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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Resilient Transit Act 
of 2023’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 5302 of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended— 
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(1) by redesignating paragraphs (17) through 
(25) as paragraphs (18) through (26), respectively; 
and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (16) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(17) RESILIENCE IMPROVEMENT.—The term 
‘resilience improvement’ has the meaning given the 
term in section 176(a) of title 23.’’. 
SEC. 3. STATE OF GOOD REPAIR GRANTS FOR PUBLIC 
TRANSPORTATION 
RESILIENCE 
IMPROVE-
MENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5337 of title 49, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(g) PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION
RESILIENCE
IM-
PROVEMENT GRANTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make 
grants under this subsection to assist State and local 
government authorities in financing 1 or more eligi-
ble activities described in paragraph (2). 
‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A recipient of a grant 
under this subsection may use grant amounts 
for public transportation resilience improve-
ments that increase the resilience of public 
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transportation systems from the impacts of cli-
mate change, such as sea level rise, flooding, 
wildfires, extreme weather events, and other 
natural disasters. 
‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—Activities eligible to be 
carried out using grant amounts under this 
subsection include— 
‘‘(i) the installation of mitigation 
measures that prevent the intrusion of 
floodwaters; 
‘‘(ii) the installation of equipment to 
detect the occurrence of a flood event; 
‘‘(iii) the replacement of equipment or 
facilities that are currently prone to flood 
events or will be in the future; 
‘‘(iv) the purchase of new equipment 
to support regular maintenance of drain-
age and pumping infrastructure; 
‘‘(v) the replacement of equipment 
stressed 
during 
extreme 
temperature 
events; 
‘‘(vi) the installation of equipment to 
regulate temperatures and sensors to mon-
itor extreme temperatures; 
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‘‘(vii) the development of backup sys-
tems to provide redundancy during the 
outage of a primary power source; 
‘‘(viii) the assessment of system 
vulnerabilities to current and future weath-
er events, natural disasters, and climate 
change, including sea level rise; 
‘‘(ix) the planning of system improve-
ments and emergency response strategies 
to address identified vulnerabilities; and 
‘‘(x) any other activity for resilience 
improvement, as determined by the Sec-
retary. 
‘‘(3) TYPES OF PROJECTS.—Grants under this 
subsection may be used to finance— 
‘‘(A) standalone projects; and 
‘‘(B) components of projects carried out 
under subsection (b)(1). 
‘‘(4) PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION RESILIENCE IM-
PROVEMENT
FORMULA.—Of the amounts made 
available under section 5338(a)(2)(L) to carry out 
this subsection— 
‘‘(A) 97.15 percent shall be apportioned to 
recipients in accordance with subsection (c); 
and 
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‘‘(B) 2.85 percent shall be apportioned to 
recipients in accordance with subsection (d). 
‘‘(5) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year 
after the enactment of this subsection, and annually 
thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Com-
mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of 
the Senate and the Committee on Transportation 
and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 
and publish on the website of the Department of 
Transportation, a report that describes the imple-
mentation of this subsection during the preceding 
calendar year, including— 
‘‘(A) a detailed description of the activities 
carried out with grants provided under this sub-
section; 
‘‘(B) a summary of each project financed 
in whole or in part by a grant provided under 
this subsection that benefits or is located in— 
‘‘(i) a neighborhood with poverty and 
unemployment rates that exceed the aver-
age in the United States; 
‘‘(ii) an underserved community or a 
medically underserved community; 
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‘‘(iii) a location where the EJ Index is 
above the national average, as determined 
by EJSCREEN; 
‘‘(iv) an environmental justice commu-
nity, as documented by federally recog-
nized environmental justice mapping and 
equity screening tools; and 
‘‘(v) a neighborhood where 30 percent 
or more of households receive benefits 
under— 
‘‘(I) the supplemental nutrition 
assistance program under the Food 
and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 
2011 et seq.); or 
‘‘(II) a mandatory spending pro-
gram of the Federal Government for 
which, as determined by the Sec-
retary, eligibility for the benefits of 
the program, or the amount of such 
benefits, is determined on the basis of 
income or resources of the individual 
or family seeking the benefit; and 
‘‘(C) recommendations to improve the ad-
ministration of this subsection. 
‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
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‘‘(A) ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE
COMMU-
NITY.—The term ‘environmental justice com-
munity’ means a community with significant 
representation of communities of color, low-in-
come communities, or Tribal and indigenous 
communities, that experiences, or is at risk of 
experiencing higher or more adverse human 
health or environmental effects. 
‘‘(B) EJ INDEX.—The term ‘EJ Index’ 
means the environmental justice indexes in 
EJSCREEN. 
‘‘(C) 
EJSCREEN.—The 
term 
‘EJSCREEN’ means the environmental justice 
mapping and screening tool created by the En-
vironmental Protection Agency. 
‘‘(D) MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED COMMU-
NITY.—The term ‘medically underserved com-
munity’ has the meaning given such term in 
section 799B of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 295p). 
‘‘(E) UNDERSERVED
COMMUNITY.—The 
term ‘underserved community’ means— 
‘‘(i) a community located within a 
ZIP Code or census tract that is identified 
by the Secretary as— 
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‘‘(I) a low-income community; 
‘‘(II) a community of color; or 
‘‘(III) a Tribal community; or 
‘‘(ii) any other community that the 
Secretary determines is disproportionately 
vulnerable to, or bares a disproportionate 
burden of, any combination of economic, 
social, 
environmental, 
or 
climate 
stressors.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 5337 of 
title 49, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘sec-
tion 5338(a)(2)(K)’’ each place it appears and inserting 
‘‘section 5338(a)(2)(L)’’. 
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATIONS. 
Section 5338(a) of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1)— 
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 
‘‘$13,634,000,000’’ 
and 
inserting 
‘‘$13,934,000,000’’; 
(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking 
‘‘$13,990,000,000’’ 
and 
inserting 
‘‘$14,290,000,000’’; 
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(C) in subparagraph (D), by striking 
‘‘$14,279,000,000’’ 
and 
inserting 
‘‘$14,579,000,000’’; and 
(D) in subparagraph (E), by striking 
‘‘$14,642,000,000’’ 
and 
inserting 
‘‘$14,942,000,000’’; and 
(2) in paragraph (2)(L)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘$3,587,778,037’’ and in-
serting ‘‘$3,887,778,037’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘$3,680,934,484’’ and in-
serting ‘‘$3,980,934,484’’; 
(C) by striking ‘‘$3,755,675,417’’ and in-
serting ‘‘$4,055,675,417’’; 
(D) by striking ‘‘$3,850,496,668’’ and in-
serting ‘‘$4,150,496,668’’; and 
(E) by inserting ‘‘and $300,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2024 through 2027 shall be 
available to carry out section 5337(g)’’ after 
‘‘section 5337(f)’’. 
Æ 
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