II 111th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1795 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES October 15, 2009 Ms. Murkowski (for herself and Mr. Begich) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, to permit certain revenues of private providers of public transportation by vanpool received from providing public transportation to be used for the purpose of acquiring rolling stock, and to permit certain expenditures of private vanpool contractors to be credited toward the local matching share of the costs of public transportation projects.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Private Investment in Commuter Vanpooling Act of 2009.

2.

Government’s share of costs for public transportation projects

Section 5323(i) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: (3)

Costs incurred by private providers of public transportation by vanpool

(A)

Local matching share

The local matching share provided by a recipient of assistance for a capital project under this chapter may include any amounts expended by a private provider of public transportation by vanpool for the acquisition of rolling stock to be used by such private provider in the recipient’s service area, excluding any amounts the provider may have received in Federal, State, or local government assistance for such acquisition. (B)

Use of revenues

A private provider of public transportation by vanpool may use revenues it receives in the provision of public transportation service in the service area of a recipient of assistance under this chapter that are in excess of the private provider’s operating costs for the purpose of acquiring rolling stock, if the private provider enters into a legally binding agreement with the recipient that requires the private provider to use the rolling stock in the recipient’s service area. (C)

Definitions

In this paragraph, the following definitions apply: (i)

Private provider of public transportation by vanpool

The term private provider of public transportation by vanpool means a private entity providing vanpool services in the service area of a recipient of assistance under this chapter using a commuter highway vehicle or vanpool vehicle. (ii)

Commuter highway vehicle; vanpool vehicle

The term commuter highway vehicle or vanpool vehicle means any vehicle— (I)the seating capacity of which is at least 6 adults (not including the driver); and (II)at least 80 percent of the mileage use of which can be reasonably expected to be for the purposes of transporting commuters in connection with travel between their residences and their place of employment. .