I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3581 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to carry out a pilot program 

to develop and provide to States and transportation planning organizations accessibility data sets, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 28, 2021 

Mr. DESAULNIER (for himself and Mr. CURTIS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Transportation to carry out 

a pilot program to develop and provide to States and 

transportation planning organizations accessibility data 

sets, 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 ‘‘Connecting Opportuni5 ties through Mobility Metrics and Unlocking Transpor6 tation Efficiencies Act’’ or the ‘‘COMMUTE Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ACCESSIBILITY DATA PILOT PROGRAM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor4 tation (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 

5 establish an accessibility data pilot program (referred to 

6 in this section as the ‘‘pilot program’’). 

7 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the pilot program is 

8 to develop or procure an accessibility data set and make 

9 that data set available to each eligible entity selected to 

10 participate in the pilot program to improve the transpor11 tation planning of those eligible entities by— 

12 (1) measuring the level of access by multiple 

13 transportation modes to important destinations, 

14 which may include— 

15 (A) jobs, including areas with a concentra16 tion of available jobs; 

17 (B) health care facilities; 

18 (C) child care services; 

19 (D) educational and workforce training fa20 cilities; 

21 (E) affordable housing; 

22 (F) food sources; and 

23 (G) connections between modes, including 

24 connections to— 

25 (i) high-quality transit or rail service; 

26 (ii) safe bicycling corridors; and 


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1 (iii) safe sidewalks that achieve com2 pliance with applicable requirements of the 

3 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 

4 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.); 

5 (2) disaggregating the level of access by mul6 tiple transportation modes by a variety of population 

7 categories, which may include— 

8 (A) low-income populations; 

9 (B) minority populations; 

10 (C) age; 

11 (D) disability; and 

12 (E) geographical location; 

13 (3) assessing the change in accessibility that 

14 would result from new transportation investments; 

15 and 

16 (4) providing data necessary to prioritize trans17 portation investments that will improve access by all 

18 modes of travel. 

19 (c) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity eligible to par20 ticipate in the pilot program is— 

21 (1) a State (as defined in section 101(a) of title 

22 23, United States Code); 

23 (2) a metropolitan planning organization; or 

24 (3) a rural transportation planning organiza25 tion. 


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1 (d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to participate in 

2 the pilot program, an eligible entity shall submit to the 

3 Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 

4 and containing such information as the Secretary may re5 quire, including information relating to— 

6 (1) previous experience of the eligible entity 

7 measuring transportation access, especially in low-in8 come, transit-dependent, or other high-needs com9 munities, or other performance management experi10 ence; 

11 (2) the types of important destinations to which 

12 the eligible entity intends to measure access; 

13 (3) the types of data disaggregation the eligible 

14 entity intends to pursue; 

15 (4) a general description of the methodology the 

16 eligible entity intends to apply; 

17 (5) if the applicant does not intend the pilot 

18 program to apply to the full area under the jurisdic19 tion of the applicant, a description of the geographic 

20 area in which the applicant intends the pilot pro21 gram to apply; and 

22 (6) a description of how the eligible entity plans 

23 to use the data to improve access to jobs and serv24 ices by all modes of travel, including for commuVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:48 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3581.IH H3581

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1 nities of color, low-income communities, people who 

2 are transit-dependent, and vulnerable road users. 

3 (e) SELECTION.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall seek to 

5 achieve diversity of participants in the pilot program 

6 by selecting a range of eligible entities that shall in7 clude— 

8 (A) States; 

9 (B) metropolitan planning organizations 

10 that serve an area with a population of 200,000 

11 people or fewer; 

12 (C) metropolitan planning organizations 

13 that serve an area with a population of over 

14 200,000 people; and 

15 (D) rural transportation planning organi16 zations. 

17 (2) INCLUSIONS.—The Secretary shall seek to 

18 ensure that, among the eligible entities selected 

19 under paragraph (1), there is— 

20 (A) a range of capacity and previous expe21 rience with measuring transportation access; 

22 and 

23 (B) a variety of proposed methodologies 

24 and focus areas for measuring level of access. 


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1 (f) DUTIES.—For each eligible entity participating in 

2 the pilot program, the Secretary shall— 

3 (1) develop or acquire an accessibility data set 

4 described in subsection (b); and 

5 (2) submit the data set to the eligible entity. 

6 (g) METHODOLOGY.—In calculating the measures for 

7 the data set under the pilot program, the Secretary shall 

8 ensure that methodology is open source. 

9 (h) AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall make an ac10 cessibility data set under the pilot program available to— 

11 (1) units of local government within the juris12 diction of the eligible entity participating in the pilot 

13 program; and 

14 (2) researchers. 

15 (i) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the last 

16 date on which the Secretary submits data sets to the eligi17 ble entity under subsection (f), the Secretary shall submit 

18 to Congress a report on the results of the program, includ19 ing— 

20 (1) the feasibility of developing and providing 

21 periodic accessibility data sets for all States, regions, 

22 and localities; and 

23 (2) an identification of specific actions the Sec24 retary and eligible entities participating in the pilot 


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1 program may take to further the use of accessibility 

2 data. 

3 (j) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall carry out the 

4 pilot program using amounts made available to the Sec5 retary for administrative expenses to carry out programs 

6 under the authority of the Secretary. 

7 (k) SUNSET.—The pilot program shall terminate on 

8 the date that is 5 years after the date on which the pilot 

9 program is implemented. 

Æ 


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