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‘‘(B) for projects anywhere in the State if 
the State has established a statewide program 
for meeting the objectives of this section. 
‘‘(d) COMPETITIVE PROCESS FOR GRANTS TO SUB-
RECIPIENTS.—
‘‘(1) AREAWIDE SOLICITATIONS.—A recipient of 
funds apportioned under subsection (c)(1)(A) shall 
conduct, in cooperation with the appropriate metro-
politan planning organization, an areawide solicita-
tion for applications for grants to the recipient and 
subrecipients under this section. 
‘‘(2) STATEWIDE SOLICITATION.—A recipient of 
funds apportioned under subsection (c)(1)(B) or 
(c)(1)(C) shall conduct a statewide solicitation for 
applications for grants to the recipient and sub-
recipients under this section. 
‘‘(3) APPLICATION.—Recipients and subrecipi-
ents seeking to receive a grant from funds appor-
tioned under subsection (c) shall submit to the re-
cipient an application in the form and in accordance 
with such requirements as the recipient shall estab-
lish. 
‘‘(4) GRANT
AWARDS.—The recipient shall 
award grants under paragraphs (1) and (2) on a 
competitive basis.
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‘‘(e) TRANSFERS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State may transfer any 
funds apportioned to it under subsection (c)(1)(B) 
or (c)(1)(C), or both, to an apportionment under 
section 5311(c) or 5336, or both. 
‘‘(2) LIMITED
TO
ELIGIBLE
PROJECTS.—Any 
apportionment transferred under this subsection 
shall be made available only for eligible job access 
and reverse commute projects as described in this 
section. 
‘‘(3) CONSULTATION.—A State may make a 
transfer of an amount under this subsection only 
after consulting with responsible local officials and 
publicly owned operators of public transportation in 
each area for which the amount originally was 
awarded under subsection (d)(4). 
‘‘(f) GRANT REQUIREMENTS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A grant under this section 
shall be subject to the requirements of section 5307. 
‘‘(2) FAIR AND EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—A 
recipient of a grant under this section shall certify 
to the Secretary that allocations of the grant to sub-
recipients are distributed on a fair and equitable 
basis. 
‘‘(g) COORDINATION.—
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall coordi-
nate activities under this section with related activi-
ties under programs of other Federal departments 
and agencies. 
‘‘(2) WITH NONPROFIT PROVIDERS.—A State 
that transfers funds to an apportionment under sec-
tion 5336 pursuant to subsection (e) shall certify to 
the Secretary that any project for which the funds 
are requested under this section has been coordi-
nated with nonprofit providers of services. 
‘‘(3) PROJECT SELECTION AND PLANNING.—A 
recipient of funds under this section shall certify to 
the Secretary that—
‘‘(A) the projects selected were derived 
from a locally developed, coordinated public 
transit-human services transportation plan; and 
‘‘(B) the plan was developed through a 
process that included representatives of public, 
private, and nonprofit transportation and 
human services providers and participation by 
the public. 
‘‘(h) GOVERNMENT’S SHARE OF COSTS.—
‘‘(1) CAPITAL PROJECTS.—A grant for a capital 
project under this section may not exceed 80 percent
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of the net capital costs of the project, as determined 
by the Secretary. 
‘‘(2) OPERATING ASSISTANCE.—A grant made 
under this section for operating assistance may not 
exceed 50 percent of the net operating costs of the 
project, as determined by the Secretary. 
‘‘(3) REMAINDER.—The remainder of the net 
project costs—
‘‘(A) may be provided from an undistrib-
uted cash surplus, a replacement or deprecia-
tion cash fund or reserve, a service agreement 
with a State or local social service agency or a 
private social service organization, or new cap-
ital; and 
‘‘(B) may be derived from amounts appro-
priated to or made available to a department or 
agency of the Government (other than the De-
partment of Transportation) that are eligible to 
be expended for transportation. 
‘‘(4) USE OF CERTAIN FUNDS.—For purposes 
of paragraph (3)(B), the prohibitions on the use of 
funds for matching requirements under section 
403(a)(5)(C)(vii) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 603(a)(5)(C)(vii)) shall not apply to Federal
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or State funds to be used for transportation pur-
poses. 
‘‘(5) 
LIMITATION
ON
OPERATING
ASSIST-
ANCE.—A recipient carrying out a program of oper-
ating assistance under this section may not limit the 
level or extent of use of the Government grant for 
the payment of operating expenses. 
‘‘(i) PROGRAM EVALUATION.—
‘‘(1) COMPTROLLER
GENERAL.—Beginning 1 
year after the date of enactment of the Federal Pub-
lic Transportation Act of 2005, and every 2 years 
thereafter, the Comptroller General shall—
‘‘(A) conduct a study to evaluate the grant 
program authorized by this section; and 
‘‘(B) transmit to the Committee on Trans-
portation and Infrastructure of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Bank-
ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate 
a report describing the results of the study 
under subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(2) DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.—Not 
later than 3 years after the date of enactment of 
Federal Public Transportation Act of 2005, the Sec-
retary shall—
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‘‘(A) conduct a study to evaluate the effec-
tiveness of the grant program authorized by 
this section and the effectiveness of recipients 
making grants to subrecipients under this sec-
tion; and 
‘‘(B) transmit to the committees referred 
to in paragraph (1)(B) a report describing the 
results of the study under subparagraph (A).’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The analysis for 
chapter 53 is amended by inserting after the item relating 
to section 5315 the following:
‘‘5316. Job access and reverse commute formula grants.’’.
