[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 528 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 528

 To reauthorize funding for maintenance of public roads used by school 
               buses serving certain Indian reservations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 5, 2003

  Mr. Bingaman (for himself and Mr. Bennett) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment 
                            and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To reauthorize funding for maintenance of public roads used by school 
               buses serving certain Indian reservations.

    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 ``Indian School Bus Route Safety 
Reauthorization Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF ADDITIONAL CONTRACT AUTHORITY FOR STATES 
              WITH INDIAN RESERVATIONS.

    (a) Availability to States.--Not later than October 1 of each 
fiscal year, funds made available under subsection (e) for the fiscal 
year shall be made available by the Secretary of Transportation, in 
equal amounts, to each State that has within the boundaries of the 
State all or part of an Indian reservation having a land area of 
10,000,000 acres or more.
    (b) Availability to Eligible Counties.--
            (1) In general.--Each fiscal year, each county that is 
        located in a State to which funds are made available under 
        subsection (a), and that has in the county a public road 
        described in paragraph (2), shall be eligible to apply to the 
        State for all or a portion of the funds made available to the 
        State under this section to be used by the county to maintain 
        such public roads.
            (2) Roads.--A public road referred to in paragraph (1) is a 
        public road that--
                    (A) is within, is adjacent to, or provides access 
                to an Indian reservation described in subsection (a);
                    (B) is used by a school bus to transport children 
                to or from a school or Headstart program carried out 
                under the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.); and
                    (C) is maintained by the county in which the public 
                road is located.
            (3) Allocation among eligible counties.--
                    (A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph 
                (B), each State that receives funds under subsection 
                (a) shall provide directly to each county that applies 
                for funds the amount that the county requests in the 
                application.
                    (B) Allocation among eligible counties.--If the 
                total amount of funds applied for under this section by 
                eligible counties in a State exceeds the amount of 
                funds available to the State, the State shall equitably 
                allocate the funds among the eligible counties that 
                apply for funds.
    (c) Supplementary Funding.--For each fiscal year, the Secretary of 
Transportation shall ensure that funding made available under this 
section supplements (and does not supplant)--
            (1) any obligation of funds by the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
        for road maintenance programs on Indian reservations; and
            (2) any funding provided by a State to a county for road 
        maintenance programs in the county.
    (d) Use of Unallocated Funds.--Any portion of the funds made 
available to a State under this section that is not made available to 
counties within 1 year after the funds are made available to the State 
shall be apportioned among the States in accordance with section 104(b) 
of title 23, United States Code.
    (e) Funding.--
            (1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated 
        from the Highway Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit 
        Account) to carry out this section--
                    (A) $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004 and 
                2005;
                    (B) $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 and 
                2007; and
                    (C) $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 and 
                2009.
            (2) Contract authority.--Funds made available to carry out 
        this section shall be available for obligation in the same 
        manner as if the funds were apportioned under chapter 1 of 
        title 23, United States Code.
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