[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2971 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2971

To amend the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to provide 
 from the Highway Trust Fund additional funding for Indian reservation 
                     roads, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 19, 2002

 Mr. Bingaman introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to provide 
 from the Highway Trust Fund additional funding for Indian reservation 
                     roads, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tribal Transportation Program 
Improvement Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 1101(a)(8)(A) of the 
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (112 Stat. 112) is 
amended by striking ``of such title'' and all that follows and 
inserting ``of that title--
                            ``(i) $225,000,000 for fiscal year 1998;
                            ``(ii) $275,000,000 for each of fiscal 
                        years 1999 through 2003;
                            ``(iii) $350,000,000 for fiscal year 2004;
                            ``(iv) $425,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; 
                        and
                            ``(v) $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
                        2006 through 2009.''.
    (b) Obligation Ceiling.--Section 1102(c)(1) of the Transportation 
Equity Act for the 21st Century (23 U.S.C. 104 note; 112 Stat. 116) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``distribute obligation'' and inserting the 
        following: ``distribute--
                    ``(A) obligation'';
            (2) by inserting ``and'' after the semicolon at the end; 
        and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) for any fiscal year after fiscal year 2003, 
                any amount of obligation authority made available for 
                Indian reservation road bridges under section 
                202(d)(4), and for Indian reservation roads under 
                section 204, of title 23, United States Code;''.
    (c) Additional Authorization of Contract Authority for States With 
Indian Reservations.--Section 1214(d)(5)(A) of the Transportation 
Equity Act for the 21st Century (23 U.S.C. 202 note; 112 Stat. 206) is 
amended by inserting before the period at the end the following: ``, 
$3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 and 2005, $4,000,000 for each 
of fiscal years 2006 and 2007, and $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
2008 and 2009''.
    (d) Indian Reservation Road Bridges.--Section 202(d)(4) of title 
23, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B)--
                    (A) by striking ``(B) Reservation.--Of the 
                amounts'' and all that follows through ``to replace,'' 
                and inserting the following:
                    ``(B) Funding.--
                            ``(i) Reservation of funds.--
                        Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
                        there is authorized to be appropriated from the 
                        Highway Trust Fund $15,000,000 for each of 
                        fiscal years 2004 through 2009 to carry out 
                        planning, design, engineering, construction, 
                        and inspection of projects to replace,''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(ii) Availability.--Funds made available 
                        to carry out this subparagraph shall be 
                        available for obligation in the same manner as 
                        if the funds were apportioned under chapter 
                        1.''; and
            (2) in subparagraph (D)--
                    (A) by striking ``(D) Approval requirement.--'' and 
                inserting the following:
                    ``(D) Approval and need requirements.--''; and
                    (B) by striking ``only on approval of the plans, 
                specifications, and estimates by the Secretary.'' and 
                inserting ``only--
                            ``(i) on approval by the Secretary of 
                        plans, specifications, and estimates relating 
                        to the projects; and
                            ``(ii) in amounts directly proportional to 
                        the actual need of each Indian reservation, as 
                        determined by the Secretary based on the number 
                        of deficient bridges on each reservation and 
                        the projected cost of rehabilitation of those 
                        bridges.''.
    (e) Fair and Equitable Distribution.--Section 202(d) of title 23, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Fair and equitable distribution.--To ensure that the 
        distribution of funds to an Indian tribe under this subsection 
        is fair, equitable, and based on valid transportation needs of 
        the Indian tribe, the Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) verify the existence, as of the date of the 
                distribution, of all roads that are part of the Indian 
                reservation road system; and
                    ``(B) distribute funds based only on those 
                roads.''.
    (f) Indian Reservation Roads Planning.--Section 204(j) of title 23, 
United States Code, is amended in the first sentence by striking ``2 
percent'' and inserting ``4 percent''.

SEC. 3. INDIAN RESERVATION RURAL TRANSIT PROGRAM.

    Section 5311 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(k) Indian Reservation Rural Transit Program.--
            ``(1) Definition of indian tribe.--In this subsection, the 
        term `Indian tribe' has the meaning given the term in section 4 
        of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act 
        (25 U.S.C. 450b).
            ``(2) Program.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary of Transportation 
                shall establish and carry out a program to provide 
                competitive grants to Indian tribes to establish rural 
                transit programs on reservations or other land under 
                the jurisdiction of the Indian tribes.
                    ``(B) Amount of grants.--The amount of a grant 
                provided to an Indian tribe under subparagraph (A) 
                shall be based on the need of the Indian tribe, as 
                determined by the Secretary of Transportation.
            ``(3) Funding.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
        for each fiscal year, of the amount made available to carry out 
        this section under section 5338 for the fiscal year, the 
        Secretary of Transportation shall use $20,000,000 to carry out 
        this subsection.''.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the maintenance of roads on Indian reservations is a 
        responsibility of the Bureau of Indian Affairs;
            (2) amounts made available by the Federal Government as of 
        the date of enactment of this Act for maintenance of roads on 
        Indian reservations under section 204(c) of title 23, United 
        States Code, comprise only 30 percent of the annual amount of 
        funding needed for maintenance of roads on Indian reservations 
        in the United States; and
            (3) any amounts made available for construction of roads on 
        Indian reservations will be wasted if those roads are not 
        properly maintained.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that Congress 
should annually provide to the Bureau of Indian Affairs such funding as 
is necessary to carry out all maintenance of roads on Indian 
reservations in the United States.
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