[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 119 (Thursday, September 19, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8927-S8930]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BINGAMAN:
  S. 2971. A bill to amend the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st 
Century to provide the Highway Trust Fund additional funding for Indian 
reservation roads, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Indian 
Affairs.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I am very pleased today to introduce the 
Tribal Transportation Program Improvement Act of 2002. The goal of this 
legislation is to help provide safe and efficient transportation 
throughout Indian country. At the same time, this bill will help 
promote economic development, self-determination, and employment of 
Indians and Alaska Natives. I believe the Federal Government has an 
obligation to provide safe and efficient transportation for all tribes. 
Indians pay the same Federal gasoline, tire, and other taxes, as all 
other Americans and are entitled to the same quality of transportation.
  This bill is a 6-year reauthorization and improvement of the Indian 
Reservation Roads program, which funds transportation programs for all 
tribes. Next year, Congress must reauthorize

[[Page S8928]]

the IRR program, along with all other transportation programs in TEA-
21. I am introducing the bill today as a first step in that process.
  Congress has long recognized the importance of improving 
transportation and access to tribal lands. The Indian Reservation Roads 
Program was established in 1928, and in 1946 the BIA and the FHWA 
executed the first memorandum of agreement for joint administration of 
the program. Since 1982, funding for tribal transportation programs as 
been provided from the Federal Highway Trust Fund. Major changes to the 
program were again made in 1998 as part of TEA-21.
  Today, the Indian Reservation Roads program serves more than 560 
federally recognized Indian tribes and Alaskan native villages in 33 
States. The IRR system comprises 25,700 miles of BIA and tribally owned 
roads and another 25,600 miles of State, county, and local government 
public roads. There are also 4,115 bridges on the IRR system, and one 
ferryboat operation, the Inchelium-Gifford Ferry in Washington State.
  Of the 25,700 miles of BIA and tribal roads on the IRR system, only 
about one quarter are paved. Only about 40 percent of the 25,600 miles 
of state, county, or local government IRR roads are paved. Together, 
over two-thirds of all IRR roads are unpaved. Many of these unpaved 
roads are not passable in bad weather. In addition, about 140 of the 
753 bridges owned by the BIA are currently rated as deficient.
  Some of the roads on tribal lands resemble roads in third-world 
countries. In some cases, the roads are little more than wheel tracks. 
Even though the IRR system perhaps the most rudimentary of any 
transportation network in the country, over 2 billion vehicle miles are 
annually traveled on the system.
  According to the Federal Highway Administration's most recent 
assessment of the Nation's highways, bridges, and transit, only 34 
percent of paved IRR roads are rated in good condition, 37 percent are 
rated only fair, and 29 percent are rated poor. Of course, these 
ratings apply only to the paved roads on the IRR system, not the 33,000 
miles of dirt and gravel roads.
  The poor road quality also has a serious impact on highway safety. 
According to FHWA, the highway fatality rate on Indian Reservation 
Roads is four times above the national average. Automobile accidents 
are the number one cause of death among young American Indians.
  Reflecting the current poor state of roads throughout the Indian 
country, FHWA now estimates the backlog of improvement needs for IRR 
roads at a whopping $6.8 billion dollars.
  This year, the authorized funding level for IRR is $275 million from 
the highway trust fund. As required in TEA-21, the BIA distributes 
highway funding to federally recognized tribes each year using a 
relative need formula. This formula reflects the cost to improve 
eligible roads, road usage, and population of each tribe. Some 
modifications to the formula are currently being made as part of a 
negotiated rule making.
  I hope all Senators recognize the broad scope of the IRR program and 
its impact on 33 of the 50 States. I'd like to read a list of the 
fiscal year 2002 distribution of IRR funding in the States that have 
tribal roads and ask unanimous consent that the table be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the table was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

     EXHIBIT 1.--APPROXIMATE DISTRIBUTION OF FISCAL YEAR 2002 INDIAN
                        RESERVATION ROAD FUNDING
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Funding to
                          State                               tribes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arizona.................................................     $56,100,000
Oklahoma................................................      34,000,000
New Mexico..............................................      31,900,000
Alaska..................................................      18,500,000
Montana.................................................      13,600,000
South Dakota............................................      11,700,000
Washington..............................................      10,100,000
Wisconsin...............................................       6,600,000
North Dakota............................................       6,500,000
Minnesota...............................................       5,780,000
California..............................................       5,100,000
Oregon..................................................       3,900,000
Utah....................................................       2,970,000
Idaho...................................................       2,850,000
Wyoming.................................................       2,070,000
Michigan................................................       1,560,000
Nevada..................................................       1,290,000
North Carolina..........................................       1,190,000
Colorado................................................       1,100,000
New York................................................         949,000
Maine...................................................         890,000
Kansas..................................................         851,000
Mississippi.............................................         706,000
Nebraska................................................         626,000
Florida.................................................         550,000
Texas...................................................         220,000
Louisiana...............................................         197,000
Rhode Island............................................         162,000
Iowa....................................................         126,000
Alabama.................................................         100,000
South Carolina..........................................          89,000
Connecticut.............................................          83,000
Massachusetts...........................................          47,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: BIA. Data are approximate because some reservations and roads
  extend into more than one state.

