Conference report on h. R. 3, Safe, accountable, flexible, efficient transportation equity act: a legacy for users

   House Bill

   No comparable provision in Senate bill.

   Senate Bill

   Sec. 1401.

   As part of the Highway Safety Improvement Program, $23,465,723 is authorized for projects to improve traffic signs and pavement markings in a manner consistent with the recommendations included in the publication of the Federal Highway Administration entitled ``Guidelines and Recommendations to Accommodate Older Drivers and Pedestrians (FHWA-RD-01-103)''.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference adopts the Senate provision with a modification to authorize such sums as necessary for the eligible projects.

   SEC. 1406. SAFETY INCENTIVE GRANTS FOR USE OF SEAT BELTS

   House Bill

   Sec. 1405.

   This section authorizes $112,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 and 2005 for grants to States that have met certain requirements with regards to seatbelts.

   Senate Bill

   No comparable provision in Senate bill.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference adopts the House provision.

   SEC. 1407. SAFETY INCENTIVES TO PREVENT OPERATION OF MOTOR VEHICLES BY INTOXICATED PERSONS

   House Bill

   Sec. 1406.

   Subsection (a) codifies the penalty against States for not enacting and enforcing a 0.08 drunk driving law. This penalty was originally enacted in the 2001 DOT appropriations bill.

   Subsection (b) authorizes $110,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 and 2005 for grants to States that have enacted 0.08 laws.

   Subsection (c) repeals the appropriations language that enacted the penalty in 2001.

   Senate Bill

   No comparable provision in Senate bill.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference adopts the House provision.

   SEC. 1408. IMPROVEMENT OR REPLACEMENT OF HIGHWAY FEATURES ON NATIONAL HIGHWAY SYSTEM

   House Bill

   Sec. 1408.

   This section instructs the Secretary to conduct a rulemaking to determine the standards to which a State should replace or repair damaged highway features after they have been damaged.

   Senate Bill

   No comparable provision in Senate bill.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference adopts the House provision with modifications. The Secretary is required to issue guidance when choosing to improve or replace highway features on the NHS in lieu of a rulemaking. The conferees deleted the word ``repair'' that was in the House provision. Only planned capital projects to ``replace'' or ``improve'' NHS features are covered by the conference provision.

   SEC. 1409. WORK ZONE SAFETY GRANTS

   House Bill

   Sec. 1809.

   This section directs the Secretary to establish a work zone safety grant program to provide training to prevent or reduce highway work zone injuries and fatalities.

   Senate Bill

   No comparable provision in Senate bill.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference agrees to adopt the House provision with a modification to subsection (d) Construction Work in Alaska.

   SEC. 1410. NATIONAL WORK ZONE SAFETY INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE

   House Bill

   Sec. 1823.

   This section provides grants to establish and operate a National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse.

   Senate Bill

   No comparable provision in Senate bill.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference adopts the House provision.

   SEC. 1411. ROADWAY SAFETY

   House Bill

   Sec. 1125.

   Subsection (a) directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with an organization to develop a public service campaign to educate transportation officials, public safety officials, and motorists regarding the extent to which road hazards and design features are a factor in motor vehicle crashes.

   Subsection (b) directs the Secretary to make grants to an organization to operate a national bicycle and pedestrian clearinghouse, to disseminate techniques and strategies for improving bicycle and pedestrian safety, and to develop information and educational programs related to pedestrian activities and cycling.

   Senate Bill

   Sec. 1607.

   This section makes minor amendments to section 217 of Title 23.

   These changes explicitly allow the use of STP and CMAQ funds for non-construction pedestrian safety programs whereby current law only mentions bicycle safety. It also explicitly mentions pedestrian use on bridges, whereby current law only mentions bicycle use.

   The current practice of charging user fees for shared-use paths is now explicitly allowed. The fees collected by a State must be used for maintenance and operation of shared use paths within the State. This provision restricts the application of a user fee to shared-use paths not within a highway right-of-way and prohibits extension of user fees to sidewalks or bicycle lanes.

   In order to address concerns regarding bicycle and pedestrian safety, the national bicycle and pedestrian clearinghouse first authorized in section 1212(i) of TEA-21 is reauthorized. A new subsection (i) provides funding and contract authority for these safety efforts for fiscal years 2004 through 2009.

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   This section also provides that the bicycle and safety grants are to be funded by a set-aside from the Surface Transportation Program.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference adopts the House provision.

   SEC. 1412. IDLING REDUCTION FACILITIES IN INTERSTATE RIGHTS-OF-WAY

   House Bill

   Sec. 1828.

