All of which is a huge relief to just about everyone involved in the construction and transportation biz. But there’s still a large piece missing: We’re still in dire need of a long-term transportation bill that defines this administration’s goals and priorities for the future of U.S. transportation.

So what are our chances of getting one passed during this session of Congress? Not good. Not good at all.

Go to The Infrastructurist to read the entire piece.

Senate Gives Final Approval to 9-Month Extension, $19.5 Billion for Highway Trust Fund

The Senate gave final approval Wednesday morning to a bill known as the “HIRE Act” containing seven transportation provisions including an extension of authorization for federal highway and transit programs through Dec. 31 as well as providing $19.5 billion to the Highway Trust Fund. Today’s vote to concur with House amendments sends the legislation to President Barack Obama.

“Hundreds of thousands of construction workers and state department of transportation employees from across the country are breathing a collective sigh of relief today now that the Senate has approved the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act,” said AASHTO Executive Director John Horsley. “We are delighted that Congress has passed this significant piece of legislation. It’s a win for the economy and for the communities that will benefit from the transportation projects funded by this measure.”

A video statement from Horsley:

The measure approved by the Senate 68-29 and sent to the president today would:
1. Extend surface transportation authorization until the end of this calendar year. The current extension of the 2005 surface transportation authorization law known as “SAFETEA-LU” is scheduled to expire March 28.
2. Deposit $19.5 billion into the Highway Trust Fund to reimburse the trust fund for interest payments not received since 1998. This will ensure the trust fund’s solvency into next year.
3. Restore in this fiscal year $8.7 billion in highway contract authority to the states that had been rescinded at the end of Fiscal Year 2009.
4. Fund the federal highway program’s contract authority for FY 2010 at $42 billion, up from $30 billion, returning the program to its FY 2009 funding level.
5. Provide $4.6 billion in additional federal subsidies for Build America Bonds, a program created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The bonds allow states and municipalities to finance infrastructure projects with an interest subsidy from the federal government. State and local governments have issued $78 billion worth of Build America Bonds during the program’s first year.
6. Allow the Highway Trust Fund in the future to collect interest on its deposits, as all other federal trust funds are authorized to do.
7. Restructure fuel-tax exemptions for government vehicles currently paid out of the Highway Trust Fund so future payments come out of the General Fund rather than the trust fund, increasing money available for highway and transit projects in future years.

Senators voted 61-30 on Monday evening to close debate on the bill, HR 2847, with the final vote occurring this morning. The House first passed the bill Dec. 16 with much greater funding including $37.3 billion in stimulus money for transportation projects. (see Dec. 18 AASHTO Journal story) The Senate stripped most of the funding out of the bill and approved the scaled-down measure Feb. 24. (see Feb. 26 AASHTO Journal story) The House passed the measure a second time March 4 after nearly doubling additional federal subsidies for Build America Bonds from $2.5 billion to $4.6 billion and making some other changes unrelated to transportation. (see March 5 AASHTO Journal story)

Prior to today, Congress had approved four short-term extensions of SAFETEA-LU, which expired Sept. 30, 2009.

“For more than five months, state transportation departments have been in a difficult situation — going month to month, unable to make long-term financial commitments for projects that create hundreds of thousands of American jobs with a purpose,” Horsley said. “Now that we have this nine-month extension, states will have certainty for the remainder of this calendar year. This gives Congress ample time to complete the complex negotiations necessary to approve a full six-year authorization bill, which we strongly encourage the House and Senate to complete action on before year’s end.”

The House of Representatives approved an amended job-creation bill Thursday afternoon that would extend Highway Trust Fund authorization until Dec. 31, deposit $19.5 billion of general revenue into the Highway Trust Fund, restore this fiscal year’s highway funding to $42 billion from $30 billion, and offer additional federal support for states and localities that wish to issue Build America Bonds to finance infrastructure construction.

By a vote of 217-201, the House sent the measure (HR 2847) back to the Senate. Senators had approved the bill last week by a vote of 78-19 after overcoming a Republican filibuster. The Highway Trust Fund’s authority lapsed Sunday after the House did not act on the 10-month extension last week and after Sen. Jim Bunning, R-KY, held up a separate bill extending authorization by 30 days. Federal Highway Administration reimbursements to state transportation departments ceased Monday and Tuesday and the U.S. Department of Transportation furloughed some 2,000 employees until the Senate was able to clear the measure and President Barack Obama signed it late Tuesday night.

