Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved a bipartisan surface transportation bill Thursday to reauthorize and reform federal highway, transit, and highway safety programs. The Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015 (H.R. 3763) included two amendments from U.S. Representative Scott Perry (PA-4) to improve roadway safety and remove government obstacles to job creation.

The STRR Act is a six-year bill designed to improve the Nation’s surface transportation infrastructure, reform programs, maintain a strong commitment to safety, and promote innovation.  A long-term transportation bill provides the certainty state and local governments and the private sector need to undertake large-scale, complex transportation projects. The STRR Act also:

-          Provides flexibility for states to invest in bridge rehabilitation and replacement

-          Eliminates red tape that slows down infrastructure improvements

-          Streamlines the environmental review process to cut red tape and accelerate project delivery

-          Provides more flexibility to states and local governments to allow them to better address their priorities

-          Eliminates and consolidates offices within the Department of Transportation

-          Reforms truck and bus safety programs and eases administrative burdens on small businesses

 “One of the core functions of the federal government is to ensure that America has the necessary transportation infrastructure to grow interstate commerce and strengthen America's competitive edge in the global economy,” said Rep. Perry. “All of us can see that our infrastructure is crumbling around us. It’s time to stop talking and start doing something about it.”

The bill included two amendments sponsored by Rep. Perry. The first adds training for the installation and maintenance of guardrail systems as an eligible activity under the Work Zone Safety Grant.  Guardrail systems are proven roadway safety countermeasures that save the lives of the motoring public every day. However, when these systems are installed or maintained improperly, their safety value is decreased. Additional training helps ensure these systems are installed correctly, thereby protecting drivers. The amendment costs no additional taxpayer money and was co-sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT-5) and Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL-3).

The second amendment was incorporated from legislation Rep. Perry introduced earlier this year (H.R. 2077) to require a comprehensive study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) of minimum financial responsibility requirements for motor carriers of passengers.

The FMCSA has a pending rulemaking that could potentially increase school bus contractors' insurance rates by over 400% without any study or analysis of the issue. School buses are the very safest form of transportation according to DOT's own statistics and this amendment prevents the government from unilaterally raising insurance minimums and protects privately owned motorcoach and school bus companies, many of them small businesses.

"The National School Transportation Association (NSTA) thanks Congressman Scott Perry for his leadership in producing a strong bipartisan bill that will ensure that the private school bus industry and the millions of children it transports to and from school safely every day, continue to thrive," states Ronna Sable Weber, Executive Director of NSTA.

The STRR Act now moves to the full House for approval. Learn more about the bill here: http://transportation.house.gov/strr-act/