Hokama, the immediate past president of the National Association of Counties, has been a leading national advocate for passage of the FAST Act, or Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, since being elected to lead NACo a year ago.
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The bill cleared the House with a vote of 359-65 hours before the Senate passed it by a vote of 83-16. It is the first long-term authorization since 2005’s SAFETEA-LU, which expired in 2009.
“Rebuilding our country’s infrastructure creates much-needed certainty for businesses looking to invest and for state legislatures working to unsnarl transportation gridlock keeping too many workers stuck on the road instead of home with their families”, Democratic Sen.
“This bipartisan legislation will provide $281 billion in guaranteed funding for highway, transit and transportation safety programs over the next five years, including more than $3.4 billion in direct highway and transit formula funds for Colorado”, he said.
A provision sponsored by Rep. Dina Titus, a Nevada Democrat whose district includes Las Vegas, authorizes the creation of a national advisory committee made up of travel and tourism industry officials to develop a national strategy for ensuring that transportation policies address the needs of travelers.
AASHTO Executive Director Bud Wright thanked the Senate and House leadership and the transportation bill conferees for making this legislation a priority and negotiating a bi-partisan agreement. Ron Wyden said in a statement.
After a largely party-line vote on repealing Obamacare, Senators were able to come together Thursday to overwhelmingly approve a multi-year highway bill. Nor does it resolve how to pay for transportation programs in the long term. ARC is a regional economic development agency that funds projects to increase job opportunities, strengthen the capacity of the people of Appalachia, develop and improve Appalachia’s infrastructure, and build the Appalachian Development Highway System.
Notably, the bill neglects to raise the federal 18.4-cent per gallon gas tax that hasn’t been raised since 1993.
The Obama administration had proposed a bigger overall increase in funding, which would have been paid for in part by taxing corporate profits now held overseas.
On the revenue side, Congress used one-time sources including the sale of oil from the strategic reserve.
Sargent pointed out the deal increases the federal government’s annual spending on highway and transit programs.
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The FAST Act includes $225.2 billion from the HTF for highway investment, a $20.2 billion increase over five years compared to FY 2015 funding. “This bill gives Colorado communities the benefit of five years of certainty to maintain our roads and bridges and begin construction on new projects to support our growing economy”.
