Senate Commerce Panel Schedules Highway Bill Hearing June 3

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee plans to meet June 3 to consider a $265 billion transportation policy bill that was approved by another committee on May 15.

The panel has jurisdiction over the bill, which would authorize highway safety programs and other provisions that directly impact the trucking industry between fiscal 2015 and 2020.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the bill by a voice vote. The bill would reauthorize federal programs in a 2012 highway law that expires at the end of September and would authorize a new freight program at $400 million for fiscal 2016 that eventually reaches $2 billion annually by fiscal 2020.

It also would authorize $400 million annually for grants for infrastructure projects of regional or national relevance, similar to the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program.

The bill’s writers left it up to their colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee to approve a long-term funding source for a depleting federal Highway Trust Fund account. Trucking groups and various freight industry stakeholders have called on lawmakers to raise the national tax on gasoline and diesel fuel as a way to boost the trust fund.