Senate Panel Unanimously Approves New Six-Year Highway Policy Bill

WASHINGTON — A Senate panel unanimously approved a six-year highway policy bill that boosts freight programs and would increase funding for infrastructure projects.

The measure, voted on June 24, moves to the full Senate, where lawmakers would need to act quickly. Federal funding authority for transportation programs expires July 31.

The “Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy” Act, or DRIVE, amended to reflect technical changes, would increase funding levels from a 2012 transportation law at an average of 3% annually. According to senior aides, that would come to about $278 billion for highway and infrastructure programs.

The bill was unanimously passed by the 20-member Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees the highway portion of the surface transportation policy bill that typically has included guidelines for transit programs.

“In order to repair deficient bridges, eliminate waste and reduce congestion, Congress must act now  and pass a long-term surface infrastructure solution,” EPW Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said. “Beyond solving existing problems, a long-term bill will pave the way for the next 50 years of American excellence in infrastructure.”

Specifically, the bill would add $2 billion to expand freight programs relevant to the trucking industry, accelerate project delivery by minimizing environmental impact reviews and allow states to designate certain public roads as critical rural freight corridors.

The bill also would boost funding authority to maintain and repair bridges. It includes language that would allow states to more easily seek approval from the Department of Transportation to expand tolls on existing corridors, and it would allow the secretary of transportation to establish and implement a toll credit marketplace pilot program.

The pilot, which would consist of not more than 10 states, would be used to identify whether a monetary value can be assigned to toll credits and to determine whether the purchase of toll credits provides flexibility in dealing with funding issues.

Meanwhile, other committees with jurisdiction over transportation policy have yet to announce when they intend to mark up portions of the bill, and Senate Republican leaders who manage the floor’s activities have not indicated when the bill would be called up.

EPW ranking Democrat, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, expressed optimism that Republican leaders in both chambers would act on a multiyear highway measure. She told colleagues during the markup that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had told her he supported such a long-term plan.

“Overwhelming bipartisan support for this bill will serve as a signal that we are serious about getting this done, and I hope that the momentum created by our action here today will encourage the other committees in the House and Senate to move quickly to act,” Boxer said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), whose panel has jurisdiction over the Highway Trust Fund, indicated he is searching for a way to fund a long-term bill. But tax policy leaders in the House, led by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), have stressed the strong likelihood Congress will opt to advance an extension of highway funding authority through the end of the year. Ryan’s Ways and Means panel has jurisdiction over the trust fund.

The trust fund is used to back many highway and transit projects. Its funding authority expires July 31.

The reaction to the bill’s passage was predominantly favorable among key transportation groups. Sean McNally, American Trucking Associations’ vice president of communications, said the federation supports the bill’s increased funding as well as “its increased focus on highway freight bottlenecks.”

Robert Stevens, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, also praised the bill: “The DRIVE Act achieves many of the goals that we as civil engineers believe must be addressed in the next surface transportation reauthorization and accomplishes these goals in a bipartisan fashion.”