49 U.S.C. § 5323 : US Code - Section 5323: General provisions on assistance

Search 49 U.S.C. § 5323 : US Code - Section 5323: General provisions on assistance

(a) Interests in Property. -
(1) In general. - Financial assistance provided under this
chapter to a State or a local governmental authority may be used
to acquire an interest in, or to buy property of, a private
company engaged in public transportation, for a capital project
for property acquired from a private company engaged in public
transportation after July 9, 1964, or to operate a public
transportation facility or equipment in competition with, or in
addition to, transportation service provided by an existing
public transportation company, only if -
(A) the Secretary determines that such financial assistance
is essential to a program of projects required under sections
5303, 5304, and 5306;
(B) the Secretary determines that the program provides for
the participation of private companies engaged in public
transportation to the maximum extent feasible; and
(C) just compensation under State or local law will be paid
to the company for its franchise or property.
(2) Limitation. - A governmental authority may not use
financial assistance of the United States Government to acquire
land, equipment, or a facility used in public transportation from
another governmental authority in the same geographic area.
(b) Notice and Public Hearing. -
(1) In general. - For a capital project that will substantially
affect a community, or the public transportation service of a
community, an applicant shall -
(A) provide an adequate opportunity for public review and
comment on the project;
(B) after providing notice, hold a public hearing on the
project if the project affects significant economic, social, or
environmental interests;
(C) consider the economic, social, and environmental effects
of the project; and
(D) find that the project is consistent with official plans
for developing the community.
(2) Notice. - Notice of a hearing under this subsection -
(A) shall include a concise description of the proposed
project; and
(B) shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation
in the geographic area the project will serve.
(3) Application requirements. - An application for a grant
under this chapter for a capital project described in paragraph
(1) shall include -
(A) a certification that the applicant has complied with the
requirements of this subsection; and
(B) in the environmental record for the project, evidence
that the applicant has complied with the requirements of this
subsection.
(c) Fares not Required. - This chapter does not require that
elderly individuals and individuals with disabilities be charged a
fare.
(d) Condition on Charter Bus Transportation Service. -
(1) Agreements. - Financial assistance under this chapter may
be used to buy or operate a bus only if the applicant,
governmental authority, or publicly owned operator that receives
the assistance agrees that, except as provided in the agreement,
the governmental authority or an operator of public
transportation for the governmental authority will not provide
charter bus transportation service outside the urban area in
which it provides regularly scheduled public transportation
service. An agreement shall provide for a fair arrangement the
Secretary of Transportation considers appropriate to ensure that
the assistance will not enable a governmental authority or an
operator for a governmental authority to foreclose a private
operator from providing intercity charter bus service if the
private operator can provide the service.
(2) Violations. -
(A) Investigations. - On receiving a complaint about a
violation of the agreement required under paragraph (1), the
Secretary shall investigate and decide whether a violation has
occurred.
(B) Enforcement of agreements. - If the Secretary decides
that a violation has occurred, the Secretary shall correct the
violation under terms of the agreement.
(C) Additional remedies. - In addition to any remedy
specified in the agreement, the Secretary shall bar a recipient
or an operator from receiving Federal transit assistance in an
amount the Secretary considers appropriate if the Secretary
finds a pattern of violations of the agreement.
(e) Bond Proceeds Eligible for Local Share. -
(1) Use as local matching funds. - Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, a recipient of assistance under section 5307 or
5309 may use the proceeds from the issuance of revenue bonds as
part of the local matching funds for a capital project.
(2) Maintenance of effort. - The Secretary shall approve of the
use of the proceeds from the issuance of revenue bonds for the
remainder of the net project cost only if the Secretary finds
that the aggregate amount of financial support for public
transportation in the urbanized area provided by the State and
affected local governmental authorities during the next 3 fiscal
years, as programmed in the State transportation improvement
program under section 5304, is not less than the aggregate amount
provided by the State and affected local governmental authorities
in the urbanized area during the preceding 3 fiscal years.
(3) Debt service reserve. - The Secretary may reimburse an
eligible recipient for deposits of bond proceeds in a debt
service reserve that the recipient establishes pursuant to
section 5302(a)(1)(K) from amounts made available to the
recipient under section 5309.
