During the week of Feb. 6, the House and Senate continued work on their respective versions of surface transportation authorization law. This action is a major step forward toward ultimate enactment of a bill.

While the bills share many common traits, they still differ in the length of the authorization and in their treatment of public transportation. The Senate bill would continue to fund the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund while the House bill eliminates the account altogether.

The Senate began floor consideration of amendments to its bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, on Feb. 9 and expects consideration to continue at least through the balance of next week. In the House, consideration of H.R. 7 will resume Feb. 13.

As was reported earlier in Passenger Transport, the House Ways and Means Committee forwarded a title that would eliminate the Mass Transit Account. Now an amendment has been introduced by Reps. Nadler (D-NY); LaTourette (R-OH); Blumenauer (D-OR); Gibson (R-NY); Crowley (D-NY); Turner (R-NY); Rangel (D-NY); and Grimm (R-NY) to restore the Mass Transit Account and the dedicated funding. While it is unclear how the House Rules Committee will rule on allowing a vote on this amendment, APTA is urging a full floor vote prior to final passage.

The sponsors sent a Dear Colleague letter on behalf of the amendment on Feb. 10. The authors called the amendment “a simple, common sense measure to restore the status quo,” noting that it follows 30 years of federal law in restoring the Mass Transit Account and the 2.86-cent dedicated funding stream for public transportation programs.

For more details, see APTA's Legislative Alert.

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