Highway bill reauthorization advances as Senate committee releases DRIVE Act
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The long-anticipated federal highway bill, a six-year reauthorization of federal highway programs, moved out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, June 24.
Dubbed the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy (DRIVE) Act (S. 1647), it would provide $277.4 billion in spending for highway programs, which represents an average growth of $5.3 billion per year. The funding levels set by the bill would require an additional $92 billion in revenue beyond current projected receipts for the Highway Trust Fund.
While the DRIVE Act addresses a number of NACo’s priorities for MAP-21 reauthorization, the bill is far from a home run for counties. It’s important to note that the bill is only the first step in a long and complicated process — a process that provides numerous opportunities for NACo and its members to weigh in and advance proposals that will make a final reauthorization bill a stronger product for counties.
Below you will find an overview of some of the major reforms proposed in the DRIVE
Act. If you would like additional information, please contact Jessica Monahan, NACo associate legislative director, at jmonahan@naco.org.
| Issue | DRIVE Act | What you need to know: |
| Bill’s Length | The DRIVE Act is a six-year reauthorization of federal highway programs for fiscal years 2016-2021. |
The DRIVE Act, as marked up by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, only addresses the highway title of MAP-21 reauthorization because that is the portion of the U.S. Code that falls under the jurisdiction of the committee. Eventually, the DRIVE Act will be combined with the transit and freight titles produced by the Senate Banking and Commerce Committees to create a comprehensive reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs. |
| Overall Funding Levels | The DRIVE Act $277.4 billion in spending for highwayprograms, which represents an average growth of $5.3 billion per year. | The DRIVE Act represents an increase in funding from current levels authorized by MAP-21. However, most of the program’s growth is targeted at two new programs: the National Freight Program and the Assistance for Major Projects program, which are authorized. |
| Revenue Required |
The DRIVE Act would require an additional $92 billion in revenue beyond current projected receipts for the Highway Trust Fund. |
The funding gap will need to be addressed by the Senate Finance Committee and additional revenue will be required for federal transit programs. |
| Funding for Locally Owned Infrastructure |
The DRIVE Act increases funding for the Surface Transportation Program (STP) by an average of $665 million per year. | While the DRIVE Act increases funding for locally owned infrastructure, it does not completely repair the 30 percent cut to locally owned highways and bridges that occurred under MAP-21. |
| Bridge Funding |
The DRIVE Act expands the current off-system bridge set- aside to support on-system and off-system bridges that are not on the designated National Highway System (NHS). |
Under STP, 15 percent of the program’s funding is set aside for off-system and on-system bridges that are not a part of the designated NHS. These non-NHS bridges capture the vast majority of bridges owned by counties and account for 75 percent of the National Bridge Inventory. Under MAP-21, the off-system bridge set-aside provides $777 million per year for non-highway or “off-system” bridges. The expanded bridge set-aside would provide an average of $1.6 billion annually for non-NHS bridges but does not require that any of those funds support off-system bridges. While NACo is pleased that the DRIVE Act attempts to designate more funding for the types of bridges owned by counties, it is working to amend the bill’s language to ensure that a portion of the set-aside supports off-system bridges. |
| Sub-Allocated Funds |
The DRIVE Act requires that 55 percent of the STP program (excluding the amounts set aside for non-NHS bridges) be sub-allocated to local areas based on population, including metropolitan planning organizations (MPOS). |
MAP-21 required that 50 percent of a state’s STP funding be sub-allocated to local areas based on population. While the DRIVE Act increases the sub-allocation percentage to 55, this actually represents a reduction in funding from MAP-21 ($4.6 billion in FY16 vs. $4.9 billion in FY14) since it only represents 55 percent of 85 percent of the program. Currently, the off-system bridge set-aside is removed from the 50 percent of STP that is not allocated to local areas rather than coming off the top of the program. |
| Safety Funding for High Risk Rural Roads |
The DRIVE Act changes the special rule on High Risk Rural Roads to require that states invest a portion of their Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funding if the fatality rate on a state’s rural roads does not decrease over a two-year period and exceeds the national average rate of fatalities on rural roads. |
MAP-21 eliminated the High Risk Rural Road program and it replaced it with a special rule that requires states to obligate HSIP funding to address fatality rates on rural roads only if the fatality rates increase over a two year period. While the change to the special rule in the DRIVE Act may appear nuanced, it better targets areas with the highest incident rates and complements the goal of moving the nation’s transportation system ‘towards zero deaths.’ |
| Discretionary Funding for Major Projects |
The DRIVE Act authorizes $2.4 billion for a discretionary program to fund major highway projects. |
The “Assistance to Major Projects” program is a reformed version of the current TIGER grant program. One of the most significant differences between the programs is that the DRIVE Act authorizes the discretionary program through the Highway Trust Fund, an important distinction that the TIGER program has lacked. Since TIGER has relied on annual appropriations to receive its annual funding, its funding level and overall fate has been uncertain year-to-year.Authorizing the program and providing its funding through the Highway Trust Fund will provide long-term certainty for the new discretionary program |
| Transportation Alternatives Funding |
The DRIVE Act provides $850 million annual for the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) and requires that states obligate and sub-allocate 100 percent of their TAP funding. |
The changes to the TAP program proposed in the DRIVE Act represent both an increase in overall funding for TAP projects (a $30 million increase from current funding levels) and a significant commitment to “alternative transportation projects” by eliminating the ability for states to transfer up to 50 percent of their TAP funding to other highwayprograms. In addition, the DRIVE act requires that 100 percent of a state’s TAP apportionment be sub-allocated to local areas based on population instead of the 50 percent that is required under MAP-21. |
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