IIB 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 897 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
AUGUST 2, 2012 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation 
AN ACT 
To provide authority and sanction for the granting and 
issuance of programs for residential and commuter toll, 
user fee and fare discounts by States, municipalities, 
other localities, and all related agencies and departments, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Residential and Com-
muter Toll Fairness Act of 2012’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Residents of various localities and political 
subdivisions throughout the United States are sub-
ject to tolls, user fees, and fares to access certain 
roads, highways, bridges, railroads, busses, ferries, 
and other transportation systems. 
(2) Revenue generated from transportation 
tolls, user fees, and fares is used to support various 
infrastructure maintenance and capital improvement 
projects that directly benefit commuters and indi-
rectly benefit the regional and national economy. 
(3) Residents of certain municipalities, counties, 
and other localities endure significant or dispropor-
tionate toll, user fee, or fare burdens compared to 
others who have a greater number of transportation 
options because such residents— 
(A) live in geographic areas that are not 
conveniently located to the access points for 
roads, highways, bridges, rail, busses, ferries, 
and other transportation systems; 
(B) live on islands, peninsulas, or in other 
places that are only accessible through a means 
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that requires them to pay a toll, user fee, or 
fare; or 
(C) are required to pay much more for 
transportation access than residents of sur-
rounding jurisdictions, or in other jurisdictions 
across the country, for similar transportation 
options. 
(4) To address this inequality, and to reduce 
the financial hardship often imposed on such resi-
dents, several State and municipal governments and 
multi-State transportation authorities have estab-
lished programs that authorize discounted transpor-
tation tolls, user fees, and fares for such residents. 
(5) Transportation toll, user fee, and fare dis-
count programs based on residential status— 
(A) address actual unequal and undue fi-
nancial burdens placed on residents who live in 
areas that are only accessible through a means 
that requires them to pay a toll, user fee, or 
fare; 
(B) do not disadvantage or discriminate 
against those individuals ineligible for residen-
tial toll, user fee, or fare discount programs; 
(C) are not designed to favor the interests 
or promote the domestic industry or economic 
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development of the State implementing such 
programs; 
(D) do not interfere or impose undue bur-
dens on commerce with foreign nations or inter-
fere or impose any undue burdens on commerce 
among the several States, or commerce within 
particular States; 
(E) do not interfere or impose undue bur-
dens on the ability of individuals to travel 
among, or within, the several States; 
(F) do not constitute inequitable treatment 
or deny any person within the jurisdiction of 
the United States the equal protection of the 
laws; and 
(G) do not abridge the privileges or immu-
nities of citizens of the United States. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to clarify the existing authority of States, 
counties, municipalities, and multi-jurisdictional 
transportation authorities to establish programs that 
offer discounted transportation tolls, user fees, and 
fares for residents in specific geographic areas; and 
(2) to authorize the establishment of such pro-
grams, as necessary. 
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