Division L — Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014

None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Transportation may be obligated for the Office of the Secretary of Transportation to approve assessments or reimbursable agreements pertaining to funds appropriated to the modal administrations in this Act, except for activities underway on the date of enactment of this Act, unless such assessments or agreements have completed the normal reprogramming process for Congressional notification.

The Secretary or his designee may engage in activities with States and State legislators to consider proposals related to the reduction of motorcycle fatalities.

Notwithstanding section 3324 of title 31, United States Code, in addition to authority provided by section 327 of title 49, United States Code, the Department's Working Capital Fund is hereby authorized to provide payments in advance to vendors that are necessary to carry out the Federal transit pass transportation fringe benefit program under Executive Order 13150 and section 3049 of Public Law 109–59: Provided, That the Department shall include adequate safeguards in the contract with the vendors to ensure timely and high-quality performance under the contract.

The Secretary shall post on the Web site of the Department of Transportation a schedule of all meetings of the Credit Council, including the agenda for each meeting, and require the Credit Council to record the decisions and actions of each meeting.

None of the funds in this Act may be used to compensate in excess of 600 technical staff-years under the federally funded research and development center contract between the Federal Aviation Administration and the Center for Advanced Aviation Systems Development during fiscal year 2014.

None of the funds in this Act shall be used to pursue or adopt guidelines or regulations requiring airport sponsors to provide to the Federal Aviation Administration without cost building construction, maintenance, utilities and expenses, or space in airport sponsor-owned buildings for services relating to air traffic control, air navigation, or weather reporting: Provided, That the prohibition of funds in this section does not apply to negotiations between the agency and airport sponsors to achieve agreement on “below-market” rates for these items or to grant assurances that require airport sponsors to provide land without cost to the FAA for air traffic control facilities.

The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration may reimburse amounts made available to satisfy 49 U.S.C. 41742(a)(1) from fees credited under 49 U.S.C. 45303 and any amount remaining in such account at the close of that fiscal year may be made available to satisfy section 41742(a)(1) for the subsequent fiscal year.

Amounts collected under section 40113(e) of title 49, United States Code, shall be credited to the appropriation current at the time of collection, to be merged with and available for the same purposes of such appropriation.

None of the funds in this Act shall be available for paying premium pay under subsection 5546(a) of title 5, United States Code, to any Federal Aviation Administration employee unless such employee actually performed work during the time corresponding to such premium pay.

None of the funds in this Act may be obligated or expended for an employee of the Federal Aviation Administration to purchase a store gift card or gift certificate through use of a Government-issued credit card.

The Secretary shall apportion to the sponsor of an airport that received scheduled or unscheduled air service from a large certified air carrier (as defined in part 241 of title 14 Code of Federal Regulations, or such other regulations as may be issued by the Secretary under the authority of section 41709) an amount equal to the minimum apportionment specified in 49 U.S.C. 47114(c), if the Secretary determines that airport had more than 10,000 passenger boardings in the preceding calendar year, based on data submitted to the Secretary under part 241 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations.

None of the funds in this Act may be obligated or expended for retention bonuses for an employee of the Federal Aviation Administration without the prior written approval of the Assistant Secretary for Administration of the Department of Transportation.

Subparagraph (D) of section 47124(b)(3) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by striking “benefit.” and inserting “benefit, with the maximum allowable local cost share capped at 20 percent.”.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds made available under this Act or any prior Act may be used to implement or to continue to implement any limitation on the ability of any owner or operator of a private aircraft to obtain, upon a request to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, a blocking of that owner's or operator’s aircraft registration number from any display of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aircraft Situational Display to Industry data that is made available to the public, except data made available to a Government agency, for the noncommercial flights of that owner or operator.

None of the funds in this Act shall be available for salaries and expenses of more than 8 political and Presidential appointees in the Federal Aviation Administration.

None of the funds made available under this Act may be used to increase fees pursuant to section 44721 of title 49, United States Code, until the FAA provides to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations the report related to aeronautical navigation products described in the explanatory statement described in section 4 (in the matter preceding division A of this consolidated Act).

None of the funds appropriated or limited by this Act may be used to change weight restrictions or prior permission rules at Teterboro airport in Teterboro, New Jersey.

