From APTA's Legislative Alert:
Senator Boxer Releases New Draft of Climate Legislation:
New Bill Provides Significant Increase in Funding For Public Transportation
On October 23, Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) released her “chairman’s mark,” which will serve as the base bill for the Environment and Public Works Committee’s consideration of climate change legislation. S. 1733, the “Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act,” is sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) and Chairman Boxer.
Of interest to public transportation, the chairman's mark specifies the distribution of revenues from the auction of emissions allowances. Emission allowances are permits for the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under a cap-and-trade program. The bill specifies that roughly 2.5 percent of allowances will be auctioned for transportation investment. Half of the revenue would be distributed directly to public transportation providers through the Section 5307/5340 and 5311 formula programs. The other half would be allocated to a competitive multi-modal program for projects, including transit investments, in new regional and state emission reduction plans.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made preliminary estimates of the value of emission allowances. Based on these estimates, the set-aside for transportation investment would be valued between $1.4 billion and $3 billion annually. The level of allowances dedicated to transportation fluctuates each year under the Kerry-Boxer bill, and the market price of emission allowances would set the final value. Trading of allowances would begin in 2012.
To increase funding for transit and transportation, funding for other energy efficiency and climate adaptation investments in the Kerry-Boxer bill were slightly reduced or held constant. APTA members need to continue advocacy efforts related to climate legislation to maintain or increase funding in future versions of the bill. As a point of comparison, climate legislation passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year made less than 1 percent of allowances, about $600 million, eligible for transportation investment by states, and no funding was guaranteed for transit investment.