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By Katie Cross, Senior Associate,
Blakey & Agnew
In mid-May, the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) published the draft text of their fiscal year 2020 (FY20) appropriations bill. The bill, which provides funding for the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), includes $75.8 billion in discretionary funding. While the overall level of funding for the bill was increased by about $4.7 billion over the fiscal year 2019 (FY19) enacted levels, the majority of those funds went to the HUD portion of the bill; gross discretionary appropriations for USDOT were decreased by about $1.2 billion when compared to FY19 levels.
Despite this overall level of funding decrease, the BUILD discretionary grant program saw its levels increased by $100 million, from $900 million in FY19 to $1 billion in this proposed legislation to make investments in surface transportation infrastructure. The bill provides $350 million for the CRISI grant program, which is intended to make investments in rail infrastructure and $225 million for the Port Infrastructure Development Program, which provides grants for investments in port infrastructure.
Beyond the funding aspects of bill, the House's draft legislation also included multiple "policy riders," or policy changes in an appropriations bill. One such rider would change the current rear-guard underride requirement for trucks, mandating that they be inspected annually. Another would prohibit the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) from using any of their appropriated funds to create or enforce any rule that would eliminate the existing 30-minute rest break under a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operator's hours of service (HOS) rules. Beginning in mid-2018, FMCSA issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) asking for comments on existing HOS regulations, including the potential elimination of the 30-minute rest break. Following a series of public hearings, FMCSA indicated they plan to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) sometime in June 2019. In the THUD Committee's report, they note that when considering any exemptions to the
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requirement, FMCSA should consider "the safety implications of making routine stops during the day, of drivers remaining physically active during non-driving periods, and of adding additional vehicle miles operated to the roads."
Also aimed at the FMCSA, another policy rider included in the House's THUD bill would require the Administration to make data relevant to the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program publicly available. Some data used in this program was hidden from public view by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act in 2015, pending a review of the program and completion of any recommended reforms. Such a review was completed in 2017 and FMCSA is currently working on potential reforms to the CSA program, having indicated they would keep the information hidden from public view until those reforms are completed. However, the THUD bill indicates the data should be made public "notwithstanding any restriction under part II of subtitle B of title V of the FAST Act."
The draft legislation would also prohibit FMCSA from using any appropriated funds to "review and issue a decision on a petition to preempt State meal and rest break laws."
The full House Appropriations Committee marked up the draft legislation on June 4, 2019, adopting it with one amendment that made technical changes to the bill. It has not yet been placed on the full House calendar for consideration. In the upper chamber, the Senate has yet to introduce their FY20 THUD bill.
Blakey & Agnew, LLC is a public affairs and
communications consulting firm based in
Washington, DC.
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