“A bill to increase the Federal operating share for rural transit, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section defines four terms for purposes of the Act: (1) Administration (i.e., Federal Transit Administration); (2) Administrator (i.e., Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration); (3) rural area (as defined in 49 U.S.C. §5302); and (4) Secretary (i.e., Secretary of Transportation).
This section expands cooperative procurement authorities under Section 3019(b) of the FAST Act (49 U.S.C. 5325 note)—which enable Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grantees to conduct joint purchases of rolling stock and related equipment to achieve economies of scale—as follows: (1) includes local governments and eligible nonprofit entities as eligible entities (in addition to State governments); (2) authorizes participation via a nonprofit cooperative purchasing organization that is not a grantee, a consortium of grantees, or a consortium of such nonprofits; and (3) covers farebox equipment, software or technology, and other equipment or technology eligible for FTA assistance under chapter 53 of title 49, U.S. Code (in addition to rolling stock and related equipment). This section further directs the Secretary of Transportation, acting through the FTA Administrator, to (1) establish a process for soliciting feedback from FTA grantees, State departments of transportation, and other stakeholders on streamlining joint procurement, cooperative procurement, and other strategies for rolling stock and other procurements; (2) assess the feedback and develop advisory recommendations to improve such strategies; and (3) submit annual reports to Congress and publish them on the FTA website, including recommended statutory, regulatory, or guidance changes and potential cost savings.
This section amends the Formula Grants for Rural Areas program (49 U.S.C. §5311)—(1) increasing the applicable percentage in subsection (g)(2) to 80 percent (from 50 percent), reformatting the subsection, and striking subparagraph (B); and (2) requiring the Federal Transit Administration to establish a process for recommendations on regulatory relief for recipients, incorporating input from rural transit agencies, Tribal transit agencies, state departments of transportation, and other relevant parties. The section also amends the Buses and Bus Facilities Formula Grants program (49 U.S.C. §5339(b)) to reserve not less than 5 percent of funds for Tribal transit agency projects (allowing lesser amounts if insufficient eligible applications), with a federal share of up to 100 percent.
This section requires the Secretary of Transportation to designate, not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, an Associate Administrator for Program Management and Tribal Transit within the Federal Transit Administration. The Associate Administrator must focus on capacity-building, coordination, and technical assistance for Tribal transit (i.e., FTA grant programs that provide formula and discretionary funding to federally recognized tribes for public transportation services), in addition to other assigned responsibilities.
This section directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Energy, not later than two years after enactment, to consult with rural transit agencies, Tribal transit agencies, and other relevant parties and issue a publicly available joint report on opportunities to make procurement of low- and no-emission infrastructure by rural transit agencies more efficient, particularly through collaboration with other public entities such as school districts and municipalities.