[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3581 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3581
To require the Secretary of Transportation to carry out a pilot program
to develop and provide to States and transportation planning
organizations accessibility data sets, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 28, 2021
Mr. DeSaulnier (for himself and Mr. Curtis) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Transportation to carry out a pilot program
to develop and provide to States and transportation planning
organizations accessibility data sets, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Connecting Opportunities through
Mobility Metrics and Unlocking Transportation Efficiencies Act'' or the
``COMMUTE Act''.
SEC. 2. ACCESSIBILITY DATA PILOT PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment
of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation (referred to in this
section as the ``Secretary'') shall establish an accessibility data
pilot program (referred to in this section as the ``pilot program'').
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the pilot program is to develop or
procure an accessibility data set and make that data set available to
each eligible entity selected to participate in the pilot program to
improve the transportation planning of those eligible entities by--
(1) measuring the level of access by multiple
transportation modes to important destinations, which may
include--
(A) jobs, including areas with a concentration of
available jobs;
(B) health care facilities;
(C) child care services;
(D) educational and workforce training facilities;
(E) affordable housing;
(F) food sources; and
(G) connections between modes, including
connections to--
(i) high-quality transit or rail service;
(ii) safe bicycling corridors; and
(iii) safe sidewalks that achieve
compliance with applicable requirements of the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42
U.S.C. 12101 et seq.);
(2) disaggregating the level of access by multiple
transportation modes by a variety of population categories,
which may include--
(A) low-income populations;
(B) minority populations;
(C) age;
(D) disability; and
(E) geographical location;
(3) assessing the change in accessibility that would result
from new transportation investments; and
(4) providing data necessary to prioritize transportation
investments that will improve access by all modes of travel.
(c) Eligible Entities.--An entity eligible to participate in the
pilot program is--
(1) a State (as defined in section 101(a) of title 23,
United States Code);
(2) a metropolitan planning organization; or
(3) a rural transportation planning organization.
(d) Application.--To be eligible to participate in the pilot
program, an eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary an
application at such time, in such manner, and containing such
information as the Secretary may require, including information
relating to--
(1) previous experience of the eligible entity measuring
transportation access, especially in low-income, transit-
dependent, or other high-needs communities, or other
performance management experience;
(2) the types of important destinations to which the
eligible entity intends to measure access;
(3) the types of data disaggregation the eligible entity
intends to pursue;
(4) a general description of the methodology the eligible
entity intends to apply;
(5) if the applicant does not intend the pilot program to
apply to the full area under the jurisdiction of the applicant,
a description of the geographic area in which the applicant
intends the pilot program to apply; and
(6) a description of how the eligible entity plans to use
the data to improve access to jobs and services by all modes of
travel, including for communities of color, low-income
communities, people who are transit-dependent, and vulnerable
road users.
(e) Selection.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall seek to achieve
diversity of participants in the pilot program by selecting a
range of eligible entities that shall include--
(A) States;
(B) metropolitan planning organizations that serve
an area with a population of 200,000 people or fewer;
(C) metropolitan planning organizations that serve
an area with a population of over 200,000 people; and
(D) rural transportation planning organizations.
(2) Inclusions.--The Secretary shall seek to ensure that,
among the eligible entities selected under paragraph (1), there
is--
(A) a range of capacity and previous experience
with measuring transportation access; and
(B) a variety of proposed methodologies and focus
areas for measuring level of access.
(f) Duties.--For each eligible entity participating in the pilot
program, the Secretary shall--
(1) develop or acquire an accessibility data set described
in subsection (b); and
(2) submit the data set to the eligible entity.
(g) Methodology.--In calculating the measures for the data set
under the pilot program, the Secretary shall ensure that methodology is
open source.
(h) Availability.--The Secretary shall make an accessibility data
set under the pilot program available to--
(1) units of local government within the jurisdiction of
the eligible entity participating in the pilot program; and
(2) researchers.
(i) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the last date on which
the Secretary submits data sets to the eligible entity under subsection
(f), the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the results of
the program, including--
(1) the feasibility of developing and providing periodic
accessibility data sets for all States, regions, and
localities; and
(2) an identification of specific actions the Secretary and
eligible entities participating in the pilot program may take
to further the use of accessibility data.
(j) Funding.--The Secretary shall carry out the pilot program using
amounts made available to the Secretary for administrative expenses to
carry out programs under the authority of the Secretary.
(k) Sunset.--The pilot program shall terminate on the date that is
5 years after the date on which the pilot program is implemented.
<all>