(4) Pilot program for urbanized areas. -
(A) In general. - The Secretary shall establish a pilot
program to reimburse not to exceed 10 eligible recipients for
deposits of bond proceeds in a debt service reserve that the
recipient establishes pursuant to section 5302(a)(1)(K) from
amounts made available to the recipient under section 5307.
(B) Report. - Not later than July 31, 2008, the Secretary
shall submit to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report on the
status and effectiveness of the pilot program established under
subparagraph (A).
(f) Schoolbus Transportation. -
(1) Agreements. - Financial assistance under this chapter may
be used for a capital project, or to operate public
transportation equipment or a public transportation facility,
only if the applicant agrees not to provide schoolbus
transportation that exclusively transports students and school
personnel in competition with a private schoolbus operator. This
subsection does not apply -
(A) to an applicant that operates a school system in the area
to be served and a separate and exclusive schoolbus program for
the school system;
(B) unless a private schoolbus operator can provide adequate
transportation that complies with applicable safety standards
at reasonable rates; and
(C) to a State or local governmental authority if it or a
direct predecessor in interest from which it acquired the duty
of transporting school children and personnel, and facilities
to transport them, provided schoolbus transportation at any
time after November 25, 1973, but before November 26, 1974.
(2) Violations. - If the Secretary finds that an applicant,
governmental authority, or publicly owned operator has violated
the agreement required under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall
bar a recipient or an operator from receiving Federal transit
assistance in an amount the Secretary considers appropriate.
(g) Buying Buses Under Other Laws. - Subsections (d) and (f) of
this section apply to financial assistance to buy a bus under
sections 133 and 142 of title 23. However, subsection (f)(1)(C) of
this section applies to sections 133 and 142 only if schoolbus
transportation was provided at any time after August 12, 1972, but
before August 13, 1973.
(h) Grant and Loan Prohibitions. - A grant or loan may not be
used to -
(1) pay ordinary governmental or nonproject operating expenses;
or
(2) support a procurement that uses an exclusionary or
discriminatory specification.
(i) Government's Share of Costs for Certain Projects. -
(1) Equipment for ada and clean air act compliance. - A grant
for a project to be assisted under this chapter that involves
acquiring vehicle-related equipment or facilities required by the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.)
or vehicle-related equipment or facilities (including clean fuel
or alternative fuel vehicle-related equipment or facilities) for
purposes of complying with or maintaining compliance with the
Clean Air Act, is for 90 percent of the net project cost of such
equipment or facilities attributable to compliance with those
Acts. The Secretary shall have discretion to determine, through
practicable administrative procedures, the costs of such
equipment or facilities attributable to compliance with those
Acts.
(2) Certain state owned railroads. - The Government share for
financial assistance under this chapter to a State-owned railroad
(as defined in section 603 of the Rail Safety and Service
Improvement Act of 1982 (45 U.S.C. 1202)) shall be the same as
the Government share under section 120(b) of title 23 for Federal-
aid highway funds apportioned to the State in which the railroad
operates.
(j) Buy America. - (1) The Secretary of Transportation may
obligate an amount that may be appropriated to carry out this
chapter for a project only if the steel, iron, and manufactured
goods used in the project are produced in the United States.
(2) The Secretary of Transportation may waive paragraph (1) of
this subsection if the Secretary finds that -
(A) applying paragraph (1) would be inconsistent with the
public interest;
(B) the steel, iron, and goods produced in the United States
are not produced in a sufficient and reasonably available amount
or are not of a satisfactory quality;
(C) when procuring rolling stock (including train control,
communication, and traction power equipment) under this chapter -

(i) the cost of components and subcomponents produced in the
United States is more than 60 percent of the cost of all
components of the rolling stock; and
(ii) final assembly of the rolling stock has occurred in the
United States; or
(D) including domestic material will increase the cost of the
overall project by more than 25 percent.
(3) Written justification for public interest waiver. - When
issuing a waiver based on a public interest determination under
paragraph (2)(A), the Secretary shall issue a detailed written
justification as to why the waiver is in the public interest. The
Secretary shall publish such justification in the Federal Register
and provide the public with a reasonable period of time for notice
and comment.
(4) In this subsection, labor costs involved in final assembly
are not included in calculating the cost of components.