  I know every senator is keenly aware of the importance of 
transportation to the basic quality of life and economic development of 
a region. Safe roads are essential for children to get to school, for 
sick and elderly to receive basic health and medical treatment, and for 
food and other necessities to move to shops and to consumers. Moreover, 
transportation is critical to any community's efforts to sustain robust 
economies and to attract new jobs and businesses.
  Unfortunately, most tribes today lack the basic road systems that 
most of us take for granted. Indian communities continue to lag behind 
the rest of the Nation in quality of life and economic vitality. 
Unemployment rates in Indian country frequently top 50 percent and 
poverty rates often exceed 40 percent.
  The limited availability of housing and jobs on the reservation 
forces people to commute long distances everyday for work, school, 
health care, basic government services, shopping, or even to obtain 
drinking water.
  I'd now like to take a moment to discuss the impact of the Indian 
Reservation Roads Program on just one tribe, the Navajo Nation. I think 
most senators know that Navajo is the largest federally recognized 
Indian tribe. The current membership is about 280,000. By itself, 
Navajo represents about one quarter of the entire Indian Reservation 
Roads program.
  The Navajo Reservation covers 17.1 million acres in the States of 
Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is roughly the size of the State of 
West Virginia. The reservation includes the three satellite communities 
of Alamo, Ramah, and To'hajiilee in New Mexico.
  According to BIA, the Navajo IRR system includes 9,800 miles of 
public roads, or about 20 percent of all IRR roads. However, 78 percent 
of the roads within Navajo are unpaved. Because of the nature of the 
soil and terrain, many of the unpaved roads are impassable after snow 
or rain. Navajo estimates a current backlog of road construction 
projects totaling $2 billion.
  The safety of bridges is also a continuing concern on the Navajo 
reservation. Of the 173 bridges on Navajo, 51 are rated deficient. Of 
the deficient bridges, 27 must be completely replaced and the rest need 
major rehabilitation.
  The Navajo Nation also operates a transit system with 14 buses and 
three vans. The system carries 75,000 passengers each year. The system 
serves both Navajo people as well as the nearby communities of Gallup, 
Farmington, Flagstaff, and Winslow.
  Finally, the few roads that are being built on the Navajo Reservation 
are not being properly maintained. Funding for road maintenance is not 
part of the IRR program. Instead road maintenance is funded each year 
as part of the BIA's annual appropriation bill. Unfortunately, BIA's 
budget lags woefully behind the need for road maintenance. Each year 
the Navajo Region of BIA requests about $32 million to maintain about 
6000 miles of roads, but receives only about $6 million, or about 20 
percent of the funds needed just to maintain the existing roads.
  The bill I am introducing today will begin to address this crushing 
need for road construction and transit programs throughout Indian 
Country. The bill will benefit all tribes, both large and small. I'd 
like to briefly summarize the major provisions of the bill.
  First, the bill increases funding for the Indian Reservation Roads 
program to $2.775 billion for the six years from 2004 to 2009. Under 
TEA-21, the IRR program is currently authorized for $275 million per 
year. This level represents less than 1 percent of annual Federal 
funding for road construction and rehabilitation. However, the 50,000 
miles of the IRR system represent about 5 percent of the nation's 
957,000 miles of Federal-aid-highways. I do believe the substantial 
increase in IRR funding in my bill is fully justified based on the very 
poor condition of so many IRR roads as well as the importance of 
transportation to economic development in Indian country.

[[Page S8929]]

