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Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (H.R. 22)


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#1 CNJRoss

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Posted 06 November 2015 - 11:33 AM

Progressive Railroading, 11/6:

 

House passes first long-term transportation bill in a decade

 

The U.S. House yesterday morning passed a six-year surface transportation reauthorization and reform bill that calls for more than $300 billion in federal funding for highway, transit and rail programs. If approved by the full Congress and signed by President Obama, the bill would become the first long-term transportation law passed since 2005.

The Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 (the STRR Act) was approved by a vote of 363 to 64. It was introduced by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.), and Highways and Transit Subcommittee Ranking Member Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).

"The STRR Act provides strong reforms and policies to help us improve America's transportation system, and now we can get to work on resolving the differences with the Senate bill and carry a final measure over the goal line," Shuster said in a press release. 

 

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Action on amendments of interest to transit and passenger-rail advocates included:

 

• Passage of a measure to restore an 80/20 federal-state match and increase local flexibility for key transit programs used to build new light-rail, commuter-rail and streetcar systems.
• Rejection of a proposed measure that would have banned federal investment in streetcar projects.
• Rejection of an amendment that would have terminated the Mass Transit Account in the Highway Trust Fund, and devolved federal highway and transit programs to the states.
• Rejection of an amendment that would have required New Start, Small Start or Core Capacity grant recipients to have a one-to-one, assets-to-liabilities ratio.

Also, a proposal to raise the federal gas tax was blocked.

 

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#2 CNJRoss

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Posted 06 November 2015 - 11:45 AM

Rep. Shuster press release:

Shuster's Highway Bill Passes House

11/05/15

 

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Shuster’s (R-Hollidaysburg) legislation, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act (the STRR Act) passed the House 363-64 on Thursday. This legislation will provide long-term funding for Pennsylvania and the entire nation’s roads and bridges.

 

The STRR Act is the longest surface transportation measure (six years) passed in over a decade and was a major initiative that Congressman Shuster has been working on since taking over as Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. It reauthorizes the federal highway and safety programs and provides federal funding that is distributed to states and local communities to help them plan and move forward with their transportation priorities.

 

“A long-term highway bill impacts the life of every single American,” said Congressman Shuster. “Our families will have safer roads and our small businesses and communities will thrive with a stronger transportation network. This long-term bill accomplishes something long overdue. It provides our state and local partners the certainty needed to invest in major projects that will spur economic growth.”

 

The STRR Act helps improve the nation’s surface transportation infrastructure by refocusing programs on addressing national priorities, providing more flexibility and certainty for states and local governments, accelerating project delivery, maintaining a strong commitment to safety, and promoting innovation to make the transportation system and programs more effective. 

 

“We all drive on roads and bridges across Central and Southwestern Pennsylvania that are in desperate need of repair,” continued Shuster.

 

“These investments cannot happen without a long-term bill, and I am proud that the House took action on an issue that quite frankly could not wait any longer.”

 

Summary of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015

 

Improving Our Infrastructure

• Provides certainty for state and local governments to undertake large-scale, complex transportation projects

• Provides flexibility for states to invest in bridge rehabilitation and replacement

• Eliminates red tape that slows down infrastructure improvements

 

Reforms

• Streamlines the environmental review and permitting process to accelerate project delivery
• Provides more flexibility and decision-making to states and local governments to allow them to better address their priorities and needs

• Eliminates and consolidates offices within the Department of Transportation

• Establishes a National Surface Transportation and Innovative Finance Bureau to provide assistance to help state, local, and private sector partners move transportation projects forward

• Overhauls federal truck and bus safety grant programs and rulemaking processes• Reforms truck and bus safety programs and eases administrative burdens on small businesses

 

Refocusing on National Priorities

• Facilitates commerce and the movement of goods by establishing a Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects Program

• Provides flexibility to states to target driver safety grants on their pressing safety needs

• Consolidates truck and bus safety grant programs and provides state flexibility on safety priorities

 

 Innovation

• Promotes private investment in our surface transportation system

• Promotes the deployment of transportation technologies and congestion management tools that support an efficient and safe surface transportation system for all

• Updates federal research and transportation standards development to reflect the growth of technology in transportation

• Encourages the installation of vehicle-to-infrastructure equipment to reduce congestion and improve safety

• Improves truck and bus safety by accelerating the introduction of new transportation technologies

 

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#3 CNJRoss

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Posted 06 November 2015 - 11:58 AM

LATE POST

 

The Hill, 7/30:
 

Senate approves six-year highway bill

 

The Senate passed its long-term highway bill Thursday, though their work on federal infrastructure funding isn’t over.

