House T&I Committee approves BUILD America 250 Act for Surface Transportation Reauthorization

On May 22, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) approved H.R. 8870, introduced by the committee as BUILD America 250 Act. The bipartisan, five-year surface transportation reauthorization legislation would authorize approximately $580 billion from fiscal year (FY) 2027 through FY31 to invest in highways, bridges, transit and rail programs. The introduction of the legislation comes as funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), expires on Sept. 30 of this year.

In his opening statement in the 14-hour legislative markup session, T&I Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-MO) said that he believes the BUILD America 250 Act will set the precedent for how people will use public transit for decades after the legislation becomes law.  

“Americans rely every day on investments made by the previous generation, including the rail system of the 19th century,” Graves said.

In his opening statement, T&I Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA) says the biggest plus to the bill is the funding it will provide, including $87.5 billion in funds for transit that nearly matches the $91 billion that the BIL provided.

“We sustained safe, reliable and accessible transit through robust bus funding, support for ADA compliant transit systems and support to extend transit service,” Larsen said. “It supports clean transportation in the environment through $1 billion in charging in low-emission fuel infrastructure, higher investments in the Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System program and maintain eligibility for some climate-friendly investments.”  

Larsen notes the legislation includes an increase in Tribal transit spending, $64 billion in rail funding and a continued investment for large sporting events.  

“It improves rail service by allowing states to use a portion of their highway dollars for equipment, stations and state-supported routes,” Larsen added. “It advances rail safety by accelerating the phase out of dangerous tank cars and mandating railroad participation in the confidential close-call reporting system, among other provisions. The bill also represents $932 million in dedicated funding for the construction of ferries. It includes my bill to authorize $250 million for communities hosting international sporting events, including the [2026 FIFA] World Cup, [and] the LA Olympics coming soon, the potential of the 2031 [FIFA Women’s] World Cup and the 2034 Utah Olympics.”

What’s in the bill for public transit?  

General transit funding and policy reforms

The legislation integrates a new consolidated block grant program into metropolitan and statewide planning requirements to help streamline the public comment process for amended Transportation Improvement Programs.

For urbanized area formula grants, the legislation:

• Adjusts the share of apportionment for operating expenses not to exceed 25% for systems that operate a minimum of 101 buses and a maximum of 125 buses at peak service.
• Eliminates redundant public hearing requirements.
• Mandates at least 1% of formula funds go towards crime prevention and security.
• Mandates at least 3% go to accessibility improvements for people with disabilities.
• Streamlines audit requirements of triennial reviews for agencies without a pattern of grant deficiencies.
• Consolidates passenger ferry programs into one program.

Authorizations (Section 3023)  

Rewrites the funding authorization section to specify appropriations for all formula and discretionary transit programs for FY27 through FY31. Funding available from the Mass Transit Account specified for sections 5305, 5307, 5310, 5311, 5312, 5314, 5318, 5324, 5334, 5335, 5337, 5339, and 5340 per fiscal year include:

• $16.8 billion for FY27
• $17.2 billion for FY28
• $17.5 billion for FY29
• $17.8 billion for FY30
• $18.1 billion for FY31

Consolidated State Block Grant Program (Section 3006)  

Under the BUILD America 250 Act, a new lump-sum block grant option will be created for states to fund both rural and urbanized area transit, including competitive grant funding and appropriated funds. The legislation notes that designated recipients must be notified and given opt-in/out rights, and they will continue to receive direct Federal Transit Administration formula funding.

Capital Investment Grants (CIG) reform (Section 3007)

The legislation would:

• Expand the definition of core capacity to include travel time reductions for riders with disabilities or who use wheelchairs.
• Rename "small starts" to "streamlined starts" and raises the  estimated net capital cost to $1 billion.
• Require a 30% design completion and National Environmental Policy Act initiation before entering project development.
• Allows rating boosts for projects that promote transit-oriented development.
• Mandates Capital Investment Grant (CIG) policy guidance updates every two years.
• Prohibits locking in the federal funding share until 120 days after engineering begins.

Seniors and disability mobility grants (Section 3008)

The legislation arranges the Innovative Coordinated Access and Mobility program and expands eligibility to include projects improving access to veteran facilities and veteran-serving organizations.

Rural area formula grants (Section 3009)

The legislation adds a new "insular area" definition and creates a dedicated insular area transit assistance program, with $25 million set-aside for rural/insular ferry programs. It also expands intercity bus capital eligibility to include facilities serving rural areas—including multi-state routes—establishes a minimum apportionment floor for Indian reservation transit based on vehicle revenue miles and allows Indian tribes to use formula funds under the same rules as the new block grant program.

