The House and Senate leadership and conferees reached an agreement yesterday on the final outstanding issues in the transportation reauthorization negotiations. Logistical issues related to finalizing language and getting sign-off from all conferees has kept the conference report from being formally filed. The Senate and House, however, are still expected to vote on the measure before the June 30 deadline, in time to avoid the need for a 10th extension of highway and transit program authorization.
The conference report was posted online early Thursday morning and AGC is now in the process of analyzing its content. The following are the broad parameters of the agreement:
- The authorization is extended through the end of FY 2014 (this is one year longer than the authorization contained in the Senate passed MAP-21). The authorized funding levels for the highway and transit programs are as follows:
| |
FY 2012 |
FY 2013 |
FY 2013 |
| Highways |
$39.144 B |
$39.699 B |
$40.256 B |
| Transit |
$8.361 B |
$ 8.478 B |
$ 8.595 B |
- Significant reform of the environmental review and planning requirements, with the Senate moving closer to the House provisions on many streamlining issues.
- Transportation enhancement funding will be split, with 50 percent provided to local governments and 50 percent to states. States will be permitted to opt out of the enhancement requirements and instead use these funds for transportation improvements.
- Consolidation of programs giving states more flexibility in using their transportation funds.
- It also includes RESTORE Act provisions that dedicate penalties paid by BP for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for coastline restoration.
A provision included in the House-passed bill to restrict the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating coal ash as a hazardous substance was dropped, as was a provision approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
AGC has contacted all Senators and Representatives urging them to vote in favor of the conference report and indicating that this is an AGC Key Vote. AGC members are urged to deliver the same message to their Senators and Representative. You can send a message to your Congressional delegation through
AGC’s Legislative Action Center.
AGC will provide you with more details on the conference report once all of the details have been analyzed.
For more information, please contact Brian Deery at (703) 837-5319 or deeryb@agc.org. 