Since the early 1970s, federal law has required state and local governments to designate metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in urbanized areas with a population of 50,000 or more to help plan surface transportation infrastructure and services. There are currently 381 MPOs nationwide, of which 43 represent areas of 1 million residents or more (large MPOs), 139 represent areas of between 200,000 and 1 million (medium MPOs), and 199 represent areas of between 50,000 and 200,000 (small MPOs). The foremost rationale for MPOs and metropolitan transportation planning is that the metropolitan scale is the level at which most economic activities, including commuting and, therefore, local highway and transit systems, are organized. These "metropolitan economies" transcend local government and sometimes state boundaries, and, as some observers have argued, are often too far removed from state capitals for state governments to successfully oversee them. This is particularly an issue in places where a metropolitan area is spread over more than one state. Despite some strengthening of their authority over the years, MPOs have generally remained subordinate to state departments of transportation (DOTs) in the planning and selecting ("programming") of projects using federal surface transportation funds. Moreover, it can be argued that at the metropolitan level MPOs are subordinate to local governments that own and operate many elements of the transportation system, and also control land use planning and zoning. Because of this perceived weakness, some in the transportation community have argued that MPOs ought to be given much more power over the planning and programming of projects using federal surface transportation funds. Some even go so far as to suggest that federal policies and programs in a number of areas, including transportation, housing, and the environment, need to be coordinated at the metropolitan scale, and that MPOs are the organizational venue where this should occur. Others argue that the relationship between state government, local government, and MPOs is well-balanced and should not be changed. A third view is that metropolitan transportation planning is controlled by planners who often harbor anti-car views, and, consequently, MPOs can be actually detrimental to well-functioning metropolitan transportation systems. In this view, MPOs should be abolished or, at the very least, have their functions significantly curtailed. For the period FY2005 though FY2009, surface transportation programs were authorized by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU or SAFETEA; P.L. 109-59 ). In lieu of a new multi-year reauthorization that is still being considered, Congress has extended these programs and their funding several times. Reauthorization of the surface transportation programs provides an opportunity for Congress to reexamine policies related to MPOs and the metropolitan planning process. Changes are also being considered as part of climate change legislation. This report discusses several issues that Congress may want to consider: the authority of MPOs to plan and program funds; representation and participation in MPOs; MPO technical capacity; and implementation of livability/sustainability initiatives. It also considers a number of other planning issues including the requirements for a long-range plan, the proper scale of planning, and the incorporation of freight transportation needs. These issues are discussed in detail below after a brief description of the metropolitan transportation planning process. The federal requirement for transportation planning in urban areas, although not MPOs, dates to the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962 (P.L. 87-866), which called for "a continuing comprehensive transportation planning process carried on cooperatively by states and local communities." MPOs themselves have been required as part of the transportation planning process in urbanized areas since the enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973 ( P.L. 93-87 ) (23 U.S.C. §134; 49 U.S.C. §5303). In general, the designation of the MPO, the design of its organizational structure, and voting representation within the MPO are to be agreed upon by the governor of the state and the general-purpose local governments of the area. In urbanized areas of 200,000 residents or more, designated as transportation management areas (TMAs), federal law requires that the MPO must consist of local elected officials, officials from public agencies that operate major modes of transportation (transit agencies, port authorities, etc. ), and appropriate state officials (23 U.S.C. §134(d)(2); 49 U.S.C. §5303(d)(2)). Typically, these officials form a policy board in which some members have voting rights and others do not. Day-to-day operations of an MPO are usually managed by an executive director appointed by the board, and a staff composed largely of professional planners. The number of staff supporting the work of the MPO is typically very small. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently found the average (mean) number of full-time and part-time staff working for small MPOs was 3.2 and 1.4, respectively. For medium MPOs the averages were 8.2 full time and 1.5 part time staff, and for large MPOs the averages were 49.3 full time and 3.9 part time. With few permanent staff, smaller MPOs often hire consultants to do technical work, rely on help from the state DOT, or both. The two major requirements of every MPO are the preparation of a long-range, multi-modal Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) covering a minimum period of 20 years, and a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) covering four years. The MTP must be updated at least every five years, or four years in areas with air quality problems, and the TIP must be updated at least every four years. The MTP is required to include an assessment of transportation supply and demand in the metropolitan area; operational and infrastructure investment strategies to improve the condition and performance of the system; estimates of transportation's effects on environmental quality and how these effects can be mitigated; and a financial plan that shows how the MTP can be implemented. Two important components of developing the long-range plan are preparation of travel demand forecasts and estimates of other inputs and outputs such as future land use patterns and pollutant emissions. The four-year TIP is a priority list of proposed federally supported highway and transit projects and strategies. Federal law requires that the list of projects and strategies must be "fiscally constrained" in that the program must be supported by reasonable estimates of available funding. To put it another way, the TIP must include a priority list of projects and strategies over the coming four years that have a reasonable chance of being accomplished with available funding. The TIP must be approved by both the MPO and the governor (although the actual approval is often delegated to the state DOT), and be consistent with the MTP. Federally supported projects must be selected from the approved TIP. Large and medium MPOs, those in urbanized areas of 200,000 residents or more, have the authority to select projects from the TIP in consultation with the state and public transit operators, except projects carried out on the National Highway System (NHS), or under the Bridge Program and Interstate Maintenance (IM) Program. In those cases, the state DOT has the authority to select projects from the TIP in cooperation with the MPO. MPOs in small urban areas, however, have less authority than those in larger areas. This is because power to select highway projects from the TIP is given to the state and power to select transit projects is given to the designated recipients of public transit funding. Project selection by the state or transit system, however, must be done in cooperation with the MPO, a stronger requirement than consultation. The transportation plans of a metropolitan area must be consistent with transportation plans that are required at the state level. Moreover, in metropolitan areas that are in nonattainment or maintenance status for air quality, transportation plans must be in conformity with the state implementation plan (SIP) required to bring the area into compliance with air pollution standards. The local MPO policy board is responsible for making a conformity determination between the regional transportation plan and regional air quality plan. This determination must be made at least every four years, when a MTP or TIP is updated or amended, or within 24 months after a SIP or SIP revision is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. Some argue that development of the TIP, also known as project "programming," is the most important activity of an MPO because it provides the potential for setting budgetary priorities. Prior to enactment of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA; P.L. 102-240 ), a TIP did not need to be fiscally constrained, thus, a common complaint was that such documents were long "wish lists" from which the state could choose the projects to fund. By contrast, since ISTEA, MPOs, particularly those in areas designated as TMAs, have had a say in developing the TIP and in selecting projects from the TIP to be implemented. Moreover, ISTEA is also said to have empowered MPOs by giving them primary authority over Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds designated for projects in specific urban areas, so-called "suballocated" funds, and, to a lesser extent, authority over Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) funds. The planning area for which the MPO is generally responsible is the urbanized area and the area likely to become urbanized over the next 20 years, and may, therefore, encompass the entire metropolitan statistical area.