  Second, the bill removes the obligation limitation from the Indian 
Reservation Roads program. This funding limitation was first applied to 
the IRR program in 1998 in TEA-21, and over the six years of TEA-21 the 
limitation will have cut about $31 million per year in much-needed 
funding out of IRR. The IRR was not subject to any obligation 
limitation from 1983 to 1997, and my bill restores the program to the 
status it had before 1998.
  Third, the bill restores the Indian Reservation Bridge Program with 
separate funding of $90 million over six years. TEA-21 had eliminated 
separate funding for the Indian reservation bridge program in 1998. In 
addition, the bill streamlines the bridge program by expanding the 
allowable uses of bridge funding to include planning, design, 
engineering, construction, and inspection of Indian reservation road 
bridges.
  Fourth, the bill increases the current limit for tribal 
transportation planning from 2 percent to 4 percent. These funds will 
be used by tribes to compile important transportation data and to 
forecast their future transportation needs and long-range plans. Many 
of the tribes have indicated they currently don't have funding for 
capacity building, and the additional planning funds in my bill would 
address this need.
  Fifth, TEA-21 established a negotiated rule making for distribution 
of funds based on the relative needs of each tribe for transportation. 
To ensure the distribution is tied to actual needs, my bill requires 
the Secretary of Transportation to verify the existence of all roads 
that are part of the Indian reservation road system.
  Sixth, I propose a new tribal transit program to provide direct 
funding to tribes from the Federal Transit Administration. The new 
program would parallel the existing Indian Reservation Roads program 
funded through FHWA. In general, while States may allocate to tribal 
areas some of their transit funding under the existing formula grant 
programs for transit for elderly and disabled, section 5210, and for 
non-urbanized areas, section 5311, they rarely do so. Because the 
tribes are at a disadvantage in having to compete for funding within 
the states, I believe we need a direct funding program to allow tribes 
to provide better transit services to young people, elderly, and others 
who lack access to private vehicles. The bill sets aside a very modest 
level of funding of $120 million over six years for the new tribal 
transit program.
  Seventh, the bill states the sense of Congress that the BIA should 
have sufficient funding to maintain all roads on the Indian Reservation 
Roads System. Federal funding for road maintenance is provided through 
the BIA's annual appropriation bill. Road maintenance has typically 
been funded at about $25 million per year, about one-fifth of the level 
needed to protect the Federal investment in IRR roads.
  Finally, the bill increases funding for the successful school bus 
route maintenance program for counties in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah 
that maintain roads used by school buses on the Navajo Reservation. The 
funding over six years is $24 million. Without this funding many of the 
children on the reservation would often not be able to get to school. I 
ask unanimous consent that a letter from Gallup McKinley County Public 
Schools describing this program be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                            Gallup McKinley County


                                               Public Schools,

                                                       Gallup, NM.
     Hon. Jeff Bingaman,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Bingaman: The Gallup McKinley County Schools 
     serve over 14 thousand students, of which 10,040 are bussed 
     daily. Our District's school buses travel 9,235 miles daily. 
     Several miles of these roads are primitive dirt roads with 
     poor or no drainage, no guard rails, and some not maintained. 
     The inability to safely negotiate school buses over these 
     roads during wet, muddy and snowy conditions, greatly 
     restricts our ability to provide adequate services for 
     families living along these particular roadways. Continuing, 
     and expanding, funding for school bus route maintenance is 
     vital to providing safe and efficient transportation for 
     thousands of students throughout our County.
       The School bus route maintenance programs have helped 
     tremendously. Our County Roads Division (McKinley County) has 
     been tremendous in maintaining hundreds of miles of bus route 
     roads. The bus route improvements made in the Bread Springs 
     area have benefited families immensely. Along with graveling, 
     they constructed a bus turnaround. Improvements have also 
     been made and maintained in other areas in our County such as 
     Rock Springs. This bus route was graveled along with a 
     graveled bus turnaround. In Rock Springs, Mexican Springs, 
     Coyote Canyon, and County Road 1 areas, similar improvements 
     were made, allowing us to provide safe and efficient services 
     for hundreds of families.
       The School bus route program is a very important program, 
     one that should continue and expand. The McKinley County 
     Roads Division has worked diligently to provide safe access 
     and passage for our School District's 160 school buses. 
     Without the school bus route program, it will be impossible 
     to maintain safe conditions on these roads. To insure the 
     safety of our school children and families, the program must 
     continue.
       Your help in sponsoring bills in the past which address the 
     unique situations with respect to school bus route roads have 
     been greatly appreciated. Your continuing support of the 
     school bus route program will enable our County Roads 
     Division to improve and maintain hundreds of miles of school 
     bus routes.
       It is through these cooperative efforts that we are able to 
     provide safe and efficient transportation for thousands of 
     school children daily. Thank you for your continued efforts.
           Sincerely,
                                                       Ben Chavez,
                                            GMCS Support Services.