   This section includes a definition for Advanced Truck Stop Electrification Systems in Title 23 and clarifies that such systems are eligible under CMAQ.

   Senate Bill

   Sec. 1608.

   This section creates an exception to the prohibition of the placement of commercial establishments in rest and recreation areas, and in safety rest areas, constructed or located on rights-of-way of the Interstate System.

   The purpose of this exception allows States (either directly or through contracts) to place electrification or other idling reduction facilities in rest areas that can be used to provide heating, air conditioning, electricity, and communication to motor vehicles used for commercial purposes. Through these facilities, operators of such motor vehicles are able to receive these services without turning on their engines, thereby reducing vehicle emissions. States, other public agencies, and private entities that are already allowed to operate on the Interstate System, may charge for the services provided under this authority.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference adopted both the House and Senate provision with modifications.

   Subtitle E--Construction and Contract Efficiency

   SEC. 1501. PROGRAM EFFICIENCIES

   House Bill

   No comparable provision in House bill.

   Senate Bill

   Sec. 1804.

   This section amends 23 U.S.C. 115, Advance construction, and 23 U.S.C. 118, Availability of funds.

   Section 115 is amended to remove the restriction that a State must obligate all of its allocated or apportioned funds, or demonstrate that it will use all obligation authority allocated to it for Federal-aid highways and highway safety construction prior to approval of advance construction projects.

   The revisions clarify that advance construction procedures can be used for all categories of Federal-aid highway funds and that when a project is converted to a regular Federal-aid project, any available Federal-aid funds may be used to convert the project.

   This section further modifies section 115 to remove the requirement that the Secretary must first approve an application of the State prior to authorizing the payment of the Federal share of the cost of the project when additional funds are later apportioned or allocated to the State. The new provision allows the Secretary to obligate the Federal share or a portion of the Federal share of cost of the project by executing a project agreement.

   Section 118 of Title 23, is amended to clarify the method used by FHWA to account for Federal-aid funds and determine amounts subject to lapse. This revision results in no change to current practice but simplifies the language to reduce ambiguity.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference adopts the Senate provision.

   SEC. 1502. HIGHWAYS FOR LIFE PILOT PROGRAM

   House Bill

   Sec. 1504.

   The Committee intends with this pilot program to incentivize the use of innovative technologies and practices in the construction of highways and bridges. The Committee expects that safe, efficient highways and bridges can be built faster, and with greater durability, if innovative practices and technologies are utilized. This pilot authorizes the Secretary to allocate funds for projects deemed to satisfy the requirements of the project. The selection criteria are designed to identify projects that employ material and technique innovations which will produce more quickly constructed, longer lasting, high-quality and cost-effective projects.

   Senate Bill

   No comparable provision in Senate bill.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference agrees to accept the House provision with a modification to allow 15 projects at the most each fiscal year.

   SEC. 1503. DESIGN-BUILD

   House Bill

   Sec. 1501.

   Subsection (a) amends section 112 of title 23 with the intent of clarifying and improving the design-build authority provided. During the rulemaking process for the design-build regulation required by section 1307 of TEA 21, which also amended 23 U.S.C. 112, FHWA received several comments regarding the restrictive nature of the ``qualified project'' definition with respect to the project cost threshold. Approximately 85 percent of the design-build projects that have been evaluated under the FHWA experimental contracting program (Special Experimental Project No. 14 (SEP-14--Innovative Contracting) are too small to meet the definition of ``qualified project.'' Based on the Haw's experience with design-build projects under SEP-14, there is no need to limit design-build projects to those costing more than $5 million in the case of a project that involves installation of an intelligent transportation system and to those costing more than $50 million in the case of any other project.

   Subsection (b) similarly amends section 112 of title 23 making clear the parameters of the authority for the use of project evaluation criteria. The subsection also makes clear that this amendment does not disturb any other authority that the Secretary has under current law or that is being carried out by the Secretary as of the date of enactment.

   Senate Bill

   Sec. 1803.

   This section amends section 112(b)(3) of title 23, to include intermodal facilities in the definition of qualified projects.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference adopts the Senate provision. The Conferees intend that the Secretary's required concurrence is based in part on a determination that activities a state of local transportation agency plans to undertake will not influence the environmental review of those activities under NEPA.

   Subtitle F--Finance

   SEC. 1601. TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE AND INNOVATION ACT AMENDMENTS

   House Bill

   Sec. 1601.

   This section makes programmatic changes to the TIFIA program.

