House Panel OKs 6-Year Road Bill; Funding Sources Still Unidentified

WASHINGTON — The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Oct. 22 approved and forwarded to the full House a six-year highway bill that included provisions requiring improvements to the controversial federal Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.

Overall, the $325 billion measure authorizes $261 billion for infrastructure and road-building programs and $55 billion for transit systems, with the rest dedicated for truck and bus safety grants and operations, according to committee aides.

Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said that, if passed, his bill would require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to make “corrective actions” to the CSA program that scores motor carriers for their safety.

The bill also would authorize the use of hair testing for new-driver drug screening, require FMCSA to establish a pilot program for potential truck drivers to get behind the wheel as young as 19½ years old, review all of the agency’s regulations every five years and collect data on delays drivers face at loading docks.

“The provisions in this bill improve our nation’s infrastructure, reform our surface transportation programs . . . maintain a strong commitment to safety, provide greater flexibility for states and local governments to address their needs, streamline the federal bureaucracy and accelerate project delivery and facilitate the flow of freight and commerce,” Shuster said.

Three days before the hearing, Shuster spoke at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition in Philadelphia and told trucking executives that he expected the bill, once approved by his committee, to quickly move to the full House.

A funding structure for the bill, however, remains unclear. The House Ways and Means Committee is responsible for financing highway bills, but the committee’s chairman, Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), declared on Oct. 22 his candidacy for speaker of the House. A vote for speaker is scheduled for Oct. 29.

Senators, including California’s Barbara Boxer, the ranking Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, continue to ask Shuster to get his bill to the floor. Notwithstanding the House’s markup, a short-term funding extension for highway programs is imminent since the Highway Trust Fund’s authorization expires Oct. 29.

Shuster also addressed differences with a Senate version of the long-term bill that passed in July. Unlike the House bill, the Senate’s bill would authorize the transportation secretary to establish a six-year pilot program giving states authority to allow drivers between 18 and 21 to operate in interstate commerce.

Shuster said in an exclusive interview with Transport Topics after his speech in Philadelphia that the fact that he and Senate EPW Committee Chairman James Inhofe are probably on the same page on 95% means that it likely will be a short House-Senate conference. “I think we’ll probably be able to get it done and on the president’s desk by the end of the year,” Shuster said.

He issued a challenge to ATA and other stakeholders to think beyond the current legislation.

“We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to fund it into the future … because if we don’t, four years, five years from now when we’re getting ready to do the next highway bill, we’re going to have the same fight,” he said.

Shuster named such funding alternatives as a fuel-tax increase, pay-by-mile programs and tolling.

The CSA measure calls for the National Research Council to conduct a study of CSA and its Safety Measurement System methodology and identify areas where CSA needs to be improved. Upon the bill’s enactment, certain CSA data would no longer be made public until DOT’s inspector general conducts a review.

During the five-hour hearing Oct. 22, the panel also approved an amendment offered by Shuster that would add a mandate for a performance study of bridges that are at least 15 years old, expand trucking opportunities for veterans and mandate a study of commercial driver license skills testing wait times.

In addition, the legislation would establish a National Surface Transportation and Innovative Finance Bureau within the U.S. Department of Transportation, streamline the environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure projects and encourage the installation of vehicle-to-infrastructure equipment.

Also included in the bill is a requirement for FMCSA to explain to Congress the reasons for regulatory delays in implementing a driver drug-and-alcohol clearinghouse rule, electronic logging device rule and standards for entry-level drivers.

The House panel also approved language that would mandate that the Government Accountability Office assess policy on autonomous transportation vehicle technology developed by public U.S. entities such as research institutions.

Proposals to raise size-and-weight limits nationwide for trucks are expected to come up when the bill reaches the floor.

With assurance from Shuster that a broader measure would be explored, several committee members withdrew amendments to ensure that existing overweight permits be allowed to stay in effect on newly designated interstates in their states.

When the House bill reaches the floor, Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) will look to attach a proposal that would increase weight limits for trucks from 80,000 pounds — the standard weight limit for interstate highways — to 91,000 pounds.

Ribble’s proposal, which he didn’t offer at the Oct. 22 markup, lacks strong bipartisan support and is opposed by the Truckload Carriers Association.

Staff reporter Eugene Mulero contributed to this report.