The Secretary shall (1) evaluate and adjust existing helicopter routes above Los Angeles, and make adjustments to such routes if the adjustments would lessen impacts on residential areas and noise-sensitive landmarks; (2) analyze whether helicopters could safely fly at higher altitudes in certain areas above Los Angeles County; (3) develop and promote best practices for helicopter hovering and electronic news gathering; (4) conduct outreach to helicopter pilots to inform them of voluntary policies and to increase awareness of noise sensitive areas and events; (5) work with local stakeholders to develop a more comprehensive noise complaint system; and (6) continue to participate in collaborative engagement between community representatives and helicopter operators: Provided, That not later than one year after enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall begin a regulatory process related to the impact of helicopter use on the quality of life and safety of the people of Los Angeles County unless the Secretary can demonstrate significant progress in undertaking the actions required under the previous proviso.

Notwithstanding 31 U.S.C. 3302, funds received by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics from the sale of data products, for necessary expenses incurred pursuant to chapter 63 of title 49, United States Code, may be credited to the Federal-aid Highways account for the purpose of reimbursing the Bureau for such expenses: Provided, That such funds shall be subject to the obligation limitation for Federal-aid Highways and highway safety construction programs.

Not less than 15 days prior to waiving, under his statutory authority, any Buy America requirement for Federal-aid highway projects, the Secretary of Transportation shall make an informal public notice and comment opportunity on the intent to issue such waiver and the reasons therefor: Provided, That the Secretary shall provide an annual report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations on any waivers granted under the Buy America requirements.

None of the funds in this Act to the Department of Transportation may be used to provide credit assistance unless not less than 3 days before any application approval to provide credit assistance under sections 603 and 604 of title 23, United States Code, the Secretary of Transportation provides notification in writing to the following committees: the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations; the Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs of the Senate; and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives: Provided, That such notification shall include, but not be limited to, the name of the project sponsor; a description of the project; whether credit assistance will be provided as a direct loan, loan guarantee, or line of credit; and the amount of credit assistance.

Section 149(m) of title 23, United States Code, is amended by striking “that was previously eligible under this section” and replacing with “for which CMAQ funding was made available, obligated or expended in fiscal year 2012, and shall have no imposed time limitation”.

Funds appropriated or limited in this Act shall be subject to the terms and conditions stipulated in section 350 of Public Law 107–87 and section 6901 of Public Law 110–28.

An additional $130,000 shall be made available to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, out of the amount limited for section 402 of title 23, United States Code, to pay for travel and related expenses for State management reviews and to pay for core competency development training and related expenses for highway safety staff.

The limitations on obligations for the programs of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration set in this Act shall not apply to obligations for which obligation authority was made available in previous public laws but only to the extent that the obligation authority has not lapsed or been used.

None of the funds in this Act shall be used to implement section 404 of title 23, United States Code.

Hereafter, notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds provided in this Act for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation shall immediately cease to be available to said Corporation in the event that the Corporation contracts to have services provided at or from any location outside the United States. For purposes of this section, the word “services” shall mean any service that was, as of July 1, 2006, performed by a full-time or part-time Amtrak employee whose base of employment is located within the United States.

The Secretary of Transportation may receive and expend cash, or receive and utilize spare parts and similar items, from non-United States Government sources to repair damages to or replace United States Government owned automated track inspection cars and equipment as a result of third-party liability for such damages, and any amounts collected under this section shall be credited directly to the Safety and Operations account of the Federal Railroad Administration, and shall remain available until expended for the repair, operation and maintenance of automated track inspection cars and equipment in connection with the automated track inspection program.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule or regulation, the Secretary of Transportation is authorized to allow the issuer of any preferred stock heretofore sold to the Department to redeem or repurchase such stock upon the payment to the Department of an amount to be determined by the Secretary.

None of the funds provided to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation may be used to fund any overtime costs in excess of $35,000 for any individual employee: Provided, That the president of Amtrak may waive the cap set in the previous proviso for specific employees when the president of Amtrak determines such a cap poses a risk to the safety and operational efficiency of the system: Provided further, That Amtrak shall notify the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations each quarter of the calendar year on waivers granted to employees and amounts paid above the cap for each month within such quarter and delineate the reasons each waiver was granted: Provided further, That Amtrak shall provide to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations by March 17, 2014, a summary of all overtime payments incurred by the Corporation for 2013 and the two prior calendar years: Provided further, That such summary shall include the total number of employees that received waivers and the total overtime payments the Corporation paid to those employees receiving waivers for each month for 2013 and for the two prior calendar years.

Of the funds made available under Public Law 113–2 under the heading “Federal Railroad Administration, Grants to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation”, the second proviso is amended by deleting “or any other Act”.

