The House today passed an extension of FAA authorization, the 23rd extension, and the Senate is expected to follow suit as early as tonight. The extension carries the program through February 17. The extension allows the conferees time to resolve the remaining differences between the House and Senate passed versions of the bill. This is a shorter period than had originally been discussed because Chairman Mica believes the remaining issues can be resolved quickly and passed by both chambers.
Reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs is the closest it has been to moving forward in both the House and Senate since the current authorization (SAFETEA-LU) expired on Sep. 30, 2009, but still faces obstacles in each chamber.
With Congress returning next week for the second session of the 112th Congress, two major infrastructure authorization bills are in position to move through the House of Representatives and the Senate. Current extensions of authorizations covering the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Federal highways and transit programs expire in the first quarter of 2012, with the FAA expiring on January 31 and highways and transit on March 31.
With only 73 days remaining until the expiration of the latest highway and transit authorization extension, today AGC kicked-off a comprehensive grassroots and communications campaign asking Congress to take action on a reauthorization bill before March 31, 2012.
With only 80 days remaining until the expiration of the latest highway and transit authorization extension, AGC is kicking-off a comprehensive grassroots and communications campaign asking Congress to take action on a reauthorization bill before March 31, 2012.
On Thursday, December 22, 2011 the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released its latest revision to the truck driver hours of service regulations. The rules are effective on July 1, 2013, except for the change to the definition of on-duty time which becomes effective February 21, 2012.
The US DOT this week announced the award of $511 million in TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants. This is the third round of TIGER grant awards. The program was started as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and has been popular with states and local governments. USDOT received 848 project applications requesting $14.3 billion, far exceeding the $511 million made available by Congress for TIGER III grants which are awarded to transportation projects that have a significant national or regional impact.
US DOT has issued a final rule that restricts the use of hand-held mobile telephones by interstate commercial motor vehicle drivers (CMV) and interstate hazmat drivers beginning January 3, 2012. The rule does not restrict or prohibit the use of hands free devices. The rule does not currently apply to CMV drivers that do not cross state lines; however, states are required to adopt the requirements within three years as a condition for continuing to receive Federal Motor Carrier Safety Assistance grants.
Senate
As the Senate Banking and Science, Commerce and Transportation Committees aim to markup their respective provisions of the surface transportation reauthorization bill next week, the Senate Finance Committee is not moving any closer to marking up their revenue provisions of the bill. However, Republican members of the Finance Committee shared their proposed options for funding the legislation – also known as MAP-21 – in a letter sent to Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.).
House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) announced Nov. 29 that his committee will not take up surface transportation reauthorization legislation until late January or early February 2012. It had been anticipated that the T&I Committee would introduce its bill on Monday, Dec. 5 with the expectation that it would be considered by the full House before the end of the year.