Pavement Preservation Journal - Winter 2015 - (Page 15) House Matches Senate Bill with Own By Tracy D. Taylor D.C. reaching agreement. These include: the fact may be in chaos, but that both authorize funding for six years, the Highway Bill neither imposes a user fee or gas tax, and marches on! both offer budgetary offsets to "pay for" Despite the the portion of the bill that exceeds the tumult in Washington, D.C., this fall with revenue generated by the current highway Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner trust fund. (R-Ohio) announcing his resignation in the However, the House and Senate-passed end of September, followed by the withdrawal bills do have some significant differences from the speaker's race of his likely successor Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy chairman of House Transportation which will need to be reconciled. These include the House conversion of the Surface (R-Calif.), and the election of Ways & Means & Infrastructure Committee Transportation Program to a block grant Committee chair Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as program, which the Senate bill does not do. Additionally, the new speaker, progress continued on much needed the Senate bill increases the public transportation funding long-term surface transportation program reauthorization. at a faster rate than the highway funding, whereas the On Nov. 5 - after three days of debate and consideration House bill keeps current division of funding between of over 100 amendments - the House of Representatives highway programs and public transportation programs. overwhelmingly passed a multi-year surface transportation bill, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 (STRRA), H.R. 3763. With passage of STRRA, IDENTIFY NEW FUNDING it's likely Congress will provide the American public with At press time, while it seems virtually certain that an important and much needed holiday gift: a long term Congress will pass, and the president will sign into law, a surface transportation law. long term highway reauthorization bill by the end of 2015, it remains unclear whether the bill will be three, four, five or six years in length, and whether it will be fully funded for SIX-YEAR BILL the length of the bill. The House-passed surface transportation bill - which During House passage of the STRRA Act, an amendment provides authorization for six years of funding at current was offered which would change the way in which the bill levels, with increases for inflation - provides $16 billion was paid for, and the length of time for which it is funded. It less in funding, over the course of the six years, than the is unclear how the House and Senate conference committee Senate-passed transportation reauthorization bill, the will deal with this difference between the House and DRIVE Act. Senate-passed bills. Members of Congress and stakeholders The funding level for the House bill is $325 billion over have varying opinions about whether they would like six years: $261 billion for highway programs and $55 billion higher funding for a shorter period of time, or funding for transit. The bill creates a Nationally Significant Freight consistent with current levels for a longer period of time. and Highway Projects program, funded at $4.5 billion for For the first time in several years, the importance of fiscal years 2016 2021 for large-scale projects of national transportation infrastructure needs are recognized in and regional importance. The bill also converts the Surface Congress and we are within fighting distance of seeing a Transportation Program (STP) to a block grant program bill signed into law. While the final month of the year are increasing the flexibility of the STP program for states and fraught with unexpected events and many "must pass" local governments. bills, such as approving appropriations for the fiscal year, Significantly, the bill maintains eligibility for pavement the Highway Bill remains one of the most critical agenda preservation in existing programs. The bill also reduces items on Congress' desk. After a short term extension, it delays with environmental reviews and permitting, and is likely to see passage which should provide much more increases efficiencies by streamlining several DOT offices. The bill continues the vast majority of MAP-21 provisions, funding certainty to states and regional government. many of which are yet to be fully implemented. The House and Senate-passed bills have important Taylor is principal, Williams & Jensen, PLLC, FP2 Inc.'s similarities, which increase the likelihood of the two bodies representative on Capitol Hill. Winter 2015 pavement preservation journal 15 Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pavement Preservation Journal - Winter 2015 President’s Message High-Volume Preservation Tests Placed in New NCAT Phase House Matches Senate Bill with Own PPRA Provides Canadian Perspective on Preservation Session Topics Identified for 2016 National Conference Kansas City Welcomes Midwest Pavement Preservation Partnership Utah DOT Researchers Seek Friction Device Correlation Next Year, See Future of Asphalt at Eurasphalt & Eurobitume Index of Advertisers Pavement Preservation Journal - Winter 2015 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0218 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0118 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0417 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0317 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0217 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0117 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0416 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0316 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0216 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0116 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0415 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0315 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0215 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0115 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0414 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0314 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0214 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0114 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0413 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0313 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0213 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/FPPQ/FPPQ0113 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0412 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0312 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0212 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0411 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0311 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0211 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0111 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0410 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0310 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0210 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0110 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0409 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0309 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0209 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/FPPQ0109 http://www.nxtbookMEDIA.com
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