The limitations on obligations for the programs of the Federal Transit Administration shall not apply to any authority under 49 U.S.C. 5338, previously made available for obligation, or to any other authority previously made available for obligation.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds appropriated or limited by this Act under the Federal Transit Administration's discretionary program appropriations headings for projects specified in this Act or identified in reports accompanying this Act not obligated by September 30, 2018, and other recoveries, shall be directed to projects eligible to use the funds for the purposes for which they were originally provided.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any funds appropriated before October 1, 2013, under any section of chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code, that remain available for expenditure, may be transferred to and administered under the most recent appropriation heading for any such section.

The Secretary may not enforce regulations related to charter bus service under part 604 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, for any transit agency who during fiscal year 2008 was both initially granted a 60-day period to come into compliance with part 604, and then was subsequently granted an exception from said part.

For purposes of applying the project justification and local financial commitment criteria of 49 U.S.C. 5309(d) to a New Starts project, the Secretary may consider the costs and ridership of any connected project in an instance in which private parties are making significant financial contributions to the construction of the connected project; additionally, the Secretary may consider the significant financial contributions of private parties to the connected project in calculating the non-Federal share of net capital project costs for the New Starts project.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds made available in this Act shall be used to enter into a full funding grant agreement for a project with a New Starts share greater than 60 percent.

None of the funds in this Act may be available to advance in any way a new fixed guideway capital project towards a full funding grant agreement as defined by 49 U.S.C. 5309 for the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas if the proposed capital project is constructed on or planned to be constructed on Richmond Avenue west of South Shepherd Drive or on Post Oak Boulevard north of Richmond Avenue in Houston, Texas.

Unobligated and recovered fiscal year 2010 through 2012 funds that were made available to carry out 49 U.S.C. 5339 shall be available to carry out 49 U.S.C. 5309, as amended by Public Law 112–141, subject to the terms and conditions required under such section.

New bus rapid transit projects recommended in the President’s budget submission to the Congress of the United States for funds appropriated under the heading “Capital Investment Grants” in this Act shall be funded from $93,269,369 in unobligated amounts that were made available to carry out the discretionary bus and bus facilities program under 49 U.S.C. 5309 in fiscal years 1999 through 2010: Provided, That all such projects shall remain subject to the Capital Investment Grants Program requirements of 49 U.S.C. 5309 for New Starts, Small Starts, or Core Capacity projects as applicable.

Of the funds made available for the Formula Grants program, as authorized by Public Law 97–424, as amended, $63,465,775 are hereby permanently rescinded: Provided, That of the funds made available for the Formula Grants program, as authorized by Public Law 91–453, as amended, $795,307 are hereby permanently rescinded: Provided further, That of the funds made available for the Formula Grants program as authorized by Public Law 95–599, as amended, $928,838 are hereby permanently rescinded: Provided further, That of the funds made available for the University Transportation Research program, as authorized by Public Law 91–453, as amended, and by Public Law 102–240, as amended, $595,619 are hereby permanently rescinded: Provided further, That of the funds made available for the Job Access and Reverse Commute program, as authorized by Public Law 105–178, as amended, $15,704,469 are hereby permanently rescinded: Provided further, That of the funds made available for the Capital Investment Grants program, as authorized by Public Law 105–178, as amended, $11,429,055 are hereby permanently rescinded: Provided further, That of the funds made available for the Research, Training, and Human Resources program, as authorized by Public Law 95–599, as amended, $419,474 are hereby permanently rescinded: Provided further, That of the funds made available for the Interstate Transfer Grants program, as authorized by 23 U.S.C. 103(e)(4), $2,687,207 are hereby permanently rescinded: Provided further, That of the funds made available for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, as authorized by section 14 of Public Law 96–184, as amended, and by Public Law 101–551, as amended, $523,107 are hereby permanently rescinded: Provided further, That of the funds made available for the Urban Discretionary Grants program, as authorized by Public Law 88–365, as amended, $679,314 are hereby permanently rescinded: Provided further, That no amounts may be rescinded from amounts that were designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the budget or the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the Maritime Administration is authorized to furnish utilities and services and make necessary repairs in connection with any lease, contract, or occupancy involving Government property under control of the Maritime Administration, and payments received therefor shall be credited to the appropriation charged with the cost thereof: Provided, That rental payments under any such lease, contract, or occupancy for items other than such utilities, services, or repairs shall be covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts.

