HR 3064 - GROW AMERICA Act | 114th Congress

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.

IntroducedJul 15, 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.

Stop Corporate Expatriation and Invest in America's Infrastructure Act of 2015

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to revise rules for the taxation of inverted corporations (i.e., U.S. corporations that acquire foreign companies to reincorporate in a foreign jurisdiction with income tax rates lower than the United States) to provide that a foreign corporation that acquires the properties of a U.S. corporation or partnership after May 8, 2014, shall be treated as an inverted corporation and thus subject to U.S. taxation if, after such acquisition:

it holds more than 50% of the stock of the new entity (expanded affiliated group), or
the management or control of the new entity occurs primarily within the United States and the new entity has significant domestic business activities.

Cosponsors 12

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jul 15, 2015 to Oct 21, 2015; 8 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
D-DC	Eleanor Holmes Norton	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CT	Elizabeth H. Esty	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Grace F. Napolitano	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Jared Huffman	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Julia Brownley	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-OR	Peter A. DeFazio	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MI	Sander M. Levin	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Steve Israel	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Mark DeSaulnier		Jul 28, 2015
D-IL	Cheri Bustos		Sep 10, 2015
D-CA	John Garamendi		Sep 10, 2015
D-IL	Tammy Duckworth		Oct 21, 2015

Committees 8

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 Jul 15, 2015
	Aviation Subcommittee	Referred Jul 16, 2015
	Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee	Referred Jul 16, 2015
	Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee	Referred Jul 16, 2015
	Highways and Transit Subcommittee	Referred Jul 16, 2015
	Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee	Referred Jul 16, 2015
	Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee	Referred Jul 16, 2015
House	Energy and Commerce Committee	Referred Jul 15, 2015
	Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee	Referred Jul 17, 2015
House	Ways and Means Committee	Referred Jul 15, 2015
House	Science, Space, and Technology Committee	Referred Jul 15, 2015
	Research and Technology Subcommittee	Referred Aug 18, 2015
House	Natural Resources Committee	Referred Jul 15, 2015
	Federal Lands Subcommittee	Referred Aug 4, 2015
	Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee	Referred Aug 4, 2015
	Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee	Referred Aug 4, 2015
House	Oversight and Government Reform Committee	Referred Jul 15, 2015
House	Budget Committee	Referred Jul 15, 2015
House	Rules Committee	Referred Jul 15, 2015

Actions 13

Everything that happened, newest first.

Aug 18, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Research and Technology.
Aug 4, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands.
Aug 4, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs.
Aug 4, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans.
Jul 17, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade.

Show all 13 actions

In the Congressional Record 7

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
Extensions	Debate and remarks E881	Chris Van Hollen D-MD	Jun 10, 2016
House	Debate and remarks H1822	James P. McGovern D-MA	Apr 19, 2016
House	Debate and remarks H6824	John Garamendi D-CA	Oct 6, 2015
House	Debate and remarks H5602	Loretta Sanchez D-CA	Jul 29, 2015
House	Debate and remarks H5542	Alcee L. Hastings D-FL	Jul 28, 2015
House	Debate and remarks H5350, H5351	Bradley Byrne R-AL, Chris Van Hollen D-MD	Jul 22, 2015
House	Debate and remarks H5194, H5210Lists H5237H.R. 3064–3083	Alcee L. Hastings D-FL, Chris Van Hollen D-MD, Eddie Bernice Johnson D-TX, Peter A. DeFazio D-OR	Jul 15, 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

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: This bill is enacted pursuant to Article I Section 8 of the United States Constitution.

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 161, no. 110, July 15, 2015, page H5237.

CRS reports 1

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

Cite it 1

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

Product	Title	Kind	Published
R44792	Commercial Truck Safety: Overview Archived	Report	Mar 21, 2017

Related bills 5

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

Bill	Title	Relationship	Latest action
S 198	Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2015	Related bill	Jan 20, 2015
HR 415	Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2015	Related bill	Jan 20, 2015
HR 2410	GROW AMERICA Act	Related bill	Aug 18, 2015
HR 2933	At-Grade Crossing Enhancement Act of 2015	Related bill	Jun 26, 2015
HR 3344	Metropolitan Planning Enhancement Act	Related bill	Jul 30, 2015

Titles 6

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: Stop Corporate Expatriation and Invest in America's Infrastructure Act of 2015; Federal Public Transportation Act of 2015; Rail for America Act

Subjects

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

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Jul 15, 2015Introduced in House

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