Technical Assistance & Workforce Development (Section 3010)  

The legislation allows FTA's Transit Workforce Development Center to expand on-the-job training for frontline workers, maintain a workforce strategy and build youth pipeline programs to introduce students to transit careers in rural, urban and Tribal areas.

Urbanized Area Formula Apportionment (Section 3021)

This section raises the small transit intensive cities formula share from 3% to 5%. It sets aside each fiscal year $125 million in funding for urban ferry grants under the new competitive ferry program and $400 million in funding for the All Stations Accessibility program. It also requires agencies with inaccessible rail fixed guideway systems to dedicate a specified percentage of grant funds to accessibility improvements.

State of Good Repair Grants (Section 3022)  

The legislation reframes the State of Good Repair program around safety and eliminates the competitive rail vehicle replacement grants program.

Transportation assistance for international games (Section 7104)

This section establishes a new program to support planning, capital and operating needs for major international sporting events, including Olympic, Paralympic and FIFA World Cup events. According to the legislation, eligible entities may apply for grants to fund transportation projects and planning activities that facilitate the movement of people and goods associated with a covered event. The section authorizes $50 million annually for the program for FY27 through FY31 and directs the USDOT secretary to provide technical and planning assistance to eligible entities.  

National infrastructure project assistance (Section 7105)

This section reauthorizes the National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) grant program through FY31 and expands project eligibility to include lessees of federal surface transportation hubs and public transportation projects eligible for assistance under the CIG program in large urbanized areas. It updates the evaluation criteria, including by adding consideration of the use of innovative construction materials and the impact of population growth. The section also reduces the congressional notification period from 30 days to three days and reduces the program set-aside to 25% from 50% for projects that cost between $100 million and $500 million.  

Rural and tribal infrastructure advancement pilot extension (Section 7108)

This section reauthorizes and extends the Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program through Oct. 1, 2031.

Bus and bus facilities related policies and funding

Buses, Bus Facilities and Ferries (Section 3024)  

This section sees several changes from the IIJA, including:

• Extends the period of availability for bus formula funds from four years to six.
• Includes territories in national bus/bus facility fund distribution and equally distributes funds under section 5338(a)(2)(L) to each state.
• Adds a new rural transit provider allotment.
• Keeps all vehicle propulsion types eligible in the competitive program with no zero-emission vehicle mandate.
• Allows territories to use bus funds for ferry projects.

Spare Ratio Modification (Section 3103)  

This section prohibits the USDOT secretary from setting a federal spare vehicle ratio policy, effectively giving agencies more flexibility in fleet sizing decisions. It also allows agencies to use federal funding to acquire a reasonable amount of spare vehicles.

Bus Testing (Section 3011)

The legislation updates federal bus testing rules to accommodate advanced bus technologies and allows testing outside the Altoona, Pa., facility if needed, as well as reduces the federal cost share of paying to test vehicles from 80% to 60%.

Safety and Security related programs, policies and funding

Crime Prevention & Security (Section 3012)  

This section:

• Defines eligible expenses within Sec. 5307 to cover operating costs related to fare enforcement, contracting with local police departments or hiring transit officers or specialists to support safety efforts.  
• Permits up to 1.5% of urbanized area formula funds for security operating costs.
• Outlines mandatory fare evasion penalties, which includes requiring fare evasion to be a criminal or civil offense under the state or local government.
• By 2028, if fare evasion is not considered a criminal or civil offense, then the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) secretary is authorized to withhold 10% of urban transit grant funds from jurisdictions.

Bus Operator Assault Protection (Section 3102) 

This section creates a bus driver safety working group to recommend design and safety standards to the USDOT secretary and requires a fully enclosed operator workstation barrier in all newly manufactured fixed-route buses that are at least 30 feet in length and are purchased with federal funds

First Aid and Emergency Medical Kits (Section 3107)  

This section establishes a rulemaking committee to study whether transit vehicles and stations should be required to carry first aid and emergency medical kits. Under this rule, a report to Congress is due within 12 months of the committee being convened.

Public Transportation Safety (Section 3018)  

The section provides updates to FTA's safety program, including:

• The national safety plan must be updated at least every five years.
• The risk reduction programs for large urbanized area agencies must address frontline worker workplace safety and target passenger safety systemwide, including reducing assault rates and mitigating fare evasion.

National Transit Database (NTD) (Section 3020)  

This section adds two new mandatory reporting requirements for all NTD recipients:

• Fare evasion revenue loss by mode.
• Assault and violent crime data on vehicles and in facilities.  

We’ll continue to provide coverage on the BUILD America 250 Act throughout the week. Check back tomorrow for our breakdown on the impacts specific to Amtrak and passenger rail.