None of the funds available or appropriated in this Act shall be used by the United States Department of Transportation or the United States Maritime Administration to negotiate or otherwise execute, enter into, facilitate or perform fee-for-service contracts for vessel disposal, scrapping or recycling, unless there is no qualified domestic ship recycler that will pay any sum of money to purchase and scrap or recycle a vessel owned, operated or managed by the Maritime Administration or that is part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Such sales offers must be consistent with the solicitation and provide that the work will be performed in a timely manner at a facility qualified within the meaning of section 3502 of Public Law 106–398. Nothing contained herein shall affect the Maritime Administration’s authority to award contracts at least cost to the Federal Government and consistent with the requirements of 16 U.S.C. 5405(c), section 3502, or otherwise authorized under the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

During the current fiscal year, applicable appropriations to the Department of Transportation shall be available for maintenance and operation of aircraft; hire of passenger motor vehicles and aircraft; purchase of liability insurance for motor vehicles operating in foreign countries on official department business; and uniforms or allowances therefor, as authorized by law (5 U.S.C. 5901–5902).

Appropriations contained in this Act for the Department of Transportation shall be available for services as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 3109, but at rates for individuals not to exceed the per diem rate equivalent to the rate for an Executive Level IV.

None of the funds in this Act shall be available for salaries and expenses of more than 110 political and Presidential appointees in the Department of Transportation: Provided, That none of the personnel covered by this provision may be assigned on temporary detail outside the Department of Transportation.

Funds received by the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and Federal Railroad Administration from States, counties, municipalities, other public authorities, and private sources for expenses incurred for training may be credited respectively to the Federal Highway Administration's “Federal-Aid Highways” account, the Federal Transit Administration's “Technical Assistance and Training” account, and to the Federal Railroad Administration's “Safety and Operations” account, except for State rail safety inspectors participating in training pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 20105.

None of the funds in this Act to the Department of Transportation may be used to make a grant unless the Secretary of Transportation notifies the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations not less than 3 full business days before any project competitively selected to receive a discretionary grant award, any discretionary grant award, letter of intent, or full funding grant agreement is announced by the department or its modal administrations from:

Rebates, refunds, incentive payments, minor fees and other funds received by the Department of Transportation from travel management centers, charge card programs, the subleasing of building space, and miscellaneous sources are to be credited to appropriations of the Department of Transportation and allocated to elements of the Department of Transportation using fair and equitable criteria and such funds shall be available until expended.

Amounts made available in this or any other Act that the Secretary determines represent improper payments by the Department of Transportation to a third-party contractor under a financial assistance award, which are recovered pursuant to law, shall be available—

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if any funds provided in or limited by this Act are subject to a reprogramming action that requires notice to be provided to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, transmission of said reprogramming notice shall be provided solely to the Committees on Appropriations, and said reprogramming action shall be approved or denied solely by the Committees on Appropriations: Provided, That the Secretary may provide notice to other congressional committees of the action of the Committees on Appropriations on such reprogramming but not sooner than 30 days following the date on which the reprogramming action has been approved or denied by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.

None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available under this Act may be used by the Surface Transportation Board of the Department of Transportation to charge or collect any filing fee for rate or practice complaints filed with the Board in an amount in excess of the amount authorized for district court civil suit filing fees under section 1914 of title 28, United States Code.

Funds appropriated in this Act to the modal administrations may be obligated for the Office of the Secretary for the costs related to assessments or reimbursable agreements only when such amounts are for the costs of goods and services that are purchased to provide a direct benefit to the applicable modal administration or administrations.

The Secretary of Transportation is authorized to carry out a program that establishes uniform standards for developing and supporting agency transit pass and transit benefits authorized under section 7905 of title 5, United States Code, including distribution of transit benefits by various paper and electronic media.

The unobligated balances of funds made available for section 1307(d)(1) of Public Law 109–59, as amended (23 U.S.C. 322 note; 119 Stat. 1217; 122 Stat. 1577), shall be made available to the Secretary of Transportation to make grants for projects as defined in section 24401(2)(A) of title 49, United States Code and to carry out sections 20158 and 26101(b) of title 49, United States Code: Provided, That the Secretary shall make available no less than $20,000,000 for corridor planning improvement grants as described in section 26101(b) of title 49, United States Code: Provided further, That such corridor planning improvement grants shall be available for passenger rail corridors that have not completed a tier 1 environmental impact statement within the last 10 years: Provided further, That the Secretary may retain a portion of the funds made available for planning activities to facilitate the preparation of a service development plan and related environmental impact statement for rail corridors located in multiple States.