The House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed a five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill, Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250th Act or BUILD America 250 Act, by a vote of 62-2 with three members not voting on May 23.
That bill, H.R. 8870, authorizes r$580 billion over fiscal year 2027 through FY 2031. The bill provides the Federal Highway Administration with $376 billion; the Federal Transit Administration with $87.6 billion; the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with $5.7 billion; the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration with $5 billion; and the Federal Railroad Administration with $64.7 billion, including $31.1 billion for Amtrak.
The bill would require states to collect $130 in annual registration fees on electric vehicles and $35 per year from plug-in hybrids, escalating biennially starting in 2029 and capped at $150 and $50 per year, respectively – raising just under $10 billion in the first five years and $29 billion over the first 10 years according to AASHTO.
The following transit highlights have been included:
- Outside of the transit title, NEPA has been updated for transit operators with substantive changes on categorical exclusions and allowance to purchase land first, and then perform NEPA
- The bill allocates $87.6 billion over five years for public transit programs, reauthorizing the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) programs to ensure local transit agencies can continue operating services
- The bill makes it easier for developers to build TOD projects using the federal TIFIA program by exempting office-to-housing conversions and TOD projects built on existing transportation-disturbed lands from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
- Increase Small Transit Intensive Cities set-aside to 5%
- All sales of buses to go back to the agency selling the bus
- For 5339, there will be a 62% formula/38% discretionary in Section 5339(a) – with a 5% rural set-aside
- Also in 5339, state set-aside increases from $4 million per state to $6 million, with the aim to improve smaller transit agencies gain access to more federal formula funding
- 5339 (a) and (b) will now be combined into a single competitive program with no Congressional discussion of propulsion types
- The bill calls for $5.85 billion for Amtrak operations in fiscal 2027 — $3.9 billion for the national network, and $1.95 billion for the Northeast Corridor. That would be an increase of more than $3 billion from the $2.41 billion overall in each of the last two years.