House Preps Highway Bill After 35th Funding Patch

A multiyear highway bill that would jump-start the process for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to reform its program that scores motor carriers on safety performance is likely to reach the House floor as early as this week.

It would happen a week after Congress agreed to keep federal highway programs funded through Nov. 20. Transportation leaders said the 35th short-term extension since 2009, signed into law Oct. 29, was a way to give the House and Senate extra time to reach consensus on highway safety provisions and a funding structure for a multiyear highway bill.

The highway bill was passed unanimously by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Oct. 22. It would authorize $325 billion over the next six years for transportation programs but lacks a source of funding.

House Republicans said they will meet Nov. 2 on the bill and have suggested relying on funding proposals included in a six-year highway bill the Senate passed in July. The Senate bill has a three-year funding structure that is backed partly by selling barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and reducing dividends that the Federal Reserve pays to large banks.

Like the House bill, the Senate version would look to reform FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.

Trucking leaders, including American Trucking Associations Chairman Pat Thomas, expressed optimism about the House’s efforts.

“ATA is pleased the House and Senate have passed a short-term extension of the highway bill, and we sincerely hope that newly elected Speaker [Paul] Ryan will lead the House to passing a long-term bill quickly so we can move a package to the president this year,” Thomas, also UPS Inc.’s senior vice president of state government affairs, told Transport Topics on Oct. 29.

Last week, the House elected Ryan (R-Wis.) to the speakership. Before doing so, Congress cleared for President Obama the short-term highway funding patch, which he signed.

Added ATA President Bill Graves: “We’re pleased the ... bill clamps down on the expansion of tolling and establishes a dedicated freight fund — two positive steps not just for trucking but for consumers, shippers and the economy.”

That short-term measure included a provision that pushes until 2018 the deadline for when railroads would have to implement the positive train control automated stopping technology. The original PTC deadline was Dec. 31.

Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said he expects to finalize a multiyear highway bill before the Thanksgiving break. Shuster’s Senate counterpart, James Inhofe (R-Okla.), echoed Shuster’s sentiment.

The House bill includes a mandate that the Federal Highway Administration tap the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on the performance of bridges at least 15 years old that received funding under the innovative bridge research and construction program.

The bill also would expand opportunities for veterans, mandate a study of commercial driver license skills testing wait times and require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study assessing the readiness of the Department of Transportation to address autonomous vehicle technology challenges.

Moving forward, Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.), a T&I member, said he will seek support from colleagues to include in the highway bill his proposal to allow weight limits for trucks to increase from 80,000 pounds, the standard weight limit for interstate highways, to 91,000 pounds.

Other lawmakers, including Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio), said they plan to push ahead with efforts to authorize additional money for roads and transit programs.

Concerns over funding levels for infrastructure programs were expressed by several Democrats during the T&I committee’s consideration of the bill Oct. 22.

“Obviously, I want higher funding levels, and that will continue to be a work in progress,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), T&I’s ranking member. Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) called for adding $118 billion to the bill’s funding authorization.

“The bottom line on this is that we are grossly underinvesting in America’s infrastructure,” Garamendi said. “Why in the world in the face of extraordinary need that we have to build and invest in our infrastructure would we simply continue a level of funding that is giving us [infrastructure grades of] C’s, C-minuses and D’s and creating an extraordinary brake on the American economy?”

Staff Reporter David Elfin contributed to this article.