Meetings Recap and Copies of Presentations

During our meeting on Saturday, February 20, the committee focused on topics including the use and regulation of unmanned aircraft systems (drones), rail safety, autonomous vehicles and connected transportation infrastructure, and highway safety. During our meeting on Sunday, February 21, the committee reviewed the FAST Act and its implementation, as well as FAA reauthorization.

Presentations include:

 

 

Additional Information from FHWA

In addition to the presentation included above, FHWA’s Mike Griffith has provided the following information to build on our discussion at the conference:

 TIGER grant funding

For those of you who may have missed Secretary Foxx’s announcement, he indicated at NACo’s Legislative Conference that $500 million will be made available for the Department’s 2016 TIGER grants. Like the first seven rounds, 2016 TIGER discretionary grants will fund capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure and will be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant impact on the nation, a metropolitan area, or a region. This program has enabled us to support significant infrastructure improvement over the past seven years. Since 2009, DOT’s TIGER has provided nearly $4.6 billion to 381 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico –including 134 projects to support rural and tribal communities. TIGER grants also help project sponsors leverage private sector, state, local, MPO, transit agency, and port authority investment. Please note local and tribal communities can apply directly to this program.

More information about TIGER grants can be found at https://www.transportation.gov/tiger  And, you may also contact Howard Hill of U.S. DOT at (202) 366-0301 if you have questions.

 

Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Grants

Reference was made to these AID Demonstration Grants during my presentation. Information about these grants can be found here: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/grants/

Please note the following entities are eligible to apply for the AID Demonstration funding through Grants.gov:

  • State DOTs
    • Metropolitan planning organizations and local governments may apply through State DOTs as sub recipients.
  • Federal Land Management Agencies
  • Tribal governments
    • Consistent with other Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funding provided to tribes, federally recognized tribes identified on the list of “Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs” (published at 77 FR 47868) are eligible to apply.

Links to Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) reports

Some questions were raised about the amount of HSIP funding that goes to local agencies. The HSIP reports from the States can be found at: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/hsip/reports/

Success stories on how counties have spent federal funds on local roads

There was interest expressed in learning about success stories on how counties have spent federal funds on local roads. The documents below touch on elements related to local road safety funding, training, and technical assistance.

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/hsip/resources/synthesisLRS.pdf

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/training/fhwasa13029/

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/training/fhwasa10027/

 

FHWA’s Local and rural roads program

A number of resources are available through FHWA’s Local and rural roads program including: training, tools, guidance, and countermeasures for local practitioners. Information can be found at: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/


Freight Funding

The Department’s Draft National Freight Strategic Plan, released in October 2015, further explores these challenges and identifies strategies to address the bottlenecks that impede the flow of goods throughout the nation.

Now, for the first time in DOT’s 50-year history, Congress has provided dedicated, multiyear funding for freight infrastructure.

And last week –as authorized by the FAST Act– the Department has published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) requesting applications for the new Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies (FASTLANE) grants, as authorized by the Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects (NSFHP) program. The FAST Act funds the NSFHP at $4.5 billion for fiscal years 2016 through 2020, including $800 million for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016.

We’re prepared to fund promising freight projects that meet the statutory requirements as quickly as possible. Specifically, we’re looking for transformative nationally or regionally significant highway, rail, port, and intermodal freight projects with project size in excess of $100 million. We will also reserve ten percent of funds for small projects with a lower project size and 25 percent of funds for rural projects, regardless of project size.   Large projects will receive a minimum of $25 million and small projects will receive a minimum of $5 million.

 

Applications for FY 2016 FASTLANE grants are due on April 14, 2016.  For more information, including a schedule of webinars on the program, please visitwww.transportation.gov/FASTLANEgrants. The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is available here.

Update on FAA Reauthorization

One of our main focuses during the conference was FAA Reauthorization and Congress’ consideration of privatizing the air traffic control system and the regulation of drones. Since we last met, there have been a number of developments on Capitol Hill regarding the reauthorization process and these policy issues.

Yesterday, members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee introduced a two-year, $33.1 billion aviation reauthorization bill. The Senate bill (S. 2658) contrasts with the House’s six-year authorization bill (H.R. 4441) in a number of ways. In addition to providing a shorter authorization, the bill does not propose removing air traffic control responsibilities from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – one of the most controversial proposals included in the bill advanced by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last month. Instead, the Senate bill proposes improvements to the current air traffic control system and the implementation of NextGen technology.

Key programs for counties addressed in the bill include:

  • The Airport Improvement Program (AIP)—AIP is an important program for counties that own or have airports within their boundaries – that provides grants to public agencies for the planning and development of public-use airports. The Senate bill would increase funding for AIP by $400 million to an annual amount of $3.75 billion, which exceeds the average annual amount provided by the House bill of $3.6 billion.
  • The Essential Air Service (EAS) program—EAS provides subsidies for air service to small and remote airports. Under the Senate’s bill, the EAS program would be reauthorized for FY 2016 and FY 2017 at current funding levels. While the House bill authorized increasing levels of funding for EAS over the lifetime of the bill, reforms to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund tied to the privatization of the air traffic control system would make the program completely dependent on discretionary appropriations. Currently, Congress funds the EAS program through a combination of discretionary appropriations and overflight fees, providing in $155 million in FY 2015 in discretionary funding and $108 million in overflight fees. The Senate’s bill would continue this approach for FY 2016 and FY 2017.
  • The Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP)—SCASDP is a grant program designed to help small communities, such as small rural counties, address air service and airfare issues. While seemingly similar in mission, the SCASDP and EAS programs are separate and unique.  SCASDP’s eligibility criteria are broader and provide a grant applicant the opportunity to self-identify its air service deficiencies and propose an appropriate solution, while EAS is a direct subsidy to air carriers and serves a limited universe of eligible applicants.  The Senate bill would provide $10 million for SCASDP annually, a significant increase from $6 million authorized by Congress through the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 and the $5 million annual authorization proposed in the House bill.

 

The Senate bill also provides robust reforms for the use and regulation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), including a directive to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study current legal remedies at the federal, state and local level that address concerns associated with UAS operations, and identify any remaining gaps for further consideration by Congress when the authorization would expire at the end of FY 2017. Additionally, the bill would codify existing authority to authorize public aircraft operations (i.e. governmental), which could further support the increasing use of UAS by counties for various applications such as law enforcement and search and rescue activities.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is scheduled to take up the bill next Wednesday (March 16, 2016). The current FAA authorization is set to expire March 31, 2016.

Shortly following the introduction of the Senate’s bill, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leadership announced that they would be offering a short-term extension of the current FAA authorization through July 15, 2016. Their goal being to provide enough time to work through a number of policy hurdles and gain consensus on a long-term reauthorization.

 

NACo Resources:

Click here for NACo’s blog post on the House’s FAA reauthorization proposal.
Click here for NACo’s policy brief on FAA reauthorization.

Senate Commerce Committee Resources:

Click here for more highlights of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2016.
Click here for a detailed section-by-section summary.
Click here for the full text of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2016 as introduced.