ‘‘and $300,000,000 for 

17 each of fiscal years 2024 through 2027 shall be 

18 available to carry out section 5337(g)’’ after 

19 ‘‘section 5337(f)’’. 

Æ 


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