[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7587 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7587

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue a notice of proposed 
   rulemaking with respect to categorical exclusions of the Maritime 
                Administration, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 7, 2024

  Mrs. Peltola (for herself and Mr. Rouzer) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue a notice of proposed 
   rulemaking with respect to categorical exclusions of the Maritime 
                Administration, 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 ``Port Optimization for Responsible 
Transportation Act''.

SEC. 2. MARITIME ADMINISTRATION.

    (a) Categorical Exclusions.--
            (1) Reciprocal use of categorical exclusions.--Not later 
        than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
        Secretary of Transportation shall issue a notice of proposed 
        rulemaking to establish that the Maritime Administrator shall 
        approve any action qualifying as a categorical exclusion 
        established by the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal 
        Transit Administration, or the Federal Railroad Administration, 
        as outlined in part 771 of title 23, Code of Federal 
        Regulations, when the applicable requirements of that 
        categorical exclusion have been met.
            (2) New categorical exclusions.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than 6 months after the 
                date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 
                publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to propose new 
                Maritime Administration categorical exclusions for port 
                authority projects that require the approval of the 
                Secretary under the National Environmental Policy Act 
                of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
                    (B) Expanding list.--The Maritime Administration's 
                list of categorical exclusions shall be expanded with 
                the goal of having a list that allows the Maritime 
                Administration to issue categorical exclusions that 
                maritime port authorities would typically use, 
                independently of the lists of other Department of 
                Transportation modal agencies, including categorical 
                exclusions--
                            (i) corresponding to project types that 
                        have typically been granted a Finding of No 
                        Significant Impact in past Maritime 
                        Administration-granted projects and could 
                        feasibly be categorical exclusions; and
                            (ii) that the Secretary determines would be 
                        useful to maritime port authorities in the 
                        course of Federal grant-funded projects.
            (3) Process for regular updates.--The Secretary shall 
        include in the rule required by paragraph (2) a process by 
        which the Maritime Administration will update the list of 
        categorical exclusions every 4 years to reflect lessons learned 
        in grant administration and project construction that lead to 
        new efficiencies in the requirements of the National 
        Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
    (b) Application Timelines.--Section 54301(a)(5) of title 46, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) Delayed notice of funding opportunity.--If an 
                amendment is made to a published solicitation for grant 
                applications such that an applicant would need the 
                information contained in the amendment to draft an 
                application, other than an amendment of the amount of 
                grant funding available, the Secretary shall extend the 
                application deadline by the number of days between the 
                initial solicitation and the amendment.''.
    (c) Project Budget Reviews.--Section 54301(a)(9) of title 46, 
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B) by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (C) by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) grant contracts are approved efficiently by 
                the Secretary, minimizing delays for minor adjustments 
                to project scopes and budgets due to inflationary 
                effects on projects.''.
    (d) Staffing and Grant Timelines.--Section 54301(a)(11) of title 
46, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) Administrative and oversight report.--Not 
                later than 365 days after the date of the enactment of 
                this subparagraph, and each year thereafter, the 
                Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the 
                average length of grant obligation timelines and the 
                nature of any staffing shortages relevant to 
                administering this program.''.

SEC. 3. FEDERAL PERMITTING IMPROVEMENT STEERING COUNCIL.

    Section 41001(6)(A)(i)(II) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 
4370m(6)(A)(i)(II)) is amended by inserting ``, except for projects 
sponsored by a port authority'' after ``$200,000,000''.

SEC. 4. BUILD AMERICA BUY AMERICA.

    (a) Limited Waivers.--Section 54301(a)(11) of title 46, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) Certification of domestic supply.--If the 
                Secretary denies an application for a waiver under the 
                procedures outlined in section 8301 of title 41, the 
                Secretary shall provide to the applicant a written 
                certification that--
                            ``(i) the steel, iron, or manufactured 
                        goods, as applicable (referred to in this 
                        subparagraph as the `item'), is produced in the 
                        United States in a sufficient and reasonably 
                        available amount;
                            ``(ii) the item produced in the United 
                        States is of a satisfactory quality; and
                            ``(iii) includes a list of known 
                        manufacturers in the United States from which 
                        the item can be obtained.''.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that, to build 
the necessary domestic manufacturing capabilities, port authorities 
should be permitted to make group or pooled purchases of equipment, 
also known as ``piggybacking'', in which the post-award use of a 
contractual document allows multiple port authorities to purchase the 
same supplies or equipment through the original contractual document.
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