I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1565 
To amend title 23, United States Code, to incorporate regional transportation 
planning organizations into statewide transportation planning, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 14, 2011 
Mr. WALZ of Minnesota (for himself and Mr. HANNA) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infra-
structure 
A BILL 
To amend title 23, United States Code, to incorporate re-
gional transportation planning organizations into state-
wide transportation planning, 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. REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLANNING OR-
GANIZATIONS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 134(b) of title 23, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and (6) as 
paragraphs (6) and (7), respectively; and 
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(2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(5) REGIONAL
TRANSPORTATION
PLANNING 
ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘regional transportation 
planning organization’ means a policy board of an 
organization created as the result of the designation 
process in section 135(k).’’. 
(b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—Section 135(e) of 
such title is amended— 
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by 
striking ‘‘consider’’; 
(2) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(1) with respect to nonmetropolitan areas, co-
operate with affected nonmetropolitan local officials 
with responsibility for transportation through re-
gional transportation planning organizations de-
scribed in subsection (k);’’; 
(3) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘the concerns’’ 
and inserting ‘‘consider the concerns’’; and 
(4) in paragraph (3)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘coordination of’’ and in-
serting ‘‘coordinate’’; and 
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(B) by striking ‘‘the transportation im-
provement program’’ and inserting ‘‘transpor-
tation improvement programs’’. 
(c) LONG-RANGE
STATEWIDE
TRANSPORTATION 
PLAN.—Section 135(f)(2) of such title is amended— 
(1) by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting 
the following: 
‘‘(B) NONMETROPOLITAN
AREAS.—With 
respect to nonmetropolitan areas, the statewide 
transportation plan shall be developed in co-
operation with affected nonmetropolitan local 
officials with responsibility for transportation 
through regional transportation planning orga-
nizations described in subsection (k).’’; and 
(2) in subparagraph (D)(i) by striking ‘‘and 
local agencies responsible for’’ and inserting ‘‘re-
gional, and local agencies responsible for economic 
development, emergency management, transportation 
planning,’’. 
(d) STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT 
PROGRAM.—Section 135(g) of such title is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2) by striking subparagraph 
(B) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(B) NONMETROPOLITAN
AREAS.—With 
respect to each nonmetropolitan area in the 
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State, the program shall be developed in co-
operation with affected nonmetropolitan local 
officials with responsibility for transportation 
through regional transportation planning orga-
nizations described in subsection (k).’’; and 
(2) in the first sentence of paragraph (5) by 
striking ‘‘for transportation.’’ and inserting ‘‘for 
transportation through regional transportation plan-
ning organizations described in subsection (k).’’. 
(e) FUNDING.—Section 135(h) of such title is amend-
ed by striking ‘‘104(f) of’’ and inserting ‘‘104(f) and sec-
tion 505 of’’. 
(f) DESIGNATION OF REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION 
PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS.—Section 135 of such title is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(k) DESIGNATION OF REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION 
PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out the transpor-
tation planning process required by this section, 
States shall establish, designate, and use amounts 
made available to the State to carry out this section 
to fund regional transportation planning organiza-
tions to enhance the planning, coordination, and im-
plementation of statewide transportation plans and 
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programs, with an emphasis on addressing the needs 
of nonmetropolitan areas of the State. 
‘‘(2) STRUCTURE.—A regional transportation 
planning organization shall be established as a 
multi-jurisdictional organization of nonmetropolitan 
local officials or their designees who volunteer for 
such organization and representatives of local trans-
portation systems who volunteer for such organiza-
tion. 
‘‘(3) MEMORANDUM
OF
UNDERSTANDING.—A 
regional transportation planning organization shall 
be formed by a memorandum of understanding be-
tween the State and nonmetropolitan local officials 
or as otherwise provided under State law. 
‘‘(4) FUNCTION.—A regional transportation 
planning organization shall work cooperatively to 
plan, coordinate, and implement transportation sys-
tems in nonmetropolitan areas. 
‘‘(5) REQUIREMENTS.—Each regional transpor-
tation planning organization shall, at a minimum, 
establish— 
‘‘(A) a policy committee, the majority of 
which shall consist of nonmetropolitan local of-
ficials, or their designees, and which shall also 
include, as appropriate, additional representa-
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tives from the State, private business, transpor-
tation service providers, economic development 
practitioners, and the public in the region; and 
‘‘(B) a fiscal and administrative agent, 
such as an existing regional planning and devel-
opment organization, to provide professional 
planning, management, and administrative sup-
port. 
‘‘(6) DUTIES.—The duties of a regional trans-
portation planning organization shall include— 
‘‘(A) ensuring nonmetropolitan local offi-
cials are meaningfully involved in the statewide 
transportation planning process; 
‘‘(B) developing and maintaining, in co-
operation with the State, regional long-range 
multimodal transportation plans; 
‘‘(C) developing a regional transportation 
improvement program for consideration by the 
State; 
‘‘(D) fostering the coordination of local 
planning, land use, and economic development 
plans with State, regional, and local transpor-
tation plans and programs; 
‘‘(E) providing technical assistance to local 
officials; 
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