Legislative Bulletin - June 22, 2009

New Federal Highway Bill Draft Released Today

The first draft of a new six-year surface transportation bill expected to authorize close to $500 billion in highway, rail and transit spending was released today by Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Congressional action on the bill is scheduled to begin Thursday, June 24 in the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.  Other committees with jurisdiction over the bill in House and the U.S. Senate have not yet signaled their intention to consider the bill in the near future.  Also, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has asked Congress for an 18 month extension of current surface transportation programs, the authority for which expires on September 30, 2009, rather than moving forward with immediate action on new legislation.

The 775 page draft Surface Transportation Authorization Act (STAA) includes provisions addressing federal highway, bridge and tunnel construction, reforms in project approval procedures, highway and motor carrier safety, transit projects, rail transportation and hazmat transportation. The bill consolidates and terminates several existing programs and also includes sections on environmental sustainability, congestion mitigation, performance standards and accountability. To view an executive summary of the STAA, please click here. To review a more in-depth white paper outlining the STAAs provision, click here. For a copy of the full text of the draft STAA, please click here.