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Surface
Transportation Reauthorization
The Safe, Accountable, Flexible,
and Efficient Transportation Equity Act - A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)
was signed into law on August 10, 2005.
Background
The Transportation Equity Act for the
21st Century (TEA-21), the successor bill to Intermodal Surface
Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), expired on October
1, 2003. TEA-21 authorizes federal surface transportation programs
for highways, highway safety, and transit that enable communities
and regions to achieve broad public objectives. Historic preservation
has benefited tremendously under both ISTEA and TEA-21 through
the Scenic Byways Program and the Transportation Enhancements
Program.
In November of 2003, the House of Representatives
and the Senate tooks steps to enact a bill to reauthorize TEA-21
- since expiring, TEA-21 has been operating under several extensions.
The reauthorization is intended to set funding levels and transportation
policy for the next six years and will address the Transportation
Enhancements Program, the National Register eligibility of the
Interstate Highway System, and Section 4(f) of the Department
of Transportation Act of 1966. The Senate introduced S.1072 -
the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transortation Equity
Act (SAFETEA) - which calls for $318 billion, and the House introduced
H.R. 3550 - the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users
(TEA-LU) - which calls for $284 billion. Both bills exceed the
$256 billion amount set forth by the Administration in May of
2003.
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Historic
Preservation Concerns
Of greatest importance to preservationists
is the treatment of historic resources under Section
4(f), which varies in each version of the bill. The Senate
has opted to narrow the activities exempt from 4(f) by restricting
satisfaction to those activities that are defined as having "no
adverse effect" under Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act. The House bill also uses the "no adverse
effect" standard. Unlike the Senate bill, though, it does
not provide for written consent by the SHPOs, nor is there an
explicit call for public participation. The House bill also appears
to use a different definition of "no adverse effect"
than is currently applied under Section 106.
Also of concern is the possibility that
funding for the popular Transportation Enhancements Program may
be threatened if the House and Senate need to trim the cost of
their bills. Currently, each bill keeps funding for this program
intact.
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Historic
Preservation Reaction
In preparation for the 2004 House-Senate
Committe Conference, the NCSHPO, Preservation Action (PA), and
the National Trust for Historic Preservation (Trust) prepared
a joint letter to conferees outlining their specific concerns.
The letter urged conferees to:
- Adopt the Senate bill language regarding
amendments to Section 4(f), noting that the Senate language
would both streamline historic preservation reviews while still
maintaining long-standing legal protections for historic resources.
- Adopt the House bill language that
authorizes funding for SHPOs and Tribal Historic Preservation
Offices (THPOs) in an effort to streamline historic preservation
reviews. Funding activities would include assistance with survey
and documentation and GIS mapping.
- Adopt the House bill language regarding
the process for developing purpose and need statements as well
as developing alternatives for the review of individual transportation
projects.
- Adopt the Senate bill language regarding
the Historic Bridge Program which creates a greater financial
incentive for the restoration and reuse of historic bridges.
- Consider the importance of the Transportation
Enhancements Program.
- Object to the exemption of the Interstate
Highway System from National Register eligibility and historic
preservation reviews.
Click here
for a copy of the joint NCSHPO/PA/Trust letter to conferees.
In addition, the NCSHPO joined with
several other organizations, including PA, the Trust, the American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO),
the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), the Society for Historical
Archaeology (SHA), and the American Cultural Resources Association
(ACRA) to prepare a letter regarding Section 4(f). Click here
for a copy of this letter.
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Progression
of the Legislation
Conferencing of the surface transportation
reauthorization began on July 22, 2004. The House-Senate conference
was able to agree on a six-year, $299 billion bill, however the
bill failed to pass in the 108th Congress. Instead, in October
of 2004, the House of Representatives passed an eight-month extension
(H.R.5183) which is set to expire on May 31, 2005.
On February 9, 2005 the House of Representatives
reintroduced its surface transportation reauthorization bill,
the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU) (H.R.3).
On March 2, 2005 the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
approved H.R.3 by a voice voice. The bill authorizes $284 billion
through FY2009 and the funding mirrors the Administration's budget
request that was issued in early February. On March 10, 2005 the
full House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 417
to 9. The legislation can be viewed at: thomas.loc.gov
and entering "H.R.3" as the bill number.
The Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee took up the issue on March 16, 2005 and approved a $284
billion transportation reauthorization. James Inhofe (R-OK) introduced
the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity
Act of 2005 (SAFE-TEA) (S.732). The bill introduced is essentially
the same as S.1072 which was passed by the Senate in the 108th
Congress, with the exception that the overall funding level was
changed from $318 billion over 6 years to reflect the President's
proposed funding level of $284 billion.
