Governmental Affairs
October 15, 2020
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We thought it time to provide an update on federal legislative activities. Take a look below for more information on the federal government’s continuing resolution that funds the federal government for a few more months and extends the FAST Act. Also in this email are brief updates on coronavirus relief, US Census counts, Transit Capital Investment oversight changes, and an update on the state legislative Transportation Interim Committee.
Thanks for reading,
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Federal Government Shutdown Averted and
Transportation Authorization Extended for One Year
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The federal fiscal year ended on September 30th and as we got closer and closer to that deadline, Congress still did not have an agreed budget for fiscal year 2021, creating risk of a federal shutdown. Also at risk was the expiration of the multiyear transportation authorization legislation, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. Fortunately, a Continuing Resolution (CR) was passed by the House of Representatives, the Senate, and then signed by the President - in very short order - avoiding the shutdown and extending transportation authorization for one year.
The CR (HR 8337) funds the federal government through December 11, 2020. This means that Congress will have to revisit the FY21 budget during the post-election “lame duck” period.
And, the CR (HR 8337) extends the FAST Act for one year, through September 30, 2021, at FY2020 funding levels. This means that all 2020 funding levels are carried over at flat-lined dollar amounts. This essentially means that Congress has kicked the can down the road, and will have to revisit reauthorization in 2021. In order to ensure the Highway Trust Fund (the piggy bank for the FAST Act) has enough money to fund the FAST Act programs for another year, the following additional funding amounts were included in HR8337: $10.4 billion to Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund, $3.2 billion to the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund, and $14 billion to Airport and Airway Trust Fund. These are the amounts that are estimated to be needed to keep the Highway Trust Fund financially solvent through the year. Check out this Eno Transportation summary for more information.
In terms of a long-term transportation reauthorization bill, experts anticipate that no matter who wins the November election, infrastructure investment will be a top priority for the next Congress and Presidential Administration. Because a new Congress, and potentially a new President, will be sworn into office, Congress will need to start over on the legislative process. You’ll recall that the Senate adopted a bipartisan bill for the highway portion of reauthorization, and the House adopted a Democratic-only bill for the entire transportation program. Neither body addressed the elephant in the room of how to pay for a multiyear (5-6 years) bill, given that the federal motor fuel tax (which has not been adjusted since 1993!) only covers approximately two-thirds of current federal transportation infrastructure spending levels. We of course will continue to monitor any movement and keep you updated. As a reminder, here’s a link to Utah’s shared principles for federal transportation reauthorization.
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Negotiations continue on a Coronavirus relief bill. Since mid-May, when the House passed the roughly $3 trillion HEROES Act and the Senate introduced their nearly $1 trillion HEALS Act in July, not much progress has been made as an agreement cannot be reached on the scope of aid for the package - things like relief for states and local governments, further relief for small businesses, direct payments to Americans, aid to especially hard hit sectors like the airline industry and public transit systems, aid for the U.S. Postal Service, enhanced federal unemployment insurance benefits, aid for schools, and aid for COVID testing.
We gained momentum in early September when talks started back up again, after the House released a revised version of their COVID relief bill now worth $2.4 trillion - view a summary of the revised HEROES Act bill by clicking here. The bill includes $238 billion to States and the District of Columbia and $179 billion to local governments, $32 billion to transit districts, enhanced unemployment benefits, and another round of small business relief and direct payments for Americans. However, the bill is roughly one trillion dollars more than the Republicans in the Senate are willing to accept.
Then we lost momentum over the last few weeks when President Trump directed his Administration to stop working on a coronavirus relief package suggesting that if there is another COVID relief bill it won’t be passed until after the Presidential election. But, he then also called for limited relief immediately.
We gained some momentum in the last few days with Majority Leader McConnell announcing that Senate Republicans will move on a relief package as early as next week, but Senate Republicans have offered a package closer to $500 billion. However, as we have seen over the last few weeks, the two parties cannot seem to come to any kind of consensus on relief and we may not see anything until after the election. If you’re interested here’s a recent fascinating 30-minute podcast on “The Politics of Pandemic Relief.”
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U.S. Census - Count Ends Today, Oct 15 |
The Census is vital to WFRC, and our entire region and state. As you know, WFRC brings together local government and transportation agencies to plan for the future of the region. Part of developing the Wasatch Choice Regional Vision is having accurate population counts which are essential to all of the planning that we do. Utah was the fastest growing state in the nation over the past decade, and we must have good data to be able to do an accurate job in our planning. The population counts also directly affect the amount of transportation funding that comes in from the federal government. Given the importance of an accurate and complete Census, we joined more than 130 peer organizations and partners in sending this joint letter regarding the U.S. Census 2020 to Congress.
Based on direction from the Trump Administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau began to wind down the 2020 Census count, with counts to be completed by September 30th. Ending the count early raised concerns that we would see undercounts, particularly for low-income areas, communities of color, and immigrant communities, which are less likely to respond to the Census. Administration representatives argued that the process was expedited in order to have enough time to process the data and send it to the President by the statutory deadline of December 31st.
Federal judges in the Northern District of California issued a ruling in mid-September to prevent the winding down of the 2020 Census count early. The Supreme Court ruled (in an unsigned opinion) on October 13th that the Administration can cease the census count now, despite fears of an undercount. “The harms caused by rushing this year’s census count are irreparable,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent.
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The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced a Final Rule Amending Regulations for Project Management Oversight (PMO) of Transit Capital Investments |
The final rule streamlines the PMO regulation - formal methods of overseeing the implementation of major capital projects. The regulation will reduce the number of projects subject to FTA project management oversight and modifies the regulation to make it consistent with statutory changes. The rule redefines a “major capital project” as a new fixed guideway project — or an expansion, rehabilitation or modernization of an existing fixed guideway system — with a total project cost of $300 million or more and with a Federal investment of $100 million or more. “Fixed guideway” in Utah refers to FrontRunner, Trax, and BRT that use dedicated lanes. The previous threshold defined a major capital project as a project costing $100 million or more but did not include Federal support as a factor. The regulation will become effective on October 23, 2020.
According to folks at UTA, finding efficient ways to streamline projects in proportion to the amount of federal investment is always a good thing, while retaining the helpful collaborative role with FTA to assist in developing and delivering vital transit projects.
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State Legislative Update - Transportation Interim Committee |
The legislative Transportation Interim Committee met in September and WFRC was invited to participate in two items on the agenda, Transportation Planning and Funding, and Transit District Financing. WFRC’s Executive Director Andrew Gruber kicked off the day with an overview of the transportation planning process guided by Utah’s Unified Transportation Plan. Utah’s collaborative transportation planning process is recognized as a national best practice. Excellent discussion followed and I’d suggest you click here and select “Transportation Planning and Funding” to listen to the recorded meeting.
Andrew also reminded members of the importance of the regional Wasatch Choice Regional Vision - our joint roadmap for the Wasatch Front’s transportation, land use, and economic development in the years to come. If you haven’t visited the Wasatch Choice Vision in a while, please take another look, as we have provided lots of project and data updates.
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General Election ballots arrived in our mailboxes this week! Please vote and return your ballot early. (I love the new Utah Women "I voted" sticker!) |
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Thanks for reading and as always let me know if you have any questions! |
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LaNiece Davenport
ldavenport@wfrc.org
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