(5) The Secretary of Transportation may not make a waiver under
paragraph (2) of this subsection for goods produced in a foreign
country if the Secretary, in consultation with the United States
Trade Representative, decides that the government of that foreign
country -
(A) has an agreement with the United States Government under
which the Secretary has waived the requirement of this
subsection; and
(B) has violated the agreement by discriminating against goods
to which this subsection applies that are produced in the United
States and to which the agreement applies.
(6) A person is ineligible under subpart 9.4 of chapter 1 of
title 48, Code of Federal Regulations, to receive a contract or
subcontract made with amounts authorized under the Federal Public
Transportation Act of 2005 if a court or department, agency, or
instrumentality of the Government decides the person intentionally -

(A) affixed a "Made in America" label, or a label with an
inscription having the same meaning, to goods sold in or shipped
to the United States that are used in a project to which this
subsection applies but not produced in the United States; or
(B) represented that goods described in clause (A) of this
paragraph were produced in the United States.
(7) The Secretary of Transportation may not impose any limitation
on assistance provided under this chapter that restricts a State
from imposing more stringent requirements than this subsection on
the use of articles, materials, and supplies mined, produced, or
manufactured in foreign countries in projects carried out with that
assistance or restricts a recipient of that assistance from
complying with those State-imposed requirements.
(8) Opportunity to correct inadvertent error. - The Secretary may
allow a manufacturer or supplier of steel, iron, or manufactured
goods to correct after bid opening any certification of
noncompliance or failure to properly complete the certification
(but not including failure to sign the certification) under this
subsection if such manufacturer or supplier attests under penalty
of perjury that such manufacturer or supplier submitted an
incorrect certification as a result of an inadvertent or clerical
error. The burden of establishing inadvertent or clerical error is
on the manufacturer or supplier.
(9) Administrative review. - A party adversely affected by an
agency action under this subsection shall have the right to seek
review under section 702 of title 5.
(k) Participation of Governmental Agencies in Design and Delivery
of Transportation Services. - To the extent feasible, governmental
agencies and nonprofit organizations that receive assistance from
Government sources (other than the Department of Transportation)
for nonemergency transportation services -
(1) shall participate and coordinate with recipients of
assistance under this chapter in the design and delivery of
transportation services; and
(2) shall be included in the planning for those services.
(l) Relationship to Other Laws. - Section 1001 of title 18
applies to a certificate, submission, or statement provided under
this chapter. The Secretary may terminate financial assistance
under this chapter and seek reimbursement directly, or by
offsetting amounts, available under this chapter if the Secretary
determines that a recipient of such financial assistance has made a
false or fraudulent statement or related act in connection with a
Federal transit program.
(m) Preaward and Postdelivery Review of Rolling Stock Purchases. -
The Secretary of Transportation shall prescribe regulations
requiring a preaward and postdelivery review of a grant under this
chapter to buy rolling stock to ensure compliance with Government
motor vehicle safety requirements, subsection (j) of this section,
and bid specifications requirements of grant recipients under this
chapter. Under this subsection, independent inspections and review
are required, and a manufacturer certification is not sufficient.
Rolling stock procurements of 20 vehicles or fewer made for the
purpose of serving other than urbanized areas and urbanized areas
with populations of 200,000 or fewer shall be subject to the same
requirements as established for procurements of 10 or fewer buses
under the post-delivery purchaser's requirements certification
process under section 663.37(c) of title 49, Code of Federal
Regulations.
(n) Submission of Certifications. - A certification required
under this chapter and any additional certification or assurance
required by law or regulation to be submitted to the Secretary may
be consolidated into a single document to be submitted annually as
part of a grant application under this chapter. The Secretary shall
publish annually a list of all certifications required under this
chapter with the publication required under section 5336(e)(2).(!1)
(o) Grant Requirements. - The grant requirements under sections
5307 and 5309 apply to any project under this chapter that receives
any assistance or other financing under chapter 6 (other than
section 609) of title 23.
(p) Alternative Fueling Facilities. - A recipient of assistance
under this chapter may allow the incidental use of federally funded
alternative fueling facilities and equipment by nontransit public
entities and private entities if -
(1) the incidental use does not interfere with the recipient's
public transportation operations;
(2) all costs related to the incidental use are fully
recaptured by the recipient from the nontransit public entity or
private entity;
(3) the recipient uses revenues received from the incidental
use in excess of costs for planning, capital, and operating
expenses that are incurred in providing public transportation;
and
(4) private entities pay all applicable excise taxes on fuel.