Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Port Optimization for Responsible Transportation Act”.
Port Optimization for Responsible Transportation Act
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking with respect to categorical exclusions of the Maritime Administration, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Maritime administration
Categorical exclusions—
Reciprocal use of categorical exclusions— Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish that the Maritime Administrator shall approve any action qualifying as a categorical exclusion established by the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, or the Federal Railroad Administration, as outlined in part 771 of title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, when the applicable requirements of that categorical exclusion have been met.
New categorical exclusions—
In general— Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to propose new Maritime Administration categorical exclusions for port authority projects that require the approval of the Secretary under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
Expanding list— The Maritime Administration's list of categorical exclusions shall be expanded with the goal of having a list that allows the Maritime Administration to issue categorical exclusions that maritime port authorities would typically use, independently of the lists of other Department of Transportation modal agencies, including categorical exclusions—
corresponding to project types that have typically been granted a Finding of No Significant Impact in past Maritime Administration-granted projects and could feasibly be categorical exclusions; and
that the Secretary determines would be useful to maritime port authorities in the course of Federal grant-funded projects.
Process for regular updates— The Secretary shall include in the rule required by paragraph (2) a process by which the Maritime Administration will update the list of categorical exclusions every 4 years to reflect lessons learned in grant administration and project construction that lead to new efficiencies in the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
Application timelines— Section 54301(a)(5) of title 46, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(C) Delayed notice of funding opportunity—If an amendment is made to a published solicitation for grant applications such that an applicant would need the information contained in the amendment to draft an application, other than an amendment of the amount of grant funding available, the Secretary shall extend the application deadline by the number of days between the initial solicitation and the amendment.”
Project budget reviews— Section 54301(a)(9) of title 46, United States Code, is amended—
in subparagraph (B) by striking “and” at the end;
in subparagraph (C) by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(D) grant contracts are approved efficiently by the Secretary, minimizing delays for minor adjustments to project scopes and budgets due to inflationary effects on projects.”
Staffing and grant timelines— Section 54301(a)(11) of title 46, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(C) Administrative and oversight report—Not later than 365 days after the date of the enactment of this subparagraph, and each year thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the average length of grant obligation timelines and the nature of any staffing shortages relevant to administering this program.”
Sec. 3 Federal permitting improvement steering council
Section 41001(6)(A)(i)(II) of the FAST Act (42 U.S.C. 4370m(6)(A)(i)(II)) is amended by inserting “, except for projects sponsored by a port authority” after “$200,000,000”.
Sec. 4 Build America Buy America
Limited waivers— Section 54301(a)(11) of title 46, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(C) Certification of domestic supply—If the Secretary denies an application for a waiver under the procedures outlined in section 8301 of title 41, the Secretary shall provide to the applicant a written certification that—
“(i) the steel, iron, or manufactured goods, as applicable (referred to in this subparagraph as the “item”), is produced in the United States in a sufficient and reasonably available amount;
“(ii) the item produced in the United States is of a satisfactory quality; and
“(iii) includes a list of known manufacturers in the United States from which the item can be obtained.”
Sense of Congress— It is the sense of Congress that, to build the necessary domestic manufacturing capabilities, port authorities should be permitted to make group or pooled purchases of equipment, also known as “piggybacking”, in which the post-award use of a contractual document allows multiple port authorities to purchase the same supplies or equipment through the original contractual document.