Introduction of the Expedited Federal Permitting for California Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce the ``Expedited Federal Permitting for California Act.'' This new bill would make permanent the U.S. Department of Transportation's program for eliminating duplicative environmental reviews for federally funded infrastructure projects. It would also make federally funded airport and port development projects eligible for this expedited federal environmental review and permitting. Only federally funded highway, public transit, and multimodal projects are eligible under current law.

Established by Congress in 2015 under the leadership of former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), then-Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, this federal pilot program allows states like California with more stringent environment laws than the federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to substitute their state environmental reviews in lieu of completing a second, unnecessary federal environmental review at additional taxpayer expense. This cuts the permitting backlog in half for major transportation infrastructure projects statewide, which can proceed immediately to construction on time and budget. As a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, I helped to develop and pass the 2015 Highway Bill (Public Law 114-94), which established this pilot authority.

Under the leadership of then-Speaker Pelosi and President Biden, Congressional Democrats made a generational investment under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-58) and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169) to modernize our nation's infrastructure and build the clean energy economy of tomorrow. As one of five cosponsors of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and having voted with every other Democratic member of California's Congressional delegation to enact the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, I am committed to getting California our fair of this historic federal investment.

However, I am increasingly concerned that California will miss out on this federal funding only available for the next 3 years to fix our roads and public transit if we remain bogged down in a state and federal permitting morass that is unnecessarily cumbersome and litigious. My bill would simply make permanent the pilot authority established under the 2015 Highway Bill for substituting by California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for NEPA reviews for federally funded transportation projects. Under current law, this pilot authority will expire on December 4, 2027.

In January 2021, the U.S. Department of Transportation finalized the necessary regulations to finally implement this pilot authority. To date, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has never made use of this federal pilot authority and continues to insist on completing less stringent federal environmental reviews on behalf of the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration at additional taxpayer expense.

I take a backseat to no one when it comes to upholding California's high environmental standards, of which I am immensely proud. Mr. Speaker, I call on Governor Newsom and all members of California's Congressional delegation to join me in supporting my commonsense bill. We cannot watch the $1.2 trillion in available federal funding to rebuild our state's roads, public transit, airports, and ports pass us by. It's now or never.

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