Congress Passes Concrete-Friendly Water Bill, HOS Language; Delays Transportation Funding

The Senate passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund operations for most federal agencies at current fiscal levels until April 28, averting a possible government shutdown late Friday night and completing its legislative business until the 115th Congressional session begins on January 3, 2017. The CR maintains the current budget cap spending levels at $1.07 billion. In addition to the CR, the Senate also cleared a $170 billion concrete-friendly water bill authorizing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to continue meeting the needs of America’s harbors, locks, dams, flood protection and other water resources infrastructure, and also helps strengthen the nation’s economic competitiveness. It authorizes $10.6 billion in funding for 30 Army Corps of Engineers' water infrastructure projects in 17 states, including drinking water infrastructure programs as well as waterways and flood control systems.

 

Included in the CR is a fix that permanently preserves the 34-hour restart Hours of Service rule change issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on July 1, 2013. To this end, the provision led by an American Trucking Association coalition that included NRMCA, retains the "simple" 34-hour restart without the "bolt-on" restrictions (Sec. 180) passed in the year-end spending bill that funds the federal government through April 2017  Also, included is "hereafter" language that NRMCA believes permanently retains the pre-July 2013 restart rule if the FMCSA’s study does not meet the criteria required by Congress – which it is not expected to do and language was included to  remove the 73-hour cap.

NRMCA supported passage of the water bill because it contained several measures that NRMCA advocated. One item in particular was Section 1173 which contains a study on the performance of "innovative materials." In this section, innovative materials includes high performance concrete formulation as well as other materials and emphasizes the need for identifying conditions that result in degradation of water infrastructure projects and the ability of these materials to reduce degradation. The study further asks for identifying conditions and making recommendations to Congress on performance-based requirements of these materials within three years. NRMCA sent a letter supporting passage of the water bill. It also signed onto a support letter with members of the Highway Materials Group.  To view the letters, click here and here.

Passage of the CR means that transportation funding for states that was set to increase on October 1, established under Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) that Congress passed at the end of last year, will not occur. The CR will provide emergency funding to the Federal Highway Administration’s emergency relief account which is mostly used for disaster aid. FHWA is still able to access its regular authorized funding, but only at 2016 funding levels. NRMCA, in association with the Transportation Construction Coalition, sent a letter to Congressional leaders expressing disappointment with the delay of over $1 billion in authorized and funded investment increases in transportation and infrastructure spending as authorized in the FAST Act. We urged members of the House and Senate to pass a final FY 2017 transportation funding bill that delivers those withheld funds as soon as possible. Click here to view the letter.