Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users

TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ACT: A LEGACY FOR USERS -- (House of Representatives - March 10, 2005)

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Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of this legislation.

I would like to commend the efforts of Chairman YOUNG and Ranking Member OBERSTAR as well as Subcommittee Chairman PETRI and Ranking Member DEFAZIO for their tireless efforts on crafting a strong bipartisan bill.

As we all know, this legislation has been a long time coming and I would like to extend my gratitude to these four men for the work they have done to produce such a strong bipartisan bill.

In today's current environment in the House, it is really a testament of how Chairman YOUNG and Mr. OBERSTAR run the committee and put the needs of United States infrastructure before partisan issues.

This is one of the most important pieces of legislation for me because of the benefits it will provide to my district.

Without the leadership of Mr. YOUNG, OBERSTAR, PETRI, and DEFAZIO and the incredible staff they have on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee our Congressional Districts would still be waiting for the much needed funding to repair and improve of roadways.

I would like to thank you on behalf of my constituents for all the work you have done.

Mr. GERLACH. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 3 and commend Chairman YOUNG and Ranking Member OBERSTAR for their hard work in bringing this bill to the floor. As a Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I am proud of the work of our committee and am hopeful that we can enact TEA-LU quickly to give out State departments of transportation the stability and resources they need to plan for, design and build important highway and transit projects.

I would also like to highlight a few issues that I look forward to working with the chairman and ranking member on as this bill moves forward.

First, I strongly support a provision that was included in S. 1072, the Senate's version of the reauthorization in the 108th Congress. This provision, section 1620 of S. 1072, would provide a 2 percent set aside of funds to be used to address stormwater mitigation. If included in H.R. 3, the provision would bring over $29 million back to Pennsylvania to help address some of the major stormwater runoff problems. Stormwater runoff is a significant source of water pollution, untreated sewage overflows, beach closings and flooding. I believe addressing this need with specific funding in the bill to correct runoff problems associated with existing highways is good policy. Many of the communities in my own district have to deal with the impacts of runoff from highways and roads, yet have no funding to do so. This provision would correct this problem and give local communities access to much-needed funding for stormwater mitigation.

Second, I have worked with my colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from Pennsylvania to address a problem that has recently come to our attention regarding "flexing" of Federal highway dollars to shore up the operating budgets of Pennsylvania's transit agencies. I hope that the chairman will continue to work with us to see that our concerns are taken into account. While I certainly understand the ongoing crisis confronting SEPTA and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's other transit agencies, and hence believe the flexing of Federal highway dollars may provide an appropriate, short-term answer to the agency's budgetary problems, I likewise believe that any agreed-to flexing plan should be contingent upon an agreed-to repayment of these much-needed dollars within a short and fixed time period. These highway dollars are absolutely critical to the continued improvement of our region's road infrastructure. While the Pennsylvania Legislature and Governor Rendell continue to work toward a permanent solution to mass transit funding, the need to provide transit agencies with a "hand up" with these dollars may be appropriate. But that assistance should only be provided if the Commonwealth agrees to return these dollars to the effected MPOs within a specified time period to ensure the use of these dollars for the initial purposes for which the appropriations were made by the Federal Government. Further, I would like to see a plan in place to assure that the projects delayed by the flexing action are fast-tracked once the flexed dollars are returned.

Mr. Chairman, providing flexibility to our metropolitan planning organizations is a laudable goal, but these Federal dollars were never intended to plug holes in the operating budgets of transit agencies, I therefore ask the chairman and members of the committee to work with us to achieve an acceptable solution.

Finally, in the section 307 of the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995, there was included a provision that prohibited states from imposing arbitrary overhead rate caps. Section 307 did have its desired effect, most States are following common overhead and auditing procedures that promote quality design work. The problem is that section 307 provided states a window of opportunity to opt out of the Federal Highway Administration FHWA, overhead and auditing procedures by adopting State laws establishing alternative procedures. Thirteen States have taken advantage of this opt out and passed law to impose arbitrary overhead rate caps.

As a result, Congress cannot be assured that the most qualified firms are being selected for working on Federal-aid design projects. At the same time, many of these States require their own audits with their own procedures, instead of accepting the uniform audit procedures used by most of their peers. This places unnecessary burdens on engineering firms and diverts time, staff and focus away from the technical aspect of the project.

Section 1703 of S. 1072, the Senate version of the highway reauthorization in the 108th Congress, included a permanent fix for this problem and I hope that the provision finds its way into the final bill.

Again, I would like to commend Chairman YOUNG and Ranking Member OBERSTAR for their commitment to our Nation's highways and transit systems. I am proud to support H.R. 3 and urge all my colleagues to support the bill as well.

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