HR 3264 · 112th Congress 2011–2013, ended

Transportation Empowerment Act

Introduced Oct 26, 2011 Originated House Sponsor Tom Graves R-GA

Latest action · Oct 27, 2011 Referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

IntroducedOct 26, 2011
Passed HouseNot reached
Passed SenateNot reached
To the PresidentNot reached
Became lawNot reached

Summary

Transportation Empowerment Act - Declares the purposes of the Act, including returning maximum discretionary authority and fiscal responsibility to the states for all elements of the national surface transportation systems (excluding the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways).

Authorizes appropriations out of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for FY2014-FY2018 for specified core programs under the federal-aid highway program, including: (1) the interstate maintenance program, (2) emergency relief for highways and roads, (3) the interstate bridge program, (4) the federal lands highways program, (5) highway safety programs, (6) surface transportation research, and (7) administrative expenses.

Authorizes a state to transfer and use excess federal-aid highway funds for any surface transportation project (including mass transit and rail).

Revises the apportionment of federal-aid highway funds under the interstate maintenance component. Requires 1% of such funds to be apportioned to the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, with the remaining 99% of funds apportioned to the states based on certain formulae.

Limits federal assistance to states for highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation to bridges on the federal-aid highway system. Repeals the authorization of federal assistance to states for non-federal bridges and highways.

Declares that, beginning with FY2013, a highway construction or improvement project shall not be considered a federal project: (1) unless and until a state expends federal funds for the construction portion of such project, (2) solely by reason of the state expenditure of federal funds before the construction phase of the project (including for any environmental document or design work), or (3) upon state reimbursement to the federal government of the federal costs of such projects.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make amounts in the HTF available for expenditure for core highway programs through FY2018.

Requires the Secretary of Treasury to transfer from the HTF amounts equivalent to motorboat and aviation fuel taxes collected before October 1, 2020, to: (1) the Land and Water Conservation Fund, (2) the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, and (3) the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.

Requires the Secretary to pay from the HTF into the general fund of the Treasury amounts equivalent to the floor stocks refunds made before July 1, 2021.

Prescribes a motor fuel tax rate schedule for financing of core highway programs.

Terminates, on September 30, 2013, the authority of the Secretary to make certain transfers to the Mass Transit Account.

Establishes in the HTF the Infrastructure Special Assistance Fund, $1 billion of which shall be available during FY2014-FY2017 to states for transportation-related program expenditures.

Directs the Secretary to allocate to the states for surface transportation projects (including mass transit and rail) any excess highway tax receipts appropriated to the HTF in FY2014-FY2017.

Reduces the excise taxes imposed on: (1) gasoline from 18.3 cents to 3.7 cents, (2) diesel fuel or kerosene from 24.3 cents to 5.0 cents, and (3) diesel-water fuel emulsion from 19.7 cents to 4.1 cents. Requires credits or refunds of certain floor stocks taxes on liquids imposed before October 1, 2017.

Declares that this Act shall become effective only if the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) certifies that it is deficit neutral.

Cosponsors 48

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Oct 26, 2011 to Sep 10, 2012; 11 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
R-OK	James Lankford	Original	Oct 26, 2011
R-UT	Jason Chaffetz	Original	Oct 26, 2011
R-SC	Jeff Duncan	Original	Oct 26, 2011
R-SC	Joe Wilson	Original	Oct 26, 2011
R-TX	Louie Gohmert	Original	Oct 26, 2011
R-GA	Lynn A. Westmoreland	Original	Oct 26, 2011
R-SC	Mick Mulvaney	Original	Oct 26, 2011
R-GA	Paul C. Broun	Original	Oct 26, 2011
R-GA	Rob Woodall	Original	Oct 26, 2011
R-SC	Tim Scott	Original	Oct 26, 2011
R-SC	Trey Gowdy	Original	Oct 26, 2011
I-MI	Justin Amash		Nov 16, 2011
R-AZ	David Schweikert		Nov 18, 2011
R-IL	Joe Walsh		Dec 7, 2011
R-AZ	Trent Franks		Dec 7, 2011
R-FL	Dennis A. Ross		Feb 6, 2012
R-MI	Tim Walberg		Feb 8, 2012
R-FL	Allen B. West		Feb 15, 2012
R-MD	Andy Harris		Feb 15, 2012
R-TX	Kevin Brady		Feb 15, 2012
R-NM	Stevan Pearce		Feb 15, 2012
R-LA	John Fleming		Feb 29, 2012
R-MN	Michele Bachmann		Feb 29, 2012
R-FL	Sandy Adams		Feb 29, 2012
R-IN	Dan Burton		Mar 7, 2012
R-WI	Reid J. Ribble		Mar 7, 2012
R-TX	Jeb Hensarling		Mar 8, 2012
R-IN	Todd Rokita		Mar 19, 2012
R-GA	Phil Gingrey		Mar 20, 2012
R-OH	Jim Jordan		Mar 21, 2012
R-ID	Raul R. Labrador		Mar 22, 2012
R-FL	Steve Southerland II		Mar 22, 2012
R-KS	Mike Pompeo		Mar 27, 2012
R-NC	Walter B. Jones		Mar 27, 2012
R-FL	Cliff Stearns		Mar 29, 2012
R-TN	Diane Black		Apr 16, 2012
R-TX	John Abney Culberson		Apr 27, 2012
R-IN	Mike Pence		May 7, 2012
R-TX	Bill Flores		May 9, 2012
R-LA	Steve Scalise		May 15, 2012
R-AZ	Jeff Flake		Jun 7, 2012
R-AZ	Benjamin Quayle		Jun 19, 2012
R-LA	Bill Cassidy		Jun 26, 2012
R-CA	Tom McClintock		Jun 26, 2012
R-MO	Billy Long		Jul 19, 2012
R-IN	Marlin A. Stutzman		Aug 1, 2012
R-FL	Jeff Miller		Aug 7, 2012
R-KS	Tim Huelskamp		Sep 10, 2012

Committees 3

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

Chamber	Committee	What it did
House	Transportation and Infrastructure Committee	Referred Oct 26, 2011
	Highways and Transit Subcommittee	Referred Oct 27, 2011
House	Ways and Means Committee	Referred Oct 26, 2011
House	Budget Committee	Referred Oct 26, 2011

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

Oct 27, 2011Referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
Oct 26, 2011Introduced in House
Oct 26, 2011Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Tenth Amendment-- The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Article I, Section 8-- The Congress shall have Power . . . To establish Post Offices and Post Roads

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the page H7133.

CRS reports 2

Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.

Cite it 2

Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.

Product	Title	Kind	Published
RL30304	The Federal Excise Tax on Motor Fuels and the Highway Trust Fund: Current Law and Legislative History Archived	Report	Feb 22, 2016
R40431	Federalism Issues in Surface Transportation Policy: A Historical Perspective Archived	Report	Dec 8, 2015

Related bills 1

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

Bill	Title	Relationship	Latest action
S 1164	Transportation Empowerment Act	Identical bill	Jun 9, 2011

Titles 2

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced: To empower States with authority for most taxing and spending for highway programs and mass transit programs, and for other purposes.
Short Titles as Introduced: Transportation Empowerment Act

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Transportation and Public Works.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Oct 26, 2011Introduced in House

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.