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The prospects of the 110th Congress completing a new surface transportation authorization bill prior to Sept. 30, when SAFETEA-LU expires, is uncertain, according to an American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Legislative Alert issued yesterday.

The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is working to develop an initial draft of the authorization legislation, and hopes to introduce an outline of the bill by June's end and complete a "mark up" in the Highways and Transit Subcommittee in early July. That would allow the full committee to mark up the bill for consideration on the House floor prior to Congress' August recess, APTA said.

However, the House Ways & Means Committee still must write the financing title of the bill. The committee has scheduled a hearing for June 25 to examine surface transportation priorities, but has not yet offered a timeline to complete the financing piece.

Meanwhile, several Senate committees have begun to draft legislative proposals that may eventually become part of the larger authorization package. The Senate Banking Committee still is working on the transit title and has not set a definitive timeframe for drafting it under the Senate's version of the authorization bill, APTA said. Last week, the committee held a hearing regarding the status of the New Starts program and plans to hold a symposium on it on June 19.

The two other major committees that have a role in the process — the Finance Committee and Environment and Public Works Committee — have not yet indicated when they will release proposals on their sections of the authorization bill, APTA said.

The Obama Administration has yet to release its recommendations for the authorization legislation, although U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has indicated that principles for surface transportation are under development and will be released in the near future, according to APTA. LaHood also has said the Administration is opposed to raising the gas tax at this time and has suggested creating a National Infrastructure Bank to issue bonds for transportation.  

"Considering the lack of progress on the authorization bill at this date, and a full Congressional calendar for the remainder of the year, it seems increasingly likely that Congress will not complete the surface transportation authorization prior to the end of this year," APTA said in the alert. "Several lawmakers and Secretary LaHood have indicated that an extension of SAFETEA-LU may be required to keep the program running into next year."

Further complicating matters, Congress will have to address the expected insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund as early as late July. The Administration has proposed supplementing the trust fund with General Fund dollars to keep it solvent through the end of the current fiscal year, so long as the general fund dollars are offset by spending reductions elsewhere in the federal budget. The Mass Transit Account (MTA) of the trust fund is not directly impacted by the shortfall in the highway portion. Projections indicate that the MTA will remain solvent through the end of Fiscal Year 2011, provided spending for transit programs does not significantly increase, APTA said.