GROW AMERICA Act
Latest action · Aug 18, 2015 Referred to the Subcommittee on Research and Technology.
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.
- IntroducedMay 19, 2015
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Generating Renewal, Opportunity, and Work with Accelerated Mobility, Efficiency, and Rebuilding of Infrastructure and Communities throughout America Act or the GROW AMERICA Act
Prescribes requirements for environmental reviews with respect to state and federal agency engagement, obstruction of navigation, historic sites, categorical exclusion of multimodal projects from environmental review, and creation in the Department of Transportation (DOT) of an Interagency Infrastructure Permitting Improvement Center.
Directs DOT to establish a multimodal freight incentive grant program and a National Freight Infrastructure Program.
Redesignates the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways as the National Highway System and the National Freight Network.
Requires the federal long-range transportation plan to include a transportation system resilience assessment.
Prescribes criteria for high performing metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) representing urbanized areas with populations of over 200,000.
Removes the congestion management process from the transportation planning process for MPOs.
Directs DOT to establish a pilot program for up to 10 MPOs to improve multimodal connectivity and increase connections for disadvantaged Americans and neighborhoods with limited transportation options.
Revises requirements with respect to congestion mitigation and air quality improvement, including electric vehicle charging stations and commercial motor vehicle anti-idling facilities in rest areas along the Interstate System.
Establishes in DOT:
- a discretionary TIGER Infrastructure Grant Program for various transportation projects; and
- a discretionary FAST Grant Program to reform the way surface transportation investments and decisions are made, implemented, and funded to achieve national transportation outcomes.
Revises requirements for the funding of railroad rehabilitation and improvement financing, the state infrastructure bank program, toll roads, bridges, tunnels, and ferries.
Establishes within DOT the position of Assistant Secretary for Innovative Finance.
Reauthorizes the federal-aid highway and related programs through FY2021, including revised obligation limitation and apportionment requirements.
Directs DOT to:
- establish a nationally significant federal lands and tribal projects program to fund construction, reconstruction, or rehabilitation of nationally significant federal lands and tribal transportation projects;
- carry out a broadband infrastructure deployment initiative;
- create a program to make critical and immediate improvements to infrastructure and highway safety;
- set-aside specified funds for states for highway safety data improvement activities on public roads; and
- create and maintain data sets and data analysis tools to assist MPOs, states, and the DOT in carrying out performance management analyses.
Federal Public Transportation Act of 2015
Revises fixed guideway capital investment grants requirements. Authorizes grants to state and local governments for very small starts projects.
Revises requirements for formula grants for enhanced mobility and for rural areas, workforce development programs, and the public transportation safety program.
Requires recipients of transportation assistance to meet certain standards for hiring locally.
Reauthorizes specified public transportation assistance programs through FY2021.
Authorizes DOT to make competitive grants to state and local governmental entities for bus rapid transit projects.
Authorizes appropriations for specified highway safety programs through FY2021, and revises related requirements.
Revises criteria for state graduated driver licensing incentive grants.
Adds a 24-7 sobriety program to criteria for state repeat offender and open container laws.
Authorizes specified amounts of grant funds to states for distracted driving enforcement.
Authorizes appropriations for specified motor vehicle safety programs through FY2021, and increases penalties for safety violations.
Revises certain reporting requirements for tire manufacturers.
Requires DOT to conduct a pilot grant program to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness for a state process for informing consumers of open motor vehicle recalls at the time of motor vehicle registration.
Revises specified requirements for commercial motor vehicle and commercial driver safety.
Requires disqualification to operate a commercial motor vehicle for anyone who fails to pay an assessed civil penalty for a motor vehicle safety violation.
Revises certain medical and registration requirements for commercial motor vehicle operators.
Revises requirements for the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program.
Directs DOT to administer a High Priority Program, an innovative technology deployment grant program, and a Commercial Motor Vehicle Operators Grant Program.
Authorizes DOT to establish:
- a motor carrier safety facility working capital fund, and
- a financial assistance program for commercial driver's license program implementation.
Directs DOT to maintain for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration a motor carrier safety advisory committee.
Revises requirements for the Unified Carrier Registration System plan.
Repeals the authorization for self-insurance by motor carriers.
Prescribes notice requirements relating to decisions that electronic logging devices fail to comply with standards.
Authorizes DOT to issue regulations:
- governing contractors that exercise control over motor carrier operations; and
- requiring motor vehicle employers to track and compensate employees for on-duty, not-driving time.
Authorizes DOT, with respect to unsafe conditions or practices in the transportation of hazardous materials (hazmat transportation), to order necessary:
- operational controls, restrictions, and prohibitions without prior notice or an opportunity for a hearing; and
- removal, remediation, or disposal of hazardous materials causing unreasonable risk of death, personal injury, or significant harm to the property or the environment.
Authorizes DOT to collect reasonable fees for the administration of the special permits and approvals for deposit into a Hazardous Materials Approvals and Permits Fund.
Revises requirements for planning and training grants under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986.
