United States S 1985: ROUTES Act

Bill Text

II
117TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 1985
To establish a Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic
Success Initiative, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JUNE 9, 2021
Mrs. FISCHER (for herself and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To establish a Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation
for Economic Success Initiative, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Opportunities 4
to Use Transportation for Economic Success Act’’ or the 5
‘‘ROUTES Act’’. 6
SEC. 2. RURAL OPPORTUNITIES TO USE TRANSPORTATION 7
FOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS INITIATIVE. 8
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1985.IS S1985kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

2
•S 1985 IS
(1) ROUTES COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘ROUTES 1
Council’’ means the Rural Opportunities to Use 2
Transportation for Economic Success Council estab-3
lished by subsection (c)(1). 4
(2) ROUTES OFFICE.—The term ‘‘ROUTES 5
Office’’ means the Rural Opportunities to Use 6
Transportation for Economic Success Office estab-7
lished by subsection (b)(1). 8
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 9
the Secretary of Transportation. 10
(b) ROUTES OFFICE.— 11
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 12
within the Department of Transportation the Rural 13
Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic 14
Success Office— 15
(A) to improve analysis of projects from 16
rural areas, Tribal areas, and underserved com-17
munities in rural or Tribal areas applying for 18
Department of Transportation discretionary 19
grants, including ensuring that project costs, 20
local resources, and the larger benefits to the 21
people and the economy of the United States 22
are appropriately considered; and 23
(B) to provide rural communities, Tribal 24
communities, and underserved communities in 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1985.IS S1985kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

3
•S 1985 IS
rural or Tribal areas with technical assistance 1
for meeting the transportation infrastructure 2
investment needs of the United States in a fi-3
nancially sustainable manner. 4
(2) OBJECTIVES.—The ROUTES Office shall— 5
(A) collect input from knowledgeable enti-6
ties and the public on— 7
(i) the benefits of rural and Tribal 8
transportation projects; 9
(ii) the technical and financial assist-10
ance required for constructing and oper-11
ating rural and Tribal transportation in-12
frastructure and services; 13
(iii) barriers and opportunities to 14
funding rural and Tribal transportation 15
projects; and 16
(iv) unique transportation barriers 17
and challenges facing underserved commu-18
nities in rural and Tribal areas and ways 19
to address those challenges; 20
(B) evaluate data on rural and Tribal 21
transportation challenges and determining 22
methods to align the discretionary funding and 23
financing opportunities of the Department of 24
Transportation with the needs of those commu-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1985.IS S1985kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

4
•S 1985 IS
nities for meeting national transportation goals; 1
and 2
(C) educate rural communities and Tribal 3
communities about applicable Department of 4
Transportation discretionary grants, develop ef-5
fective methods to evaluate projects in those 6
communities in discretionary grant programs, 7
and communicate those methods through pro-8
gram guidance. 9
(c) ROUTES COUNCIL.— 10
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 11
a Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for 12
Economic Success Council— 13
(A) to organize, guide, and lead the 14
ROUTES Office; and 15
(B) to coordinate rural-related and Tribal- 16
related funding programs and assistance among 17
the modal administrations. 18
(2) MEMBERSHIP.— 19
(A) IN GENERAL.—The ROUTES Council 20
shall be composed of the following officers of 21
the Department of Transportation, or their des-22
ignees: 23
(i) The Under Secretary of Transpor-24
tation for Policy. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1985.IS S1985kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

5
•S 1985 IS
(ii) The General Counsel. 1
(iii) The Chief Financial Officer and 2
Assistant Secretary for Budget and Pro-3
grams. 4
(iv) The Assistant Secretary for Re-5
search and Technology. 6
(v) The Administrators of— 7
(I) the Federal Aviation Adminis-8
tration; 9
(II) the Federal Highway Admin-10
istration; 11
(III) the Federal Railroad Ad-12
ministration; and 13
(IV) the Federal Transit Admin-14
istration. 15
(vi) The Executive Director of the Na-16
tiona