How APTA’s recommendations fared in House T&I’s surface transportation reauthorization legislation

A lot of the positions taken up by APTA from its playbook  were adopted in the legislation. While APTA's recommendations described policy outcomes rather than specific bill language, the BUILD America 250 Act honors the recommendation through its own statutory wording rather than adopting APTA's text verbatim.

APTA President and CEO Paul Skoutelas issued a statement praising the goals already accomplished in the legislation after the markup, though also notes there’s still work to be done as the bill proceeds through further review and consolidation.

“The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s approval of the BUILD America 250 Act is a significant milestone, and there is a lot to applaud in this bipartisan legislation,” Skoutelas said in the statement. “While the bill does not yet reflect everything our industry needs—particularly when it comes to guaranteed funding levels for public transit and passenger rail—it is a great first step. APTA looks forward to building upon this momentum and working with Congress to ensure the final legislation delivers the investment that creates good-paying jobs, strengthens our economy, and serves the riders and communities who depend on public transit every day.”

The items listed below are ones where the bill achieves what APTA set out to do, even if the language on how the goal is achieved differs slightly.

• Bus fleet spare ratio (Section 5323): Legislation prohibits the transportation secretary from issuing any policy, regulation or guidance that sets a transit vehicle spare ratio.
• Public Transportation Emergency Relief funding (Section 5324): Gives the exact $25 million requested.
• Proceeds from sale of transit assets (Section 5334(h)(4)): Greenlights the policy, grants the requested reinvestment sections and adds Section 5308, the new consolidated state block grant program.
• Section 5311 as a workforce training funding source (Section 5314): Legislation section 3010 amends Section 5314 to add Sections 5308 and 5311 alongside Section 5307 as eligible funding sources for workforce programs.
• Cooperative procurement expansion (FAST Act Section 3019(b)): Broadens the authority to cover rolling stock-related equipment, plus "any other goods, technologies or software services," and authorizes the use of state or local government purchasing schedules.
• Transportation Asset Management (TAM) System labor notification fix (Section 5333): Change granted to only notify necessary labor unions under a grant application; Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to implement to the greatest extent practicable within one year of enactment.
• Real property interests for advance transit acquisition (Section 5323): Legislation Section 1213 makes the exact change from "right-of-way" to "real property interests" and adds reimbursement authority for early acquisitions that are later incorporated into federally funded capital projects.
• Rail right-of-way advance acquisition (Section 24202): Implements the mechanism explicitly barring physical development of acquired interests until all required environmental reviews are completed.
• Preserve a dedicated rail title: Title X of the BUILD America 250 Act preserves a dedicated rail title as was present in the IIJA and FAST Act.

Beyond straight wins for the association, some parts of the legislation still offer some of what APTA asked for, giving metered wins for transit, while other items were adopted with mixed results.

Project management oversight (Section 5327)

APTA initially recommended raising the major capital project threshold from $300 million to $500 million, while also eliminating the separate federal funds threshold and changing reviews from quarterly to annually. Section 3017 of the new legislation grants the review frequency modification and eliminates the federal funds threshold, like APTA requested—but sets the project threshold at $1 billion rather than the $500 million proposed. The higher threshold means fewer transit projects trigger federal project management oversight, reducing the reporting burden on agencies. APTA's playbook rationale was to bring the requirements in parity with the Federal Highway Administration’s $500 million standard, so the $1 billion threshold exceeds parity.

Bus and ferry program consolidation (Section 5339)

APTA recommended consolidating FTA's bus grant programs into two programs and merging the three existing ferry grant programs into a single competitive passenger ferry grants program. Section 3024 of the new legislation, in essence, consolidates Section 5339 into a formula program and a competitive program by eliminating the separate Low- or No-Emission Vehicle Program subsection. Section 3005 of the legislation repeals both the IIJA Electric or Low-Emitting Ferry Pilot Program and the Ferry Service for Rural Communities Program, and Section 3024(d) creates a single Competitive Passenger Ferry Grants subsection with $125 million per year for urban and mixed areas, plus $25 million per year for rural and insular areas. The consolidation matches APTA's structural ask and reduces the number of separate applications agencies need to file.

