Agreement on Transportation Reauthorization Reached
Conference Report Goes to House and Senate for Final Approval
By: AGC of America
2012-06-27
The House and Senate leadership and conferees reached agreement today on the final outstanding issues in the transportation reauthorization negotiations and a conference report will be filed before the end of the day. The Senate is expected to vote on the measure as early as tomorrow and the House will take it up on Friday in time to avoid the need for a 10th extension of highway and transit program authorization.
While the conference report has not yet been made available to the public the following are the broad parameters of the agreement:
- Funding at current levels through the end of Fiscal Year 2014 (this is one year longer than the authorization contained in the Senate passed MAP-21).
- Significant reform in the environmental and planning requirements with the Senate moving closer to the House provisions on many streamlining issues.
- Transportation enhancement funding will be split, with 50 percent provided to local governments and 50 percent to states. States will be permitted to opt out of the enhancement requirements and instead use these funds for transportation improvements.
- Consolidation of programs giving states more flexibility in using their transportation funds.
- It also includes RESTORE Act provisions that dedicate penalties paid by BP for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for coastline restoration.
A provision included in the House passed bill to restrict the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating coal ash as a hazardous substance was dropped as was a provision approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
AGC is contacting all Senators and Representatives urging them to vote in favor of the conference report. AGC will provide you with more details on what is included in the conference report once all of the details are made available.