[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5980 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5980

   To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize state of good 
     repair grants to be used for public transportation resilience 
                  improvement, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 18, 2023

  Mr. Espaillat (for himself and Ms. Norton) introduced the following 
                                  bill

                            October 25, 2023

     Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 49, United States Code, to authorize state of good 
     repair grants to be used for public transportation resilience 
                  improvement, 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 ``Resilient Transit Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    Section 5302 of title 49, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (17) through (25) as 
        paragraphs (18) through (26), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (16) the following:
            ``(17) Resilience improvement.--The term `resilience 
        improvement' has the meaning given the term in section 176(a) 
        of title 23.''.

SEC. 3. STATE OF GOOD REPAIR GRANTS FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION 
              RESILIENCE IMPROVEMENT.

    (a) In General.--Section 5337 of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) Public Transportation Resilience Improvement Grants.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may make grants under this 
        subsection to assist State and local government authorities in 
        financing 1 or more eligible activities described in paragraph 
        (2).
            ``(2) Eligible activities.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A recipient of a grant under 
                this subsection may use grant amounts for public 
                transportation resilience improvements that increase 
                the resilience of public transportation systems from 
                the impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise, 
                flooding, wildfires, extreme weather events, and other 
                natural disasters.
                    ``(B) Inclusions.--Activities eligible to be 
                carried out using grant amounts under this subsection 
                include--
                            ``(i) the installation of mitigation 
                        measures that prevent the intrusion of 
                        floodwaters;
                            ``(ii) the installation of equipment to 
                        detect the occurrence of a flood event;
                            ``(iii) the replacement of equipment or 
                        facilities that are currently prone to flood 
                        events or will be in the future;
                            ``(iv) the purchase of new equipment to 
                        support regular maintenance of drainage and 
                        pumping infrastructure;
                            ``(v) the replacement of equipment stressed 
                        during extreme temperature events;
                            ``(vi) the installation of equipment to 
                        regulate temperatures and sensors to monitor 
                        extreme temperatures;
                            ``(vii) the development of backup systems 
                        to provide redundancy during the outage of a 
                        primary power source;
                            ``(viii) the assessment of system 
                        vulnerabilities to current and future weather 
                        events, natural disasters, and climate change, 
                        including sea level rise;
                            ``(ix) the planning of system improvements 
                        and emergency response strategies to address 
                        identified vulnerabilities; and
                            ``(x) any other activity for resilience 
                        improvement, as determined by the Secretary.
            ``(3) Types of projects.--Grants under this subsection may 
        be used to finance--
                    ``(A) standalone projects; and
                    ``(B) components of projects carried out under 
                subsection (b)(1).
            ``(4) Public transportation resilience improvement 
        formula.--Of the amounts made available under section 
        5338(a)(2)(L) to carry out this subsection--
                    ``(A) 97.15 percent shall be apportioned to 
                recipients in accordance with subsection (c); and
                    ``(B) 2.85 percent shall be apportioned to 
                recipients in accordance with subsection (d).
            ``(5) Annual reports.--Not later than 1 year after the 
        enactment of this subsection, and annually thereafter, the 
        Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
        and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
        Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 
        Representatives and publish on the website of the Department of 
        Transportation, a report that describes the implementation of 
        this subsection during the preceding calendar year, including--
                    ``(A) a detailed description of the activities 
                carried out with grants provided under this subsection;
                    ``(B) a summary of each project financed in whole 
                or in part by a grant provided under this subsection 
                that benefits or is located in--
                            ``(i) a neighborhood with poverty and 
                        unemployment rates that exceed the average in 
                        the United States;
                            ``(ii) an underserved community or a 
                        medically underserved community;
                            ``(iii) a location where the EJ Index is 
                        above the national average, as determined by 
                        EJSCREEN;
                            ``(iv) an environmental justice community, 
                        as documented by federally recognized 
                        environmental justice mapping and equity 
                        screening tools; and
                            ``(v) a neighborhood where 30 percent or 
                        more of households receive benefits under--
                                    ``(I) the supplemental nutrition 
                                assistance program under the Food and 
                                Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et 
                                seq.); or
                                    ``(II) a mandatory spending program 
                                of the Federal Government for which, as 
                                determined by the Secretary, 
                                eligibility for the benefits of the 
                                program, or the amount of such 
                                benefits, is determined on the basis of 
                                income or resources of the individual 
                                or family seeking the benefit; and
                    ``(C) recommendations to improve the administration 
                of this subsection.
            ``(6) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Environmental justice community.--The term 
                `environmental justice community' means a community 
                with significant representation of communities of 
                color, low-income communities, or Tribal and indigenous 
                communities, that experiences, or is at risk of 
                experiencing higher or more adverse human health or 
                environmental effects.
                    ``(B) EJ index.--The term `EJ Index' means the 
                environmental justice indexes in EJSCREEN.
                    ``(C) EJSCREEN.--The term `EJSCREEN' means the 
                environmental justice mapping and screening tool 
                created by the Environmental Protection Agency.
                    ``(D) Medically underserved community.--The term 
                `medically underserved community' has the meaning given 
                such term in section 799B of the Public Health Service 
                Act (42 U.S.C. 295p).
                    ``(E) Underserved community.--The term `underserved 
                community' means--
                            ``(i) a community located within a ZIP Code 
                        or census tract that is identified by the 
                        Secretary as--
                                    ``(I) a low-income community;
                                    ``(II) a community of color; or
                                    ``(III) a Tribal community; or
                            ``(ii) any other community that the 
                        Secretary determines is disproportionately 
                        vulnerable to, or bares a disproportionate 
                        burden of, any combination of economic, social, 
                        environmental, or climate stressors.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 5337 of title 49, United States 
Code, is amended by striking ``section 5338(a)(2)(K)'' each place it 
appears and inserting ``section 5338(a)(2)(L)''.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATIONS.

    Section 5338(a) of title 49, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 
                ``$13,634,000,000'' and inserting ``$13,934,000,000'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking 
                ``$13,990,000,000'' and inserting ``$14,290,000,000'';
                    (C) in subparagraph (D), by striking 
                ``$14,279,000,000'' and inserting ``$14,579,000,000''; 
                and
                    (D) in subparagraph (E), by striking 
                ``$14,642,000,000'' and inserting ``$14,942,000,000''; 
                and
            (2) in paragraph (2)(L)--
                    (A) by striking ``$3,587,778,037'' and inserting 
                ``$3,887,778,037'';
                    (B) by striking ``$3,680,934,484'' and inserting 
                ``$3,980,934,484'';
                    (C) by striking ``$3,755,675,417'' and inserting 
                ``$4,055,675,417'';
                    (D) by striking ``$3,850,496,668'' and inserting 
                ``$4,150,496,668''; and
                    (E) by inserting ``and $300,000,000 for each of 
                fiscal years 2024 through 2027 shall be available to 
                carry out section 5337(g)'' after ``section 5337(f)''.
                                 <all>