Bill Sponsor
Senate Bill 654
116th Congress(2019-2020)
COMMUTE Act
Introduced
Introduced
Introduced in Senate on Mar 5, 2019
Overview
Text
Introduced in Senate 
Mar 5, 2019
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Introduced in Senate(Mar 5, 2019)
Mar 5, 2019
Not Scanned for Linkage
About Linkage
Multiple bills can contain the same text. This could be an identical bill in the opposite chamber or a smaller bill with a section embedded in a larger bill.
Bill Sponsor regularly scans bill texts to find sections that are contained in other bill texts. When a matching section is found, the bills containing that section can be viewed by clicking "View Bills" within the bill text section.
Bill Sponsor is currently only finding exact word-for-word section matches. In a future release, partial matches will be included.
S. 654 (Introduced-in-Senate)


116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 654


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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

March 5, 2019

Ms. Baldwin (for herself and Ms. Ernst) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation


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 carry out 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 make available an accessibility data set for each eligible entity selected to participate in the pilot program to improve transportation planning of those eligible entities by measuring the level of access by multiple transportation modes to important destinations, such as—

(1) jobs, including areas with a concentration of available jobs;

(2) health care facilities;

(3) child care services;

(4) educational and workforce training facilities;

(5) affordable housing; and

(6) food sources.

(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 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.

(e) Selection.—The Secretary shall select eligible entities to participate in the program on a competitive basis, including—

(1) 5 States;

(2) 10 metropolitan planning organizations, of which—

(A) 5 shall each serve an area with a population of not more than 200,000 people; and

(B) 5 shall each serve an area with a population of 200,000 or more people; and

(3) 5 rural planning organizations.

(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 the feasibility of developing and providing periodic accessibility data sets for all States, regions, and localities.

(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 8 years after the date on which the pilot program is implemented.