Signed by President George Bush

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that authorizes $286.5 billion over six years in appropriations for highways, public transit, and safety programs, as well as to create other public works programs.

Highlights:

• Appropriates $32.55 billion for surface transportation programs.

• Appropriates $30.54 billion for the national highway system.

• Appropriates $25.15 billion for interstate maintenance programs.

• Appropriates $21.61 billion for bridge construction and repair programs.

• Appropriates $8.61 billion for congestion mitigation and air quality improvement programs.

• Appropriates $833 million for the Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program (Sec. 1101).

• Guarantees that states will receive 90.5 percent for FY '05-'06 total highway spending back from the federal government gasoline taxes, with increases to 91.5 percent in FY 07 and 92 percent in FY '08 (Sec. 1104).

• Establishes grants for states that have and enforce a law that prohibits the use of racial profiling in traffic stops (Sec. 1906).

• Calls for an assessment of the frequency of refusal of blood alcohol content (BAC) tests and establishes a program to increase the amount of check points nationwide and the penalties for failing or refusing a BAC test (Sec. 2003).

• Establishes grants for states that enact and enforce primary seat belt laws that allows police officers to pull over a driver for the sole reason of not using a seat belt (Sec. 2005).

• Establishes separate grants for States who maintain buses that run on alternative fuels, develop a transportation service to assist welfare recipients to get to and from work, or create programs to meet the special needs of the elderly and those with disabilities (Secs. 3010, 3012, 3018).

• Requires new transportation construction projects go through an environmental review process before they are started (Sec. 3024).

• Requires background checks and new licensing requirements for drivers of hazardous materials (Sec. 7105).

• Increases authority of law enforcement to search trucks containing hazardous materials (Sec. 7118).

• Calls for the establishment of performance standards for cars concerning rollover, side impact crash, back-over and ejection performance (Sec. 10301).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that authorizes $286.5 billion over six years in appropriations for highways, public transit, and safety programs, as well as to create other public works programs.

Highlights:

• Appropriates $32.55 billion for surface transportation programs.

• Appropriates $30.54 billion for the national highway system.

• Appropriates $25.15 billion for interstate maintenance programs.

• Appropriates $21.61 billion for bridge construction and repair programs.

• Appropriates $8.61 billion for congestion mitigation and air quality improvement programs.

• Appropriates $833 million for the Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program (Sec. 1101).

• Guarantees that states will receive 90.5 percent for FY '05-'06 total highway spending back from the federal government gasoline taxes, with increases to 91.5 percent in FY 07 and 92 percent in FY '08 (Sec. 1104).

• Establishes grants for states that have and enforce a law that prohibits the use of racial profiling in traffic stops (Sec. 1906).

• Calls for an assessment of the frequency of refusal of blood alcohol content (BAC) tests and establishes a program to increase the amount of check points nationwide and the penalties for failing or refusing a BAC test (Sec. 2003).

• Establishes grants for states that enact and enforce primary seat belt laws that allows police officers to pull over a driver for the sole reason of not using a seat belt (Sec. 2005).

• Establishes separate grants for States who maintain buses that run on alternative fuels, develop a transportation service to assist welfare recipients to get to and from work, or create programs to meet the special needs of the elderly and those with disabilities (Secs. 3010, 3012, 3018).

• Requires new transportation construction projects go through an environmental review process before they are started (Sec. 3024).

• Requires background checks and new licensing requirements for drivers of hazardous materials (Sec. 7105).

• Increases authority of law enforcement to search trucks containing hazardous materials (Sec. 7118).

• Calls for the establishment of performance standards for cars concerning rollover, side impact crash, back-over and ejection performance (Sec. 10301).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to appropriate $295 billion to transportation projects including highway construction, infrastructure repair, safety programs, and mass transit for fiscal years 2004-2009.

Highlights:

• Appropriates $175.42 billion for federal highways.

• Appropriates $47.67 billion for public transportation, of which $28.17 billion is for formula grants and research to urbanized areas, non-urbanized areas and to address the special needs of the elderly and disabled, beginning in FY06.

• Appropriates $7.8 billion for surface transportation safety, of which $2.99 billion is for programs under the highway safety grant program, beginning FY06, and $586.1 million is for programs to enhance vehicle safety, including safety-belt use, tire research, power-window safety, vehicle backover technology, vehicle rollover prevention and side-impact crash protection.

• Appropriates $2.25 billion for transportation research, of which $1.02 billion is for surface transportation research, and $605.41 million for Intelligent Transportation System research, testing and development.

• Guarantees that states will receive 90.5 percent of FY '05-'06 total highway spending back from federal government gasoline taxes, increasing to 91.5 percent for FY 07 and 92 percent for FY '08-'09 (Sec. 105).

• Repeals the occupational excise taxes on producers and marketers of alcohol, custom gunsmiths, fishing equipment, and sightseeing flights (Secs. 5213, 5224, 5231, 5241)

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that appropriates $283.9 billion for Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and other transportation-related programs through fiscal year 2009.

Highlights:

• Appropriates $225.5 billion for the Federal Highway Administration.

• Appropriates $52.3 billion for the Federal Transit Administration.

• Appropriates $1.03 billion for Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program to better highways and shipping at the US-Mexico and US-Canada borders (Sec. 1101).

• Appropriates $6.1 billion for safety programs, including $3.2 billion for the National Traffic and Highway Safety Administration and $2.9 billion for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (Secs. 4101, 4102).

• Appropriates $2.9 billion for transportation research and education, including $1.37 billion for surface transportation research (Sec. 5101).

• Appropriates $11.2 billion from gasoline taxes for 3,315 highway and bridge projects and 414 bus and transit projects that have been denoted as high priority projects (Sec. 1702).

• Guarantees that states will receive 90.5 percent of total highway spending back from the federal government gasoline taxes (Sec. 1104).

• Requires states to provide funds for congestion relief in cities of more than 200,000 people, which includes constructing more car lanes, truck only lanes, or parallel roads, greater access to major terminals, or improved traffic monitoring and surveillance (Sec. 1201).

• Requires states to have laws prohibiting the use of racial profiling in law enforcement traffic stops in order to be eligible for certain federal grants (Sec. 1810).

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text