 

Senators voted 65-34 to approve the six-year bill, which funds federal highway and infrastructure projects for three years. 

 

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The legislation also faces an uncertain future with the House, which has committed to passing its own long-term highway bill after the August recess.

 

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“The multi-year nature of this legislation is one of its most critical components. It’s also something the House and Senate are now united on,” he said. “We all want the House to have the space it needs to develop its own bill, because we all want to work out the best possible legislation … in conference.”

 

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#4 CNJRoss

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Posted 06 November 2015 - 01:17 PM

The Hill, 11/5:
 

 

House passes $325B highway bill

 

The House approved a bill to spend up to $325 billion on transportation projects on Thursday after a weeklong vote-a-rama and an intense debate about federal gas taxes.

 

The measure also includes a reauthorization of the controversial Export-Import Bank's charter, which has been held up in Congress since it expired in June.  The extension, which was included in the Senate's highway bill and left unchanged by the House, reauthorizes the bank's expired charter until 2019. 

 

The House voted to approve the bill in a 363-64 vote. It calls for spending $261 billion on highways and $55 billion on transit over six years.

 

The legislation authorizes highway funding for six years, but only if Congress can come up with a way to pay for the final three years.

 

The measure must now be conferenced with a separate Senate measure on highways.

 

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#5 CNJRoss

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Posted 17 November 2015 - 11:45 AM

Progressive Railroading, 11/17:

 

 
Congress looks to another short-term extension of transportation funding

A bill to extend federal surface transportation funding beyond Friday was introduced yesterday to give congressional conference committee members more time to work out their differences on multi-year transportation reauthorization legislation.

The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2015, Part II (H.R. 3996) would continue federal funding of surface transportation programs through Dec. 4, according to Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), who introduced the bill along with the committee's Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas), and Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-Mich).

 

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#6 CNJRoss

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Posted 22 November 2015 - 07:37 PM

NJ.com, 11/18:

 

Can N.J.'s Pallone protect $50M for NJ Transit?

 

WASHINGTON — Efforts to restore a federal transit program that provides $50 million annually for NJ Transit received a boost when U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. was named Wednesday to a House-Senate committee writing legislation to renew road, bridge, railroad and transit programs for the next six years.
 

The committee will iron out differences between the Senate and House versions of the legislation.

 

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#7 CNJRoss

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Posted 01 December 2015 - 11:41 PM

AAR news release:

 

AAR Commends Agreement on Multi-Year Surface Transportation Legislation

Stepped-Up Tank Car Measures Mean Stronger Safety Standards

 

 

Washington D.C., Dec. 1, 2015 – Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and CEO, Edward R. Hamberger today applauded Congressional conferees on reaching agreement on the first long-term surface transportation bill in a decade, which includes safety enhancements for tank cars moving flammable liquids in the United States. 

 

Hamberger said provisions requiring increased thermal blanket protection for tank cars, restrictions on  the use of older DOT-111 tank cars moving flammable liquids and the requirement for top fittings protection on tank car retrofits address what the rail industry felt were safety shortcomings with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) tank car rule enacted in May.

 

"The AAR's position has always been that the tank car rule was a good start, but didn't advance safety as much as it could," said Hamberger.

 

Hamberger said the House and the Senate should be commended for the hard work and bipartisan efforts that went into making possible a highway bill the country has long needed. This legislation, he said, demonstrates that it's possible to put partisan politics aside and deliver on the expectations of American voters.

 

The AAR also welcomed a measure in the surface transportation legislation to streamline the environmental permitting process for rail infrastructure projects based on previously enacted reforms for highway and transit projects. The reforms are designed to increase capacity, improve safety, hire new employees and provide efficient service to rail customers.

 

"America's freight rail industry is pleased with the commonsense reforms intended to address duplicative and burdensome permitting delays, unrelated to environmental quality," said Hamberger. 

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#8 CNJRoss

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Posted 03 December 2015 - 03:44 PM

Progressive Railroading, 12/2:

 
FAST Act strengthens rail safety, includes rail title for Amtrak

A congressional conference committee yesterday completed work on a five-year surface transportation bill that would strengthen tank-car safety standards, increase funding for transit and create a rail title that authorizes funding for Amtrak and intercity passenger-rail grants.

The Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (H.R. 22) would fully fund a five-year $281 billion authorization for public transportation and highway programs.

"A safe, efficient surface transportation network is fundamentally necessary to our quality of life and our economy, and this conference report provides long-term certainty for states and local governments, and good reforms and improvements to the programs that sustain our roads, bridges, transit, and passenger rail system," committee leaders said in a prepared statement issued by U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), who chaired the conference committee.