   Subsection (a) makes technical changes to the definitions in Section 181 of title 23.

   Subsection (b) amends section 182 of title 23 to clarify the requirements regarding statewide and metropolitan planning. This subsection also decreases the minimum eligible project costs to $50,000,000 and to $15,000,000 for ITS projects.

   Subsection (c) makes technical changes to the project selection process in section 182 of title 23.

   Subsection (d) makes technical changes to section 183 of Title 23. The change to section 183(a)(4) codifies a DOT regulation that requires the project's senior obligations to receive an investment-grade rating in order to execute a secured loan agreement. The change to section 183(b)(2) ensures that the amount of the TIFIA credit instrument may not exceed that of the senior project obligations. The elimination of section 183(c)(3) deletes the description of sources of repayment funds because the subject is already covered in section 183(b)(3).

   Subsection (e)(1) makes changes to section 184(b)(3) to ease the restrictions on funding draws on a line of credit in order to help a borrower avoid a payment default. The changes to section 184(b)(4) conform the interest rate setting mechanism for the line of credit with that for secured loans. The change to section 184(b)(5) has the same purpose as the changes to sections 183(b)(3) and 182(a)(4).

   Subsection (e)(2) makes changes to Section 184(c) to clarify language regarding the scheduling of principal and interest repayments. The elimination of section 184(c)(3) deletes the description of sources of repayment funds because the subject is already covered in section 184(b)(5)(A)(i).

   The changes to sections 185(a), 185(b), and 185(c) in subsection (f) clarify that the Secretary may establish fees to cover the cost of servicing TIFIA credit instruments. The change to section 185(d) clarifies that the program may retain outside counsel to assist in the underwriting and servicing of TIFIA credit instruments.

   Subsection (g) sets the funding levels for the TIFIA program, including administrative expenses and limitations on credit amounts.

   Senate Bill

   Sec. 1303.

   This section makes amendments to the TIFIA program under sections 181 through 189 of title 23.

   The change to section 181(8)(D), as redesignated, expands the definition of freight-related projects eligible for TIFIA assistance. The provision also allows for a group of such related projects to be eligible, each of which individually might not meet the threshold requirements to apply for TIFIA credit assistance.

   The change to section 182(a)(1) clarifies the provision regarding statewide and metropolitan planning requirements. The existing provision contained language that could be misinterpreted to constrain TIFIA assistance in the case of a project with a construction timetable that extended beyond the typical three-year approved State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

   The changes to section 182(a)(3) lowers the threshold cost for eligible projects to $50 million, and also allows to be eligible projects that are equal to or exceed 20 percent of the Federal highway funds apportioned to that State in the most recently completed fiscal year.

   The change to section 183(a)(4) codifies current regulation requiring a project's senior obligations to receive an investment-grade rating in order to execute a secured loan agreement.

   The changes to section 184(b)(4) conform the interest rate setting mechanism for the

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line of credit with that for secured loans. This change allows the Department to execute both agreements on the same date at the same interest rate if a borrower utilizes both a secured loan and a line of credit for the same project.

   Section 188(a)(2) allows all collected fees to be available to the Secretary without further appropriation to carry out this section.

   Section 188(a)(3) maintains the limit on administrative costs.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference agrees to adopt provisions from both the House and Senate. This section makes programmatic changes to the TIFIA program. Subsection (a) makes technical changes to the definitions in Section 181 of title 23.

   The conferees eliminated section 181(7) to reflect the Department's decision not to use local servicers to perform the enumerated duties on behalf of the Secretary. Conferees also believe that ongoing servicing of TIFIA loans should be managed by a single entity as it has done so to date.

   These provisions also expand the definition of freight-related projects eligible for TIFIA assistance to allow private rail facilities that serve a public benefit for highway users. The provision also makes eligible a group of such related projects, each of which separately might not meet the threshold requirements, to apply for TIFIA assistance.

   Subsection (b) amends Section 182 of title 23 to clarify the requirements regarding statewide and metropolitan planning. This subsection also decreases the minimum eligible project costs to from $100 million to $50 million, $50,000,000 and to $15,000,000 for ITS projects, and changes clause (ii) by striking 50 and inserting 33.3 to ensure that smaller states have the opportunity to benefit from this program as well.

