H.R. 8870

BUILD America 250 Act

Sponsor: Sam Graves

5 cosponsors
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Official summary

Written by the Congressional Research Service.

Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America's 250th Act or the BUILD America 250 Act

This bill authorizes federal surface transportation (highway, public transportation, and rail) programs and activities through FY2031. The bill also establishes or modifies Department of Transportation (DOT) programs and policies that are a part of the federal-aid highway, transit, highway safety, motor carrier, research, hazardous materials, and rail programs. 

For example, the bill authorizes appropriations through FY2031 out of the Highway Trust Fund for the federal-aid highway program, the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program, highway safety programs, and bridge programs. The bill also authorizes funding through FY2031 for Amtrak. Current authorization for these programs expires on September 30, 2026.

Among other provisions, the bill

  • establishes a Surface Transportation Accelerator Grant (STAG) discretionary program to fund surface transportation projects in rural, urban, local, and regional communities;
  • requires the Federal Highway Administration to impose a new annual electric vehicle (EV) registration fee, starting at $130 for a covered EV and $35 for a covered plug-in hybrid vehicle;
  • exempts automated driving system technology and equipment from vehicle width requirements;
  • establishes a consolidated state block grant program that allows DOT to allocate a lump sum to participating states to fund public transportation services in rural and urbanized areas;
  • allows state rail safety inspectors to conduct railroad bridge inspections; and
  • establishes a system for state, local, and tribal governments to report safety concerns about the condition of railroad bridges.

Text of the bill

Expand all

I Federal-Aid Highways

A Authorizations and Programs

Sec. 1105. Nationally significant multimodal freight and highway projects

Section 117 of title 23, United States Code, is amended—

(1) in subsection (c)(1)(B) by striking 200,000 and inserting 50,000;

(2) in subsection (d)(1)(A)—

(A) in clause (ii) by striking including and all that follows through national scenic area; and inserting including a project to add capacity to the Interstate System to improve mobility;;

(B) by striking clause (v); and

(C) by redesignating clauses (vi) through (viii) as clauses (v) through (vii), respectively;

(3) in subsection (e)—

(A) in paragraph (1) by striking 15 percent and inserting 10 percent; and

(B) in paragraph (2) by striking $5,000,000 and inserting $10,000,000;

(4) in subsection (f)(2) by striking for the purpose of improving habitat for aquatic species and inserting that is eligible under section 176(d) of title 23;

(5) in subsection (n)—

(A) by striking Notification.— (1) In general.—Not later than 60 days and inserting Notification.—Not later than 3 days;

(B) by striking paragraph (2); and

(C) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively;

(6) in subsection (p) by striking paragraph (3);

(7) in subsection (q)—

(A) in paragraph (3)(A) by inserting and except as provided in paragraph (7) after other provision of law;

(B) in paragraph (4)(A) by striking $150,000,000 and inserting 10 percent of such amounts; and

(C) by adding at the end the following:

Text this section adds to the law

(7) Limited waiver authority for preapproval risk

(A) Authority. The Secretary may increase the Federal share for a project receiving a grant under this subsection to not more than 100 percent, solely with respect to eligible costs described in subparagraph (C), if the Secretary—

(i) finds that the project that includes construction activities has not received—

(I) a final Federal environmental decision under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); or

(II) a Federal, State, or local permit necessary to commence construction; and

(ii) determines that requiring the non-Federal share prior to such decision or permit would materially increase the risk of unreasonable project delay or project nondelivery.

(B) Limitations. The Secretary may exercise the authority under subparagraph (A)—

(i) for not more than 5 projects in a fiscal year; and

(ii) only to the extent that the aggregate amount of Federal participation applied pursuant to subparagraph (A) for the eligible costs described in subparagraph (C) does not exceed $30,000,000 for a project.

(C) Eligible costs. The authority under this paragraph may be applied only to nonconstruction costs the Secretary determines are reasonably necessary to advance the project to receipt of the approvals described in subparagraph (A)(i), including planning, preliminary engineering, environmental review, and permitting activities.

(D) Total award. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to authorize the Secretary to increase the total amount of a grant awarded under this subsection.

(E) Notice and report. Not later than 15 days prior to exercising authority under this paragraph, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate a notification that includes the basis for the determination under subparagraph (A).

(F) Oversight and recovery

(i) Limitation. The Secretary may exercise the authority under this paragraph only if the Secretary determines that the recipient has established appropriate accounting, internal control, and recordkeeping procedures to ensure that amounts made available under this paragraph are used only for the eligible costs described in subparagraph (C).

(ii) Repayment required. If the Secretary determines that amounts made available under this paragraph were expended for costs that are not eligible under this paragraph, the Secretary shall require repayment of such amounts and may take such other action as the Secretary determines appropriate under the grant agreement.

(G) Sunset. This paragraph shall cease to be effective on October 1, 2031.

; and

(8) by striking subsection (s).

B Improved Project Delivery and Environmental Streamlining

C Miscellaneous

II Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation

III Public Transportation

A Reforms

B Miscellaneous

C Reorganization and Consolidation of Chapter 53

IV Highway Safety

V Motor Carriers

A General Provisions

B Commercial Motor Vehicle Operators

C Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety

D Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Reform

E Safe Integration of Autonomous Commercial Motor Vehicles

VI Innovation

VII Freight and Multimodal Transportation Programs

A Freight Policy

B Multimodal Policy and Programs

VIII Miscellaneous

IX Sport Fishing and Recreational Boating Safety

X Railroads and Hazardous Materials

A Authorization of Appropriations and Grant Reforms

B Amtrak Reforms

C Passenger Rail Policy

D Rail Safety and Innovation

E Project Delivery

F Hazardous Materials Transportation