 

 

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#9 CNJRoss

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Posted 05 December 2015 - 08:02 AM

USDOT Fastlane blog, 12/4:

 

President Obama signs FAST Act, first long-term Transportation Bill in a decade
Posted by Anthony Foxx

 

My career in public service has taught me that transportation is something we absolutely must do together. When I was the mayor of Charlotte, I made investments in transportation the center of the Queen City’s job creation and economic recovery, and the U.S. Department of Transportation played a critical role in helping us move forward.

 

So when President Obama asked me to serve in this position, I was both humbled and thrilled because I knew that the work of USDOT really matters. But I also knew, although we had been able to break ground on some ambitious projects in Charlotte, the larger reality was that projects were being canceled or delayed all over the country. The traditionally strong funding support authorized by the U.S. Congress was in fact at an all-time low. On my first day at USDOT, it had been more than eight years since Congress had passed a long-term surface transportation bill, and my efforts to push hard for a long term bill began immediately.

 

With-President-Obama-at-MetroTransit-sho

 

President Obama had been supportive of investing in first-class infrastructure and on Capitol Hill there was actually strong bipartisan support. But the message we kept hearing was, “let’s do this later.” I worked with my team to develop a campaign to turn the corner from “impossible” to “inevitable.”

 

So we scheduled hundreds of Congressional meetings. We went on two bus tours and I met with leaders in 43 states to galvanize support. The President and I even twice submitted our own surface transportation bill proposal, the GROW AMERICA Act, to give Congress a clear sense of the certainty, funding levels, and policies we need in the 21st century.

 

Today we finally broke through. President Obama signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act into law, marking the first long-term transportation bill passed by Congress in 10 years.

 

SAM_0462.JPG

 

The good news is that the long winter of uncertainty for state DOTs has come to an end. The FAST Act also takes the important step of increasing funding. Under the Act funding will go up by roughly 11 percent over five years. This is a down-payment for building a 21st century transportation system, though it is still far short of the amount needed to reduce congestion on our roads and meet the increasing demands on our transportation systems. The GROW AMERICA Act, in comparison, increases funding by 45 percent.

 

On the policy front, the FAST Act aligns with many of the policy reforms we proposed in GROW AMERICA. Going forward we will be able to speed up project delivery; for the time ever USDOT will have dedicated funding to make targeted investments to eliminate freight bottlenecks that slow down our economy; and we will be able to do more innovative infrastructure financing, building on the recent launch of our Build American Transportation Investment Center.

 

On safety, the FAST Act again incorporates many of our proposals. Rental car companies will be prohibited from renting vehicles that are subject to safety recalls. The maximum civil penalty we can assess against auto manufacturers for jeopardizing public safety has more than tripled. Congress also provided critical funding we asked for to enable commuter railroads to install safety technology known as Positive Train Control that could have prevented recent accidents. That said, we also know the bill took a number of steps backward in terms of USDOT’s ability to share data with the public and our ability to exercise aggressive oversight over our regulated industries.

 

I thank the President for supporting the Department's efforts to help Congress get a bill across the goal line. I thank Congress for the demonstration of bipartisanship it took to pass this legislation and for adopting some important provisions from the GROW AMERICA Act. And I want to thank the many stakeholder organizations and everyday citizens who never let up in their calls for action.

 

After 36 short-term extensions, it has no doubt been a long and bumpy ride to a long-term transportation bill. We did not get everything we asked for, but we’ve made it. And while the FAST Act is not perfect, it reflects the bipartisan compromise I always knew was possible. We should celebrate this milestone, but members of Congress should also understand that more needs to be done and should strive to pass a bill like the GROW AMERICA Act.



#10 CNJRoss

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Posted 10 December 2015 - 07:15 AM

The New York Times, 12/7:

 

Federal Transportation Bill Is a Boon for the New Hudson Rail Tunnel, Officials Say

 

Near the site where a new rail tunnel could one day run under the Hudson River, officials said on Monday that a recently passed federal transportation bill would make it easier to secure funding for the long-awaited project.

 

The transportation bill approved by Congress last week had several measures that would benefit the project, including one allowing profits from Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor to be reinvested in plans like the new tunnel, officials said. Instead of using the funds on less profitable routes, Amtrak could now spend the money on projects along the popular corridor running from Washington to Boston.

 

“We worked hard to get it in,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said of the funding changes, “and now it means the new tunnel under the Hudson, from the federal side, has a green, green light.”

 

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