H.R. 4241 — Introduced in House

I 115th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4241 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES November 3, 2017Ms. Esty of Connecticut (for herself, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Rodney Davis of Illinois, and Mrs. Comstock) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To direct the Secretary of Transportation to carry out a pilot program to improve transportation planning, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Transportation Access and System Connection Act of 2017. 2. Transportation planning pilot program (a) In general For purposes of carrying out sections 119, 133, 148, and 149 of title 23, United States Code, the Secretary of Transportation, in accordance with the requirements of this section, shall carry out a pilot program to improve transportation planning. (b) Data sets In carrying out the program, not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall acquire for a participating State or metropolitan planning organization a data set containing information measuring the level of access by all transportation modes to important destinations in the State or metropolitan planning organization, such as jobs, education, health care, and food sources. (c) Selection of participating States and MPOs (1) In general The Secretary shall select, on a competitive basis and in a manner that ensures geographic diversity, 5 States and 10 metropolitan planning organizations (including 6 such organizations that serve an area with a population of not more than 200,000) to participate in the program. (2) Applications To be eligible to participate in the program, a State or metropolitan planning organization shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time and containing such information as the Secretary may require. (d) Consultation with participating States and MPOs The Secretary shall consult with participating States and metropolitan planning organizations to determine the benefits of the data sets acquired under subsection (b). (e) Report to Congress Not later than 120 days after providing data sets to States and metropolitan planning organizations under the program, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate a report on the results of the program, including the feasibility of issuing similar data sets to all States, regions, and localities. (f) Funding The Secretary shall carry out the program using amounts made available to the Secretary as administrative expenses under the sections referred to in subsection (a).