On May 17, 2005, the full Senate passed
a $295 billion transportation reauthorization. Included in the
bill was the preferred language regarding Section 4(f) of the
Department of Transportation Act (see above more more info). The
legislation can be viewed at: thomas.loc.gov
and entering "S.732" as the bill number.
After passing the Senate, the bill moved
to the House-Senate Conference Committee, which is chaired by
Representative Don Young (R-AK), chairman of the House of Representatives
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. During the week of
June 6th, the House-Senate Conference Committee began negotiation
of the transporation reauthorization measure.
The members of the Committee were:
House of Representatives: Don Young
(R-AK), Thomas Petri (R-WI), Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Howard
Coble (R-NC), John Duncan (R-TN), John Mica (R-FL), Peter Hoekstra
(R-MI), Steven LaTourette (R-OH), Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Richard
Baker (R-LA), Gary Miller (R-CA), Robin Hayes (R-NC), Robert Simmons
(R-CT), Henry Brown (R-SC), Sam Graves (R-MO), Bill Shuster (R-PA),
John Boozman (R-AR), James Oberstar (D-MN), Nick Rahall (D-WV),
Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Jerry Costello (D-IL), Eleanor Holmes Norton
(D-DC), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Corrine
Brown (D-FL), Bob Filner (D-CA), Eddie Bernice Johnson, (D-TX),
Gene Taylor (D-MS), Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA), Elijah
Cummings (D-MD), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Ellen Tauscher(D-CA),
Jim Nussle (R-IA), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), John Spratt (D-SC),
John Kline (R-MN), Ric Keller (R-FL), John Barrow (D-GA), Joe
Barton (R-TX), Charles Pickering (R-MS), John Dingell (D-MI),
Thomas Davis (R-VA), Todd Platts (R-PA), Henry Waxman (D-CA),
Christopher Cox (R-CA), Dan Lungren (R-CA), Bennie Thompson(D-MS),
F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Lamar Smith (R-TX), John Conyers
(D-MI), Richard Pombo (R-CA), Greg Walden (R-OR), Ron Kind (D-WI),
David Dreier (R-CA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), James McGovern
(D-MA), Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), Dave Reichert (R-WA), Bart Gordon
(D-TN), Bill Thomas (R-CA), Jim McCrery (R-LA), Charles Rangel
(D-NY), and Tom Delay (R-TX).
Senate: James Inhofe (R-OK), John Warner(R-VA),
Christopher Bond (R-MO), George Voinovich (R-OH), Lincoln Chafee
(R-RI), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD), Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Johnny Isakson(R-GA), David Vitter (R-LA) Charles Grassley (R-IA),
Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Wayne Allard (R-CO),
Ted Stevens (R-AL), Trent Lott (R-MS) James Jeffords (I-VT), Max
Baucus (D-MT), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA),
Thomas Carper (D-DE), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Frank Lautenberg
(D-NJ), Barack Obama (D-IL), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Daniel Inouye
(D-HI), John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), Jack
Reed (D-RI), and Tim Johnson (D-SD).
During the conference, several extensions
were passed, enabling spending to continue. Finally, on July 29,
2005, the House and Senate agreed to a bill. The
bill does incorporate the language developed by Senator George
Voinovich (R-OH) that permits the satisfaction of Section 4(f)
requirements only when a determination of "no
adverse effect" is made under Section 106 of the National
Historic Preservation Act. The inclusion of this language is favorable
to preservationists. In addition, the bill contains other historic
preservation provisions including language exempting the federal
highway system, as a whole, from eligibility for the National
Register of Historic Places; however, elements of the system that
possess national or exceptional historic significnace (such as
a highway bridge or a highly significant engineering feature)
may be exempt from this. The bill also authorizes research and
educational programs related to historic bridges and grant funds
of the rehabilitation of transporation-related resources.
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Latest
News
On August 10, 2005, President Bush signed
the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation
Equity Act - A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) which authorizes
$285 billion for transportation spending. The legislation incorporated
the compromise language developed by
Senator George Voinovich (R-OH).
Transportation reauthorization was just
one of the issues preservationists advocated for during their
2005
Annual Meeting/Lobby Day. Click here
for the legislative briefing.
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For
More Information
For information regarding Surface Transporation
Reauthorization, please see the NCSHPO Weekly
Legislative Update (available to NCSHPO members only) and/or
the Federal
Highway Administration's website.
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