According to the report, the House of Representatives is expected to concur and send the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Funding for the federal government under the current continuing resolution expires Dec. 21, and temporary authorization for highway and transit programs is set to expire on Dec. 31.

The “stopgap measure” would be the sixth short-term extension of the 2005 SAFETEA-LU surface transportation authorization law, which originally expired on Sept. 30, 2009, according to AASHTO.

The previous surface transportation bill, ISTEA, was extended 12 times before SAFETEA-LU was signed into law.

The bill now goes to the Senate floor.

Secretary LaHood applauded Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, Ranking Member Richard Shelby and Subcommittee Chairman Robert Menendez for taking the first major step in passing the Administration’s Public Transportation Safety Act of 2010, a bill that would end the current prohibition against the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) from directly overseeing safety programs.

Secretary LaHood sent the Administration bill to Congress in December 2009.

“I want to thank the Banking Committee for working together to move this historic legislation forward,” said Secretary LaHood in a written statement.  “Safety is the Department of Transportation’s number one priority and we look forward to working with the full Senate and House to get this bill passed and signed into law.”
 
Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff called it a “milestone”  as “the first major step in untying the hands of the Federal Transit Administration and allowing us to implement national safety standards.

“While transit is a safe way to travel, we still see too many preventable accidents, including fatal accidents,” Rogoff said.  “We need these tools to ensure that transit remains safe as our systems age and experienced employees retire in increasing numbers.”

The legislation, if passed, will authorize the Department of Transportation to establish federal safety standards for rail transit systems, reversing a prohibition that has been in effect since 1965.
 
In addition to this bill, Secretary LaHood announced the formation of the Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS) on June 23 of this year. The 20 individuals who will initially serve on TRACS represent all geographic regions in the U.S. and include experts from state transit agencies of all sizes, state safety oversight organizations, labor unions, and industry associations.

The recommendations of TRACS will help FTA develop new policies and practices and, should FTA be given authority to promulgate new transit safety requirements, new regulations for enhancing rail transit safety

The “American Power Act” (APA), released May 12, would mandate that oil companies producing transportation fuels purchase emissions allowances based on their volume of carbon production. These costs would be passed on to consumers. Transportation user fees are historically dedicated to the maintenance and improvement of the U.S. transportation system — roads, bridges, transit systems, bike paths, pedestrian routes, and related programs.

ARTBA estimates the new fee would generate roughly $20 billion each year from the on-road transportation sector but only return a maximum of $6.25 billion to transportation infrastructure investments, with a cap of $2.5 billion per year contributed to the federal Highway Trust Fund. The majority of transportation-generated revenue, however, would be used for a variety of non-transportation purposes, including federal government debt reduction; discounts for certain heating oil and electricity consumers; reforestation programs; subsidies for the energy production industry; and incentives for nuclear power.

“The U.S. transportation infrastructure network is in desperate need of maintenance and expansion across all modes,” said Pete Ruane, president & CEO of ARTBA, in a press statement. “Diverting transportation revenues away from our roads, bridges and transit systems at a time when they need attention the most will hurt our economy, inhibit our ability to reduce emissions from congestion, and limit our ability to compete in a global marketplace.”

ARTBA says it is working to ensure all revenue generated from transportation system use, as part of a climate change bill, is dedicated to improving the nation’s highway and public transportation network.

The Senate version, “Toxic Chemicals Safety Act” would shift the burden of assessing chemical safety away from EPA and into the hands of the producer or manufacturer, according to the Asphalt Pavement Alliance (APA).

Currently, TSCA requires EPA to assess or test only a few hundred of the approximately 80,000 chemicals currently in commerce.

The proposed legislation, similar to what is occurring in Europe under the REACH program, shifts the assessment burden to the producer of chemical materials, to ensure these materials are deemed safe within certain commerce constraints, APA says.

Six Republicans (Senators Kit Bond – Mo., Scott Brown – Mass., Richard Burr – N.C., Susan Collins – Maine, Jim Inhofe – Okla., and Olympia Snowe – Maine) voted for the bill while one Democrat, Nebraska’s Ben Nelson, opposed it, according to NSSGA.

The bill extends SAFETEA-LU through Dec. 31, 2010, transfers $19.5 billion into the Highway Trust Fund for interest that had been foregone on the balance, and restores the rescission of contract authority that took place when SAFETEA-LU expired on Sept. 30, 2009.

It also includes a payroll tax break for new hires, a small-business expensing provision, and Build America Bonds financing, which was expanded by the House this month, increasing the cost of the bill from $15 billion to $17.6 billion, says NSSGA.

The Senate voted 25-10 for the proposal by Democratic Sen. Lowell Barron of Fyffe. Support came mostly from Democrats and opposition mostly from Republicans, according to the AP report.

Barron’s proposal is a constitutional amendment that won’t take effect unless passed by the House and be approved by Alabama voters in the general election Nov. 2, according to the report

One opponent, Sen. Scott Beason (R-Gardendale), said in the AP report that people in Alabama are treating the Alabama Trust Fund “like it’s free money.”

The Senate has already passed the legislation, but it was amended by the House and now goes back to the Senate for another vote set for Tuesday, March 16. The highway program is currently operating under a 30-day extension. For bill provisions previously passed by the House and Senate, which were not the subject of any changes made by the House, are the following, according to the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA):