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On February 2, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, a bill which includes a five-year, $260 billion surface transportation reauthorization of federal highway, transit and safety programs consistent with current funding levels. The bill will be combined with several other bills aimed at promoting domestic energy production and by finance provisions drafted by the House Ways and Means Committee. Legislative text is available at www.transportation.house.gov.

In summary, the transportation reauthorization provisions include:

• Provide long-term stability for states to undertake major infrastructure projects
• Contain no earmarks, compared to the previous transportation law which contained over 6,300 earmarks
• Consolidate or eliminate nearly 70 federal programs
• Eliminate mandates that states spend highway funding on non-highway activities
• Allow states to set their own transportation priorities
• Delegate more project approval authority to states
• Condense deadlines for federal agency project approvals
• Accelerate the approval process for projects in an existing right-of-way
• Encourage states to partner with the private sector to finance and build projects
• Streamline the project delivery process and reduces regulatory burdens for rail projects
• Call for the funds collected for the improvement of the nation’s harbors to be invested for that purpose
• Ensure the safe, efficient transportation of hazardous materials in a manner that does not impose unnecessary burdens on the flow of commerce

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in November approved the highway portion of the Senate’s two-year $109 billion surface transportation reauthorization, known as MAP-21, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century. The Senate Commerce Committee approved motor carrier provisions last year, and the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee marked up the transit portion February 2. The Senate Finance Committee is working on closing a $12 billion funding gap in MAP-21.

The latest extension of SAFETEA-LU, the current surface transportation law,expires March 31. The House and Senate will need to pass their bills and reconcile differences before then to avoid another extension.