Reauthorizes the program for regulating hazmat transportation through FY2021.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through FY2023 specified highway-related taxes as well as requirements for expenditures from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund.
Replaces the Highway Trust Fund with a Transportation Trust Fund, and authorizes appropriations to it through FY2021.
Directs DOT to establish and support a National Cooperative Freight Transportation Research Program and a Priority Multimodal Research Program.
Revises the competitive selection process for the university transportation centers consortia program.
Requires the Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) to create data sets and data analysis tools for intermodal transportation data.
Establishes in the BTS a National Transportation Library.
Authorizes the BTS Director to establish a Port Performance Statistics Program to provide nationally consistent measures of performance of the nation's maritime ports.
Revises requirements for the intelligent transportation system (ITS) program. Includes as an ITS program goal the development and deployment of automated vehicles in all modes of surface transportation.
Prescribes requirements for the use of funds to develop ITS infrastructure, equipment, and systems.
Rail for America Act
Directs DOT to facilitate by financial assistance the establishment of a National High-Performance Rail System of integrated passenger and freight rail services, including a Current Passenger Rail Service Program and a Rail Service Improvement Program.
Authorizes appropriations through FY2021 for the System and for the planning, development, construction, and implementation of rail corridors and related infrastructure improvements.
Requires Amtrak to submit to the Secretary draft 5-year business line plans and draft 5-year capital asset plans.
Authorizes DOT to establish Regional Rail Development Authorities, including a Regional Committee, to facilitate the development of multi-state high-performance rail services, and to coordinate these investments with other rail, transit, highway, and aviation system services.
Prescribes requirements for the standardization of passenger equipment and level-entry boarding platforms.
Directs DOT to:
- evaluate the shared-use of right-of-way by passenger and freight rail systems and the operational, institutional, and legal structures that would best support improvements to both of these systems; and
- conduct a nationwide disparity and availability study to establish the availability and utilization of small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals in publicly funded railroad projects.
Requires DOT to complete a National Rail Development Plan meeting certain criteria, and facilitate development of Regional Rail Development Plans.
Authorizes DOT to prescribe regulations or issue orders to require host railroads for joint operations that occur within a small geographic area to develop unified rules governing all operations within that area.
Revises or prescribes requirements relating to positive train control, hours of service, maximum employee duty hours, safety appliances, locomotive inspections, noise emission standards, and damaged track inspection equipment.
Authorizes federal agency heads to construct, install, operate, and maintain electric charging infrastructure for official agency vehicles.
Cosponsors 62
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 19, 2015 to Oct 26, 2015; 19 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-NJ | Albio Sires | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-IN | André Carson | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-AZ | Ann Kirkpatrick | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-FL | Corrine Brown | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-NV | Dina Titus | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-MD | Donna F. Edwards | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-TX | Eddie Bernice Johnson | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-DC | Eleanor Holmes Norton | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-MD | Elijah E. Cummings | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-CT | Elizabeth H. Esty | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-CA | Grace F. Napolitano | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-NY | Jerrold Nadler | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-CA | John Garamendi | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-CA | Julia Brownley | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-FL | Lois Frankel | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-MA | Michael E. Capuano | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-MN | Richard M. Nolan | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-WA | Rick Larsen | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-TN | Steve Cohen | Original | May 19, 2015 |
| D-MD | Chris Van Hollen | May 20, 2015 | |
| D-WI | Mark Pocan | May 21, 2015 | |
| D-NY | Paul Tonko | May 21, 2015 | |
| D-VT | Peter Welch | May 21, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Jared Huffman | May 29, 2015 | |
| D-NY | Charles B. Rangel | Jun 1, 2015 | |
| D-NC | G. K. Butterfield | Jun 1, 2015 | |
| D-WI | Gwen Moore | Jun 1, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Alan S. Lowenthal | Jun 3, 2015 | |
| D-OR | Earl Blumenauer | Jun 8, 2015 | |
| D-OH | Marcia L. Fudge | Jun 10, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Mark Takano | Jun 10, 2015 | |
| D-GA | John Lewis | Jun 17, 2015 | |
| D-MI | Brenda L. Lawrence | Jun 18, 2015 | |
| D-MO | Wm. Lacy Clay | Jun 18, 2015 | |
| D-MN | Betty McCollum | Jun 23, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Adam B. Schiff | Jul 7, 2015 | |
| D-LA | Cedric L. Richmond | Jul 7, 2015 | |
| D-OH | Joyce Beatty | Jul 7, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Karen Bass | Jul 7, 2015 | |
| D-NC | Alma S. Adams | Jul 8, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Lois Capps | Jul 8, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Eric Swalwell | Jul 9, 2015 | |
| D-WA | Jim McDermott | Jul 9, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Tony Cárdenas | Jul 9, 2015 | |
| D-PA | Matt Cartwright | Jul 10, 2015 | |
| D-FL | Alcee L. Hastings | Jul 13, 2015 | |
| D-OH | Tim Ryan | Jul 13, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Mike Thompson | Jul 14, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Pete Aguilar | Jul 15, 2015 | |
| D-IL | Bobby L. Rush | Jul 20, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Mark DeSaulnier | Jul 20, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Judy Chu | Jul 21, 2015 | |
| D-WA | Adam Smith | Jul 23, 2015 | |
| D-WA | Suzan K. DelBene | Jul 27, 2015 | |
| D-PA | Brendan F. Boyle | Jul 28, 2015 | |
| D-IL | Luis V. Gutierrez | Jul 28, 2015 | |
| D-CA | Zoe Lofgren | Jul 28, 2015 | |
| D-NY | Gregory W. Meeks | Jul 29, 2015 | |
| D-PR | Pedro R. Pierluisi | Jul 29, 2015 | |
| D-NY | Grace Meng | Jul 31, 2015 | |
| D-FL | Theodore E. Deutch | Oct 20, 2015 | |
| D-NM | Michelle Lujan Grisham | Oct 26, 2015 |
Committees 8
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
Actions 13
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Aug 18, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Research and Technology.
