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The Federal Highway Administration this week finalized an agreement with Texas to allow TX-DOT to assume responsibilities for environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to ensure that highway projects in the state comply with environmental law. As part of the project delivery reforms contained in both the SAFETEA-LU transportation authorization legislation, and MAP-21, states are allowed to take on the environmental review responsibilities of the US DOT.

Passage Expected in Senate This afternoon, the House of Representatives passed a $1.1 trillion funding bill for fiscal year (FY) 2015 by a vote of 219-206.  The bill funds most of the government through September 2015.  The House will also takes steps to allow the Senate time to vote while avoiding a government shutdown at midnight tonight.  In addition to funding the government, the bill included many policy riders. 

The Senate followed the lead of the House of Representatives and passed a $1.1 trillion funding bill for fiscal year (FY) 2015 and the President has signed it. The bill funds most of the government through September 2015. It also includes many policy riders some of which impact the construction industry (easing of hours of service limits on truck drivers was included). Included in the bill are appropriations for the highway and transit programs.

Four House members from two committees critical to the highway reauthorization are asking their colleagues to sign onto a letter to House leadership that expresses strong bipartisan commitment for addressing transportation needs by providing a long-term funding solution.  It is a bipartisan Dear Colleague letter that is now being circulated by Reps, Ribble 9R-Wisc), Lipinski D-Ill), Reed (R-NY) and Pascrell (D-NJ), (T&I and W&M members), calling for an end to short term extensions and finding a revenue source to support a long term bill. The letter has been sent to all Republican and Democrat House Offices requesting their support.  The idea behind the letter is to get a majority of Rs and Ds to sign on. The hope is to send it to Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader Pelosi when we get the appropriate number of signatures, hopefully sometime in early February, demonstrating strong support for this legislation. 

The pending FY 2015 funding bill contains a provision that would suspend part of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) hours-of-service limits on truckers. The provision suspends the requirement that truck drivers must include two 1:00 to 5:00 a.m. off-duty periods during a consecutive 34-hour off-duty period before their weekly driving hours would restart. The provision also removes the once-per-week limit of the use of the restart. These two restrictions were part of the FMCSA hours-of-service rule that went into effect on July 1, 2013. The reset requirements have been a problem for trucking companies, including construction companies since they were imposed. Sen. Collins (R-Maine) included the language in the year-end funding bill because she believes that the requirement has the perverse effect of putting more trucks on the road during heavy traffic periods. ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø worked with a coalition of trucking interests in support of the Collins amendment.

Ask Your Reps to Sign Letter through Hardhats for Highways Although a gas tax increase in the lame duck was declared dead this week by Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), there was some positive news with four members of the House circulating a bipartisan letter in support of transportation funding. 

Several National newspapers over the past few weeks have noted the recent decline in gasoline prices and suggested that now is the time to raise the federal gasoline tax to address transportation infrastructure needs. On October 19 USA Today join the chorus and said raise the gas tax now while its painless and will not be noticed by commuters. The paper pointed out that since the gas tax was last increased in 1993, it has lost half its purchasing value.  Bloomberg  and the Washington Post also chimed in endorsing the increase. The Post said that Congress should take this action during the lame duck session following a the Midterm elections on November 4 and not wait until the current patch runs out in May. Several US Senators including Boxer (D-Cal), Corker (R-Tenn) and Carper (D-Del) have been making public statements calling for Congress to provide the revenue to address a long term transportation reauthorization in the lame duck.

³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø was invited to participate in a stakeholders meeting this week called by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to look into questions about the effectiveness of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program. The meeting was held in response to a DOT Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report critical of the success of the program over its 30-year history. The OIG report said state DOTs, which are charged with administering the program, are focused on certifying firms for inclusion in the program, but not their success once in the program. OIG noted that only a small percentage of the certified firms actually participate and that those few firms have been in the program for ten years or more. DOT was interested in hearing from stakeholders about how this outcome could be improved.

Visit HardhatsforHighways.org to Contact Your Elected Officials Following the midterm elections on Nov. 4, the 113th Congress will reconvene to take final action on a number of legislative items that must be addressed before its adjournment. While Congress passed an extension providing funding until May 2015 for the federal transportation programs, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø is pushing for transportation authorization and funding to be one of the priorities that will be taken up in the lame duck session.

Book your Hotel – Conference Rate Expires Next Week Construction Future will be the overriding topic at the 2014 Highway & Utilities Contractors Conference on Nov. 13-15 at the Omni La Costa resort in San Diego, Calif. A variety of sessions have been organized to cover topics that will help contractors position their companies for Construction Future. Highlights include: discovering the next generation of managers; technology applications; paperless projects; industry megatrends; November election impacts; and Design-Build success stories. To learn more, book your hotel room and register, click here.