  Mr. BINGAMAN. The IRR system doesn't just serve Indian communities, 
but also visitors, including tourists, recreational, commercial and 
industrial users of roads and transit throughout Indian country. For 
the tribes, transportation is an important contributor to economic 
development, self-determination, and employment for all Indian 
communities. This bill represents a very modest, but important step 
toward providing basic transportation services throughout Indian 
country.
  The proposals in my bill are similar to many of the recommendations 
presented by Chairwoman Robyn Burdette of the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe 
of Nevada at the August 8 hearing of the Subcommittee on 
Transportation, Infrastructure, and Nuclear Safety of the Environment 
and Public Works Committee. In her testimony, Chairwoman Burdette 
specifically cited the need to remove the obligation limitation, 
increase funding for the IRR program, create new programs for transit 
and bridges, and increase funding for road maintenance in the Interior 
appropriations bill. All of these items are addressed in my bill.
  In addition, my bill parallels most of the recommendations in the 
recent White Paper prepared by the National Congress of American 
Indians' TEA-21 Reauthorization Task Force.
  I well appreciate that tribes in different regions of the country may 
have different views and proposals on how best to improve Indian 
transportation programs. I see my bill as just the first step in a 
yearlong process leading up to the reauthorization of the TEA-21. I do 
believe it is important that we start the process as soon as possible, 
and that is my goal in introducing this bill today. I hope that 
Chairman Inouye and Senator Campbell of the Committee on Indian Affairs 
will soon hold hearings on the reauthorization of the Indian 
Reservation Roads Program. I look forward to working with them an the 
other members of the committee on developing a consensus proposal that 
is fair to all tribes.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2971

       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 ``Tribal Transportation 
     Program Improvement Act of 2002''.

     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) $350,000,000 for fiscal year 2004;
       ``(iv) $425,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; and
       ``(v) $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 
     2009.''.

[[Page S8930]]

       (b) Obligation Ceiling.--Section 1102(c)(1) of the 
     Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (23 U.S.C. 104 
     note; 112 Stat. 116) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``distribute obligation'' and inserting the 
     following: ``distribute--
       ``(A) obligation'';
       (2) by inserting ``and'' after the semicolon at the end; 
     and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(B) for any fiscal year after fiscal year 2003, any 
     amount of obligation authority made available for Indian 
     reservation road bridges under section 202(d)(4), and for 
     Indian reservation roads under section 204, of title 23, 
     United States Code;''.
       (c) 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''.
       (d) Indian Reservation Road Bridges.--Section 202(d)(4) of 
     title 23, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (B)--
       (A) 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, 
     construction, and inspection of projects to replace,''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(ii) Availability.--Funds made available to carry out 
     this subparagraph shall be available for obligation in the 
     same manner as if the funds were apportioned under chapter 
     1.''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (D)--
       (A) by striking ``(D) Approval requirement.--'' and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(D) Approval and need requirements.--''; and
       (B) by striking ``only on approval of the plans, 
     specifications, and estimates by the Secretary.'' and 
     inserting ``only--
       ``(i) on approval by the Secretary of plans, 
     specifications, and estimates relating to the projects; and
       ``(ii) in amounts directly proportional to the actual need 
     of each Indian reservation, as determined by the Secretary 
     based on the number of deficient bridges on each reservation 
     and the projected cost of rehabilitation of those bridges.''.
       (e) Fair and Equitable Distribution.--Section 202(d) of 
     title 23, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
     the following:
       ``(5) Fair and equitable distribution.--To ensure that the 
     distribution of funds to an Indian tribe under this 
     subsection is fair, equitable, and based on valid 
     transportation needs of the Indian tribe, the Secretary 
     shall--
       ``(A) verify the existence, as of the date of the 
     distribution, of all roads that are part of the Indian 
     reservation road system; and
       ``(B) distribute funds based only on those roads.''.
       (f) Indian Reservation Roads Planning.--Section 204(j) of 
     title 23, United States Code, is amended in the first 
     sentence by striking ``2 percent'' and inserting ``4 
     percent''.

     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) Definition of indian tribe.--In this subsection, 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).
       ``(2) Program.--
       ``(A) In general.--The Secretary of Transportation 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.
       ``(B) Amount of grants.--The amount of a grant provided to 
     an Indian tribe under subparagraph (A) shall be based on the 
     need of the Indian tribe, as determined by the Secretary of 
     Transportation.
       ``(3) 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 of Transportation shall use $20,000,000 to carry 
     out this subsection.''.

     SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
       (1) the maintenance of roads on Indian reservations is a 
     responsibility of the Bureau of Indian Affairs;
       (2) amounts made available by the Federal Government as of 
     the date of enactment of this Act for maintenance of roads on 
     Indian reservations under section 204(c) of title 23, United 
     States Code, comprise only 30 percent of the annual amount of 
     funding needed for maintenance of roads on Indian 
     reservations in the United States; and
       (3) any amounts made available for construction of roads on 
     Indian reservations will be wasted if those roads are not 
     properly maintained.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
     Congress should annually provide to the Bureau of Indian 
     Affairs such funding as is necessary to carry out all 
     maintenance of roads on Indian reservations in the United 
     States.
                                 ______