- Jul 1, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands.
- Jul 1, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs.
- Jul 1, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans.
- May 22, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade.
In the Congressional Record 4
Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.
| Where | In the Record | Members | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| House | Debate and remarks H7016 | John Garamendi D-CA | Oct 20, 2015 |
| House | Debate and remarks H5165 | John Garamendi D-CA | Jul 14, 2015 |
| House | Debate and remarks H3403, H3498 | Carolyn B. Maloney D-NY, Jerrold Nadler D-NY | May 20, 2015 |
| House · Extensions | Debate and remarks E750, E752, H3325, H3333, H3337 | Chris Van Hollen D-MD, Donna F. Edwards D-MD, Eleanor Holmes Norton D-DC, Peter A. DeFazio D-OR | May 19, 2015 |
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
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 161, no. 77, May 19, 2015, page H3389.
CRS reports 3
Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.
Cite it 3
Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.
| Product | Title | Kind | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| R46276 | The Hours of Service (HOS) Rule for Commercial Truck Drivers and the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) Mandate Archived | Report | Mar 18, 2020 |
| R44792 | Commercial Truck Safety: Overview Archived | Report | Mar 21, 2017 |
| R42877 | Funding and Financing Highways and Public Transportation Under MAP-21 Archived | Report | Sep 23, 2015 |
Related bills 3
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 2933 | At-Grade Crossing Enhancement Act of 2015 | Related bill | Jun 26, 2015 |
| HR 3064 | GROW AMERICA Act | Related bill | Aug 18, 2015 |
| HR 3344 | Metropolitan Planning Enhancement Act | Related bill | Jul 30, 2015 |
Titles 5
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To authorize highway infrastructure and safety, transit, motor carrier, rail, and other surface transportation programs, and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- GROW AMERICA Act
- Generating Renewal, Opportunity, and Work with Accelerated Mobility, Efficiency, and Rebuilding of Infrastructure and Communities throughout America Act
- Short Titles as Introduced for portions of this bill
- Rail for America Act
- Federal Public Transportation Act of 2015
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Transportation and Public Works.
- Administrative remedies
- Advanced technology and technological innovations
- Advisory bodies
- Air quality
- Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
- Appropriations
- Bankruptcy
- Broadcasting, cable, digital technologies
- Budget deficits and national debt
- Business records
- Buy American requirements
- Census and government statistics
- Civil actions and liability
- Consumer affairs
- Department of Transportation
- Drug, alcohol, tobacco use
- Education programs funding
- Employment and training programs
- Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
- Environmental technology
- Executive agency funding and structure
- Fishes
- General public lands matters
- Government corporations and government-sponsored enterprises
- Government information and archives
- Government trust funds
- Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
- Higher education
- Historic sites and heritage areas
- Hunting and fishing
- Hybrid, electric, and advanced technology vehicles
- Income tax exclusion
- Indian lands and resources rights
- Indian social and development programs
- Infrastructure development
- International organizations and cooperation
- Judicial review and appeals
- Labor standards
- Latin America
- Libraries and archives
- Licensing and registrations
- Life, casualty, property insurance
- Marine and inland water transportation
- Mexico
- Minority and disadvantaged businesses
- Motor carriers
- Motor fuels
- Motor vehicles
- National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak)
- Navigation, waterways, harbors
- Noise pollution
- Performance measurement
- Product safety and quality
- Public contracts and procurement
- Public participation and lobbying
- Public transit
- Railroads
- Regional and metropolitan planning
- Research administration and funding
- Research and development
- Roads and highways
- Rural conditions and development
- Sales and excise taxes
- Securities
- State and local finance
- State and local government operations
- Telephone and wireless communication
- Transportation and Public Works
- Transportation employees
- Transportation programs funding
- Transportation safety and security
- Travel and tourism
- Urban and suburban affairs and development
- User charges and fees
- Wages and earnings
- Water quality
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- May 19, 2015Introduced in House
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.