   Subsection (d) makes technical changes to Section 183 of Title 23. The change to section 183(a)(4) codifies a DOT regulation that requires the project's senior obligations to receive an investment-grade rating in order to execute a secured loan agreement. The change to section 183(b)(2) ensures that the amount of the TIFIA credit instrument may not exceed that of the senior project obligations. The elimination of section 183(c)(3) deletes the description of sources of repayment funds because the subject is already covered in section 183(b)(3). It was the intent of the conference to allow agreements to refinance long-term project obligations or Federal credit instruments, if such refinancing provides additional funding capacity for the completion enhancement or expansion of any project selected under section 602 or that otherwise meets the requirements of section 602.

   The changes to section 184(b) conform the interest rate setting mechanism for the line of credit with that for secured loans. This change allows the Department to execute both agreements on the same date at the same interest rate if a borrower utilizes both a secured loan and a line of credit for the same project. The changes to this section also eliminate the 20% cap on what a borrower can draw. It is the conference's understanding that the line of credit tool has not been widely used and the elimination of this cap could incentivize this credit instrument.

   The changes in section 185 clarify that the Secretary may establish, collect and spend fees to cover the cost of servicing TIFIA credit instruments. This section also clarifies that the program may retain outside counsel to assist in the underwriting and servicing of TIFIA credit instruments.

   Sections 181-189 are redesignated to 601-609.

   SEC. 1602. STATE INFRASTRUCTURE BANKS

   House Bill

   Sec. 1602.

   Subsection (a) of this section codifies a state infrastructure bank (SIB) program in Section 189 of title 23.

   Subsection (a) of section 189 provides definitions for the SIB program. Subsection (b) permits the Secretary to enter into a cooperative agreement with a State for the establishment of a SIB. Subsection (c) allows two or more States to enter into a cooperative agreement with the Secretary to establish a multi-state SIB. Subsection (d) establishes funding requirements for SIBs, restricting the amount of federal funding that a State can deposit in their highway, transit, and rail SIB accounts. Subsection (e) establishes the forms of assistance that a SIB can offer. Subsection (f) describes the eligible projects that are allowed to be funded by the SIB.

   Subsection (g) establishes the requirements that a State must adhere to when establishing a SIB. Subsection (h) speaks to the applicability of Federal law in the SIBs program. Subsection (i) states that the United States is not obligated by any commitment made by a state SIB. Subsection (k) limits the amount of federal funds that can be used to administer the state SIB to 2 percent of the federal funds contributed to the SIB.

   Subsection (b), (c), (d), and (e) of Section 1602 establishes a new chapter 6 in title 23 for infrastructure finance.

   Senate Bill

   Sec. 1306.

   This section amends 1511(b)(1)(A) of TEA-21, which named the following States: Missouri, Rhode Island, California, and Florida. This change extends the program to any State that seeks to establish a State infrastructure bank.

   This bill reauthorizes the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) program under which all States are authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with the Secretary to set up infrastructure revolving funds eligible to be capitalized with Federal transportation funds authorized for the FY 2005-2009 period.

   The SIB program gives States the capacity to increase the efficiency of their transportation investment and significantly leverage Federal resources by attracting non-Federal public and private investment. The program provides greater flexibility to the States by allowing other types of project assistance in addition to the traditional reimbursable grant.

   SIBs provide various forms of non-grant assistance to eligible projects, including at or below-market rate subordinate loans, interest rate buy-downs on third party loans, and guarantees and other forms of credit enhancement. Any debt that the SIB issues or guarantees must be of investment grade caliber.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference adopts the House provision.

   SEC. 1603. USE OF EXCESS FUNDS AND FUNDS FOR INACTIVE PROJECTS

   House Bill

   Sec. 1106.

   This section allows states to audit projects funded with apportionments under sections 104 and 144 of title 23 to determine whether there are excess project funds. If the audit reveals that there are excess funds, the state may develop a plan for spending the apportionment for the design or construction of other similar eligible projects. The state must certify to the Secretary that an audit was conducted and has developed a plan. Excess funds used to carry out a project under this section are subject to the requirements of this title that are applicable to the program for which the funds were originally apportioned.

   Senate Bill

   Sec. 1106.

   This provision allows States to convert demonstration projects that were designated prior to 1998 to the Surface Transportation Program (STP). This section also requires States to certify to the Secretary that inactive funds will not be used in order to reobligate them under STP.

   Conference Substitute

   The Conference adopts the Senate provision with modifications. States can convert demonstration projects that were designated prior to 1991 in public law or a report accompanying public law and reprogram them under STP. States can also convert funds from projects that have no expenditures during any 1-year period or if a State certifies that a project is unlikely to be advanced, it can be converted to STP.

   The Secretary is required to submit to the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report on what each state has reprogrammed.