U.S. House members introduce NACo-endorsed, bipartisan BASICS Act to improve transportation programs for local infrastructure

Key Takeaways

On February 9, Reps. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.) and Robert Bresnahan (R-Pa.) introduced the Bridges And Safety Infrastructure for Community Success (BASICS) Act (H.R. 7437).  Through NACo’s advocacy efforts to build bipartisan support, this legislation would improve federal transportation programs to provide better access to resources for local governments.  

Counties are major stakeholders in our nation’s transportation infrastructure, owning and maintaining 44 percent of public road miles and 38 percent of bridges. This includes thousands of “on-system bridges” and significant Federal-aid highway mileage. To maintain this, counties raise and invest more than $146 billion per year in infrastructure and an additional $60 billion in transportation.

These significant investments, however, are not enough to meet increasing maintenance requirements, especially amid rising input costs and aging infrastructure. While federal funding can help make up the gap, counties struggle to reliably access federal transportation dollars for critical road, bridge or safety projects. Even under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which made record investments in transportation infrastructure, counties and other local governments only received around 14 percent of federal formula funding. As a result of these investment shortfalls, county-owned and other locally owned infrastructure continues to be much more likely to be classified as being in “poor condition” when compared to state-owned infrastructure.

To help increase county access to federal transportation funding, the BASICS Act would make commonsense improvements, including:  

• Increasing local access to formula funding by growing the overall share of the Federal-aid highway program that “suballocates,” or is made available for locally selected projects.
• Maintaining robust federal investments in bridges, but ensuring local access through suballocation, a requirement which was lacking in the BIL.
• Shoring up project selection by strengthening metropolitan planning organizations with additional resources and authorities to program federal dollars.
• Establishing a dedicated rural and nonmetropolitan planning program to support rural and small communities and funds for federally designated regional or rural/regional transportation planning organizations (RTPOs).
• Strengthening intergovernmental partnerships by encouraging states to collaborate with state associations of counties when using formula funds in rural areas without any planning organizations.  

NACo worked closely with coalition partners and bipartisan leadership to author this legislation. NACo fully endorses the Bridges And Safety Infrastructure for Community Success Act to help counties maintain and strengthen our nation’s infrastructure and transportation systems.  

“The BASICS Act would be a monumental step in ensuring that counties have access to federal funding for transportation infrastructure,” said NACo Executive Director Matthew Chase. “This bill would ensure that more counties—especially rural counties—can utilize federal funding for important road, bridge and safety projects in our communities.”  

“With Michigan’s county road agencies responsible for maintaining more than 90,000 miles of county roads and nearly 5,900 local bridges, sustained and adequate federal investment is essential to support the needs of our 10 million residents,” said Stephan Currie, Executive Director of the Michigan Association of Counties. “Federal dollars are most effective when they are guided by local decision-makers who best understand their communities’ needs and priorities. Michigan counties thank Representative McDonald Rivet for her leadership on this bipartisan legislation and call on Congress to include the BASICS Act in the next surface transportation reauthorization bill.”

“The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania is proud to endorse the BASICS Act,” said Kyle Kopko, Executive Director of CCAP. “This legislation would empower counties to better access and implement federal funding for infrastructure projects across the Commonwealth. Most importantly, this bill would significantly increase our access to funding for bridges. With more than 20 percent of county-owned bridges in Pennsylvania classified as being in ‘poor condition,’ this would be a significant boost in our efforts to repair, rehabilitate and replace these critical structures. CCAP thanks Rep. Bresnahan for his leadership on this issue and encourages the House of Representatives to include this bill in its surface transportation reauthorization legislation.”

Read the BASICS Act Section-by Section