The U.S. House of Representatives advanced four bills Monday aimed at strengthening the nation’s infrastructure.
The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure previously approved the bills.
“I am pleased that several bipartisan Transportation and Infrastructure Committee bills were passed on the House floor today,” Peter DeFazio (D-OR), committee chairman, said. “In particular, my Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund legislation is a much-needed win for coastal communities, and I encourage the Senate to take up this and the other bills as soon as possible.”
H.R. 1306, the Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act, was introduced in February by Reps. Mark Meadows (R-NC) and Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA). It amends the Disaster Recovery Reform Act to allow federal agencies, in the wake of disasters, to streamline and consolidate information collection and Preliminary Damage Assessments.
H.R. 1775, the Notice to Airmen Improvement Act of 2019, was introduced in March by Reps. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) and Pete Stauber (R-MN). The bill requires the Federal Aviation Administration to create a task force composed of representatives from airlines, general and business aviation, aviation safety and behavioral experts, and labor unions.
The task force would review Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) policies and regulations along with existing methods for presenting to pilots with NOTAMs. The task force also will determine the best practices for organizing and presenting flight-operations information to pilots as efficiently as possible.
H.R. 2440, the Full Utilization of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, ensures the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund is used for its intended purpose, allowing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge all federal harbors to their constructed widths and depths.
The bill also provides approximately $34 billion in infrastructure investment over the next decade with raising the Harbor Maintenance Tax. Funding is to be used for coastal and inland harbors.
The bill gives Congress the authority to appropriate from the trust fund’s existing $9.5 billion balance additional funds for harbor maintenance needs and to spend the $24.5 billion expected to be collected in the trust fund over the next 10 years for critical port and harbor needs.
H.R. 2502, the Transparency in Federal Buildings Act of 2019, was introduced in May by Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL). It amends Chapter 33 of Title 40, United States Code, to improve transparency and oversight of federally owned real estate.
A new section would be added to the code that requires the administrator of general services to publicly make available on the General Services Administration website all prospectuses submitted under the law. The prospectuses must be organized, searchable, easily accessible, readable, and available to download.