The jobs measure approved today by the House would be the fifth short-term extension of the 2005 transportation authorization law known as “SAFETEA-LU,” which expired Sept. 30, 2009. Under the fourth extension approved Tuesday night, Highway Trust Fund authorization now lapses March 28. Work continues in Congress on a full six-year surface transportation authorization, which has been delayed over funding concerns.

Today’s House version of the jobs bill includes $15 billion worth of payroll tax breaks for small businesses that hire new workers and Build America Bonds financing support for state and local infrastructure projects. The House amendment adopted today includes a few minor changes from the version passed last week by the Senate. Those changes include reiterating existing federal law requiring state DOTs to award at least 10 percent of their contracts to “small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.” This provision was added to address concerns of the Congressional Black Caucus, CQ Politics reported. Some CBC members had been withholding their support for the measure over concerns it doesn’t do enough to address job creation for minorities.

Another change adopted by the House would add a year to the date of implementation of the worldwide interest allocation tax break — which would begin in 2020 rather than 2019 under the Senate bill — to offset the cost of the measure’s tax cuts and bond provisions.

“At the end of a tumultuous week, which included the unprecedented shutdown of federal highway, transit, and safety programs, the House has now acted to put transportation back on a sound footing for the remainder of the year,” said AASHTO Executive Director John Horsley. “Enactment of HR 2847 will allow states to move forward into the spring construction season, creating jobs and rebuilding aging highways, bridges, and transit systems. In addition, the bill restores the federal highway program to the levels achieved last year, repairing the $1 billion a month cut that has been in place since last September. It ensures sufficient funds for the Highway Trust Fund to keep federal programs running. Finally, it provides enough time for Congress to develop and enact the multiyear highway and transit authorization that is needed for America’s economic recovery and job restoration. We urge the Senate to speed this legislation to the president for signature.”

What enabled the legislation to move forward in the House was an agreement struck among House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-MN, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, regarding funding formulas for two discretionary highway categories: Projects of National and Regional Significance and the National Corridor Infrastructure Improvement Program.

Oberstar said on the floor this afternoon that the agreement is to modify the two highway formulas in future legislation to distribute the funds more equitably to all states. Oberstar urged representatives to approve the amendment and return the bill to the Senate.

“What we are doing here is restoring stability to the highway, bridge, safety, and transit programs, providing certainty for states so they can award bids, they can advertise bids, and keep contracts going,” Oberstar said. “I hope we can correct this measure and I will do everything I can to correct it to ensure fairness for all 50 states in the distribution of the funds they send to Washington. … We’ll restore the funding formulas to the way it is intended in SAFETEA-LU.”

In addition to the 10-month authorization extension, $19.5 billion in interest payments for the Highway Trust Fund, restoring FY 2010 highway levels to $42 billion, and extra support for Build America Bonds, the bill also would change federal law to ensure the trust fund receives future interest payments and to shift the burden of paying for motor-fuel-tax exemptions to the General Fund.

He would not say if the principles will contain recommendations for a revenue source to pay for a multi-year program.

A gasoline tax increase and a mileage tax have risen to the top of the debate over revenue options, but the administration has said it does not support either of those options right now.

Go to The Bond Buyer to see the entire story.

Boxer described the hearing in her panel as “the kickoff” of the upper chamber’s drafting of new legislation governing U.S. road, transit, bridge, port, and rail policy. “Our intention is to hold a series of hearings and write the bill while you are still here and while Senator [George] Voinovich [R-OH] is still here,” she told Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), who will retire at the end of the year.

Go to Streetsblog to see the entire item.

Go to PBS to see this report on how transportation funding legislation works at the federal level.

Statement by John Horsley, Executive Director, On Senate Approval the 30-Day Extension of Highway and Transit Programs

“We are pleased that the Senate has approved a 30-day extension of the nation’s critical highway and transit programs and that the President has moved swiftly to sign the measure into law. This action jump-starts hundreds of idled projects and puts thousands of workers back on the job at highway construction sites and several federal agencies.