Middle tier for 101-125 bus operators (Section 5307)

APTA recommended adding a tier to urbanized area formula funding for agencies operating 101 to 125 peak buses, allowing those agencies to spend up to 25% of federal funding on operating costs for fixed-route and demand-response service, calculated by vehicle revenue hours. Legislation Section 3005 delivers this as proposed. The reason this is considered in the modifications category rather than a straight win is because APTA's broader Section 5303 recommendation also included guaranteed MPO voting representation for transit providers carrying 75% or more of annual unlinked passenger trips—that part of the recommendation went unanswered. On the operating expense flexibility, the bill matches APTA's guidance.

CIG reform (Section 5309)

APTA recommended that the Small Starts maximum federal grant be raised from $150 million to $250 million, maximum net project cost raised from $400 million to $500 million and fixed federal share percentages by project type (60% or less for New Starts, 80% for Core Capacity, 80% for Small Starts and 50% for Expedited Project Delivery). Section 3007 of the new legislation takes a different approach to the process. It renames Small Starts to Streamlined Starts, caps total net capital cost at less than $1 billion—double APTA’s ask—and caps federal assistance at 50% of project cost—lower than APTA's 80% ask.

The win: a much larger pool of projects qualifies, capturing most bus rapid transit projects as mentioned above and project sponsors get faster review and lower data submission burden. The loss: the 50% federal share instead of 80% means agencies must come up with more local match per project than APTA requested. Section 3007 also creates an expedited technical capacity review process, but for CIG applicants rather than for Section 5307 recipients as APTA recommended. That modification falls as unanswered for 5307 recipients while delivering a benefit to CIG applicants.

Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) as non-federal share

APTA wanted U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to require—not just allow—the counting of TIFIA loans and other federal credit assistance toward the local match across all USDOT programs, with the same treatment for RRIF loans. The bill counts TIFIA and RRIF as part of the non-federal share in specific program contexts, including the new Surface Transportation Accelerator Grant Program in Section 1124, but does not impose a single across-the-board requirement.

The win: Sections 10512, 10513 and 10514 restructure RRIF significantly in favor of borrowers, with interest-only loan options, the ability to use grant funds to pay RRIF credit risk premiums and an alternative credit assessment pathway for applicants who can't meet the standard one. The loss: Agencies don't get the universal must-count requirement APTA asked for, so the local -match benefit varies by program instead of being guaranteed everywhere.

There were also areas in the legislation that worked opposite of APTA’s priorities.

Bus grant award reporting by propulsion type (Bill Section 3013)

APTA recommended requiring the FTA to report competitive bus grant awards by propulsion type to provide transparency on how funding is distributed across propulsion technologies. Section 3013 instead creates a maximum federal payment schedule per bus by propulsion type and vehicle length, already covered above. Starting in FY29, federal payment per bus equals 80% of the average procurement price for the same propulsion type and length combination over the previous five years, dropping to 75% in FY30 and 70% in FY31. The provision does require publication of a transparency schedule, but the underlying mechanism—a federal share that declines over time and lands hardest on more expensive propulsion types—moves opposite of the recommendation APTA submitted. APTA's reaction statement to the marked up legislation flagged "provisions limiting federal contributions for bus procurements" as a concern with the bill’s text.

Buy America waiver timeline (Section 5323 / Bill Section 3013)

APTA recommended issuing standard Buy America waiver determinations within 60 days of an application, cutting down to 10 days for repeat product waivers granted in the prior 36 months, as well as a 180-day deadline to launch Buy America-compliant construction materials. Section 3013 of the new legislation sets the standard waiver timeline at 180 days, with a possible six-month extension, as already covered above—moving opposite of APTA’s recommendation with a substantially longer review window.

There was also a share of recommendations that APTA offered that largely went unanswered—whether that be by the legislature implementing its own funding levels or share percentages.

