[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 690 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 690

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

                             April 4, 2005

 Mr. Domenici 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 ``American Indian Reservation 
Transportation Improvement Program Act''.

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) $330,000,000 for fiscal year 2004;
                            ``(iv) $360,000,000 for fiscal year 2005;
                            ``(v) $390,000,000 for fiscal year 2006;
                            ``(vi) $420,000,000 for fiscal year 2007;
                            ``(vii) $450,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; 
                        and
                            ``(viii) $480,000,000 for fiscal year 
                        2009.''.
    (b) 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''.
    (c) Indian Reservation Road Bridges.--Section 202(d)(4)(B) of title 
23, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) 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, preconstruction, 
                        construction, and inspection of projects to 
                        replace,''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(ii) Availability.--Funds made available 
                        to carry out this subparagraph--
                                    ``(I) shall be available for 
                                obligation in the same manner as if the 
                                funds were apportioned under chapter 1; 
                                and
                                    ``(II) shall not be used to pay any 
                                administrative costs.''.

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) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Indian tribe.--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).
                    ``(B) Reservation.--The term `reservation' means--
                            ``(i) an Indian reservation in existence as 
                        of the date of enactment of this subsection;
                            ``(ii) a public domain Indian allotment; 
                        and
                            ``(iii) an Indian reservation in the State 
                        of Oklahoma that existed at any time before, 
                        but is no longer in existence as of, the date 
                        of enactment of this subsection.
                    ``(C) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the 
                Secretary of Transportation, acting through the 
                Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration.
            ``(2) Program.--The Secretary 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.
            ``(3) Cooperation.--The Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) establish and maintain intra-agency 
                cooperation between the Federal Highway Administration 
                and the Federal Transit Administration in--
                            ``(i) administering tribal transit programs 
                        funded by the Federal Highway Administration; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) exploring options for the transfer 
                        of funds from the Federal Highway 
                        Administration to the Federal Transit 
                        Administration for the direct funding of tribal 
                        transit programs; and
                    ``(B) establish and maintain working relationships 
                with representatives of regional tribal technical 
                assistance programs to ensure proper administration of 
                ongoing and future tribal transit programs carried out 
                using Federal funds.
            ``(4) 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 shall use $20,000,000 to carry out this 
        subsection.''.
                                 <all>