(c) REPEAL.—Section 3037 of the Transportation 
Equity Act for the 21st Century (49 U.S.C. 5309 note; 
112 Stat. 387) is repealed. 
SEC. 3018. NEW FREEDOM PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 53 is further amended by 
inserting after section 5316 the following: 
‘‘§ 5317. New Freedom program 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) RECIPIENT.—The term ‘recipient’ means a 
designated 
recipient 
(as 
defined 
in 
section 
5307(a)(2)) and a State that receives a grant under 
this section directly.
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‘‘(2) SUBRECIPIENT.—The term ‘subrecipient’ 
means a State or local governmental authority, non-
profit organization, or operator of public transpor-
tation services that receives a grant under this sec-
tion indirectly through a recipient. 
‘‘(b) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—
‘‘(1) 
GRANTS.—The 
Secretary 
may 
make 
grants under this section to a recipient for new pub-
lic transportation services and public transportation 
alternatives beyond those required by the Americans 
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et 
seq.) that assist individuals with disabilities with 
transportation, including transportation to and from 
jobs and employment support services. 
‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—A recipient 
may use not more than 10 percent of the amounts 
apportioned to the recipient under this section to ad-
minister, plan, and provide technical assistance for 
a project funded under this section. 
‘‘(c) APPORTIONMENTS.—
‘‘(1) FORMULA.—The Secretary shall apportion 
amounts made available to carry out this section as 
follows: 
‘‘(A) 60 percent of the funds shall be ap-
portioned among designated recipients (as de-
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fined in section 5307(a)(2)) for urbanized areas 
with a population of 200,000 or more in the 
ratio that—
‘‘(i) the number of individuals with 
disabilities in each such urbanized area; 
bears to 
‘‘(ii) the number of individuals with 
disabilities in all such urbanized areas. 
‘‘(B) 20 percent of the funds shall be ap-
portioned among the States in the ratio that—
‘‘(i) the number of individuals with 
disabilities in urbanized areas with a popu-
lation of less than 200,000 in each State; 
bears to 
‘‘(ii) the number of individuals with 
disabilities in urbanized areas with a popu-
lation of less than 200,000 in all States. 
‘‘(C) 20 percent of the funds shall be ap-
portioned among the States in the ratio that—
‘‘(i) the number of individuals with 
disabilities in other than urbanized areas 
in each State; bears to 
‘‘(ii) the number of individuals with 
disabilities in other than urbanized areas 
in all States.
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‘‘(2) USE OF APPORTIONED FUNDS.—Except as 
provided in paragraph (3)—
‘‘(A) funds apportioned under paragraph 
(1)(A) shall be used for projects serving urban-
ized areas with a population of 200,000 or 
more; 
‘‘(B) funds apportioned under paragraph 
(1)(B) shall be used for projects serving urban-
ized areas with a population of less than 
200,000; and 
‘‘(C) funds apportioned under paragraph 
(1)(C) shall be used for projects serving other 
than urbanized areas. 
‘‘(3) LOW DENSITY ADJUSTMENT.—
‘‘(A) SMALLER
URBANIZED
AREAS.—In 
administering the apportionment formula under 
paragraph (1)(B)—
‘‘(i) in the case of a State with a pop-
ulation density of 10 or fewer persons per 
square mile, the Secretary shall multiply 
by a factor of 2 the number of individuals 
with disabilities in urbanized areas of the 
State with a population of less than 
200,000 (as determined using the most re-
cent decennial United States Census); and
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‘‘(ii) in the case of a State with a pop-
ulation density of more than 10 but equal 
to or fewer than 30 persons per square 
mile, the Secretary shall multiply by a fac-
tor of 1.25 the number of individuals with 
disabilities in urbanized areas of the State 
with a population of less than 200,000 (as 
determined using the most recent decennial 
United States Census). 
‘‘(B) OTHER THAN URBANIZED AREAS.—
In administering the apportionment formula 
under paragraph (1)(C)—
‘‘(i) in the case of a State with a pop-
ulation density of 10 or fewer persons per 
square mile in other than urbanized areas 
of the State, the Secretary shall multiply 
by a factor of 1.5 the number of individ-
uals with disabilities in other than urban-
ized areas of the State (as determined 
using the most recent decennial United 
States Census); and 
‘‘(ii) in the case of a State with a pop-
ulation density of more than 10 but equal 
to or fewer than 12 persons per square 
mile in other than urbanized areas of the
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State, the Secretary shall multiply by a 
factor of 1.25 the number of individuals 
with disabilities in other than urbanized 
areas of the State (as determined using the 
most recent decennial United States Cen-
sus). 
‘‘(4) TRANSFERS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State may transfer 
any funds apportioned to it under paragraph 
(1)(B) or (1)(C), or both, to an apportionment 
under section 5311(c) or 5336, or both. 
‘‘(B) LIMITED TO ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—
Any funds transferred pursuant to this para-
graph shall be made available only for eligible 
projects selected under this section. 
‘‘(C) CONSULTATION.—A State may make 
a transfer of an amount under this subsection 
only after consulting with responsible local offi-
cials and publicly owned operators of public 
transportation in each area for which the 
amount originally was awarded under sub-
section (d)(4). 
‘‘(d) COMPETITIVE PROCESS FOR GRANTS TO SUB-
RECIPIENTS.—