• 40-40-20 funding ratio – APTA called for the restoration of a 40/40/20 funding ratio for CIG, State of Good Repair and Buses and Bus Facilities grants by growing State of Good Repair and bus funding. At FY27 levels, the bill authorizes $3 billion for CIG, $4.64 billion for State of Good Repair and $1.7 billion for Buses, Bus Facilities and Ferries—roughly 32/ 50% / 18% of the three combined. While bus funding is set to grow $2.3 billion by FY31 in line with APTA’s underlying recommendation, the overall ratio does not.
• Two-way Section 5310 and 5311 flexibility - APTA recommended giving states more choice to reallocate Section 5310 funds to projects in small urbanized or rural areas with two-way transfer. Sections 3008 and 3009 of the legislation make several changes to those programs, however, they do not address the two-way flex the association suggested.
• Metropolitan planning organization (MPO) voting representation (Section 5303) - APTA wanted guaranteed voting representation on MPO boards for transit providers carrying at least 75% of annual unlinked passenger trips in a metropolitan planning area. The bill does not include this recommendation.
• Expedited technical capacity review for Section 5307 - APTA recommended an expedited technical capacity review process for Section 5307 recipients meeting two criteria: prior on-budget and on-schedule project delivery, plus continued staff expertise to carry out new projects. The bill places an expedited review process in Section 5309 (CIG) instead.
• Public transportation research findings publication (Section 5312) - APTA recommended that all research findings funded under Section 5312 be made public so that taxpayer-funded transit research benefits the broader industry—not just direct grant recipients. The bill's amendments to Section 5312 offer technical citation corrections only, no public availability mandate like APTA requested.
• TAM data shield (Section 5326) - APTA recommended withholding safety-sensitive TAM data from federal and state FOIA requests, as well as banning its use as evidence in state or federal court proceedings. Section 3016 of the bill restructures the TAM program as already covered above, but it does not include any FOIA or evidentiary protections like APTA sought.
• Public Transportation Safety Program reforms (Section 5329) - APTA recommended four sub-rules regarding safety and its management:
  • Codifying the agency CEO as sole tiebreaker in safety committee disputes.
  • Shielding accident reports, safety plans and hazard analyses from FOIA and litigation.
  • Creating an FTA-administered appeals process for State Safety Oversight Agency findings.
  • Establishing a 12-month cooling-off period before former transit agency employees can be hired by an oversight agency, with a permanent prohibition on overseeing areas they previously managed.

Section 3018 makes substantial changes to Section 5329 as mentioned above, but it does not address any of the four above sub-recommendations offered by APTA.

• Department of Labor initial review period (Section 5333) - APTA recommended shortening the department of labor's initial grant review period from 15 days to five days. The bill does not change this timeline.
• Rail passenger liability coverage window (49 U.S.C. Section 28103) - APTA recommended that the window to obtain new insurance coverage under the rail passenger liability cap increases to be extended from 30 days to one year to give commuter rail agencies time to secure coverage in a constrained insurance market with no U.S. options. Section 10305 raises the underlying cap from $200 million to $323 million and sets up a five-year periodic adjustment mechanism with 2-10% adjustment range but does not address the 30-day coverage window APTA flagged.
• Commuter Rail Liability Insurance Program - APTA recommended the creation of a new USDOT-administered excess liability insurance program for commuter rail, modeled on the National Flood Insurance Program. The program would cover liability between $50 million and the full federal liability cap in an effort to offer more reasonable premiums by not combining the risk with other, unrelated categories. The bill does not create such a program.
• Federal-State Partnership notification window (Section 24911) - APTA recommended shortening the congressional notification period for grant awards under the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail from 30 days to three days, consistent with notification timelines for other USDOT programs. Section 10106 substantially rewrites Section 24911, as mentioned above—but does not include this change. The same 30-to-3-day reduction does appear in Section 7105 of the bill for the National Infrastructure Project Assistance program as already covered above.
• Private Activity Bonds (PAB) expansion - APTA recommended expanding PAB eligibility to cover rolling stock acquisition, removing mass-commuting facilities from state-level PAB volume caps and lowering the high-speed rail PAB speed threshold from 150 mph to 110 mph. None of these changes were adopted in the bill. PABs are administered through the federal tax code and sit with the House Ways and Means Committee rather than Transportation and Infrastructure, which might possibly explain the absence.
• Value capture tax credits - APTA recommended two new federal tax incentives to attract private capital. One modeled on Opportunity Zones and one modeled on Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and New Markets Tax Credits. Neither appears in the bill. Like PABs, these tax provisions fall under Ways and Means jurisdiction rather than Transportation and Infrastructure, which could explain the absence.

If you want to see a breakdown of everything transit-related that did make the committee’s bill, check out our coverage on passenger rail and buses, facilities, safety and authorization levels. Wondering what other transit industry stakeholders think about the bill? Tomorrow, we’ll cover industry reactions and anticipated next steps for the legislation.