“The bad news today, however, is that the uncertainty remains. This marks the fourth short-term extension of SAFETEA-LU, the highway and transit authorization act that expired on September 30, 2009. It is essential, therefore, that the House of Representatives quickly passes a separate Senate bill that would extend SAFETEA-LU through the end of this year and transfer funds to the highway trust fund to keep it solvent.

“Cash-strapped states that are struggling in this down economy can ill-afford to be subjected to continued month-by-month extensions and the risk of another shutdown. The ultimate goal is a multi-year bill, but, in the interim, we need to remember that we’re talking about real projects, real people, and real paychecks that circulate money throughout the economy. House passage of the Senate H.I.R.E bill will be the first step toward reassuring states that they can make the long-term commitments necessary to run their programs.”

Sen. Jim Bunning (R., Ky.) again blocked a $10 billion bill that would have extended unemployment benefits and other programs after halting its progress last week. And on Monday, the impact of his blockade started biting, with the expiration of benefits to 100,000 people and the suspension of 41 transportation projects across the country.

Go to The Wall Street Journal to see the entire article.

Concerned Transportation Officials Address Federal Program Shutdown
AASHTO President and VP Lead Call for Immediate Congressional Action

Washington, D.C. – Following an emergency meeting today to discuss the impact of the current shutdown of federal highway and transit programs, state transportation officials called the action “a bad situation and it’s only going to get worse.”

At a news conference held in conjunction with the annual Washington Briefing of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), leaders from across the country spoke out on the issue.

“If you do the math, we’re talking about more than $153 million a day in lost reimbursement payments for highway projects to the states,” said Larry L. “Butch” Brown, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation and AASHTO president. “Congress has to move quickly to correct this by passing legislation and getting it signed into law. This is a bad situation and it’s only going to get worse.”

On Sunday, February 28, the current extension of the surface transportation program expired, leading to a shutdown in reimbursements to states for highway projects and transit programs administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). According to FHWA, the shutdown means that $768 million in highway outlays and $157 million in transit outlays for the week ending March 5th could be affected. On Tuesday, March 2, an estimated 4,000 federal highway, transit, and safety personnel at FHWA, FTA, NHTSA, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration must be furloughed, putting a halt to federal project approvals, safety enforcement, and transit starts.

“The timing could not be worse for a lot of reasons,” said Susan Martinovich, director of the Nevada Department of Transportation and AASHTO vice president. “States need every dollar they can get to improve our aging roads and bridges and put people to work. My home state of Nevada has the nation’s seventh-highest unemployment rate at 10.4 percent. We should be awarding contracts for spring construction right now, but instead many states are forced to delay, and in some cases cancel, projects.”

“This crisis is just the latest example of why states need either a long-term extension of highway and transit programs or a multi-year authorization bill,” said Pete Rahn, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation. “If Missouri and other states aren’t able to plan major, long-term projects, then contractors can’t hire workers or purchase new equipment. The result will be higher unemployment and more economic stagnation. Going from one extension to the next and one crisis to another is not the answer,” Rahn said.

The action could also cause states to lose some unspent recovery funds, since March 2nd is the deadline set by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the redistribution of any highway funds not approved by the FHWA. To date, there have been three short-term extensions of SAFETEA-LU, the highway and transit authorization bill that expired September 30, 2009.

The AASHTO officials were joined by more than 200 state transportation leaders from 36 states and Washington, D.C. at the AASHTO Briefing, held in Arlington, Virginia, from March 1-3.

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The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is the “Voice of Transportation” representing state departments of transportation in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. AASHTO is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association serving as a catalyst for excellence in transportation.

Voinovich was one of five Republicans who backed a jobs bill offered by Reid, D-Nev., which would also extend current federal transportation spending levels through the end of this year. Voinovich said that before casting his vote to help get the jobs bill past a filibuster, “Leader Reid gave me his commitment that he will bring the reauthorization of a multi-year surface transportation bill to the floor for a vote this year.”

Go to the Journal of Commerce to read the entire article.