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Published: 2005

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On August 10, 2005, President Bush signed the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act - A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU or SAFETEA)(P.L. 109-59). This act reauthorizes federal surface transportation programs through the end of FY2009. The reauthorization was long overdue, given that the previous long term authorization, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21)(P.L. 105-206) expired on September 30, 2003. The reauthorization debate was primarily characterized by two interrelated issues, money and how that money would be distributed among the states. The 108th Congress came close to a bill with a surface transportation Conference Committee in place. In the end, however, conferees were unable to reach agreement either among themselves or with the Bush Administration as to how large the six-year reauthorization package would be in dollar terms. The Conference was also unable to agree on a solution to the long standing donor-donee state funding distribution question, with donor states insisting on a 95% return on fuel tax revenues and donee states insisting that increased funding for donor states not come at their expense. In the 109th Congress, the same issues threatened to undermine a Conference Committee that began meeting in June 2005. This time, however, all parties found ways in which to compromise. Most importantly, the Administration allowed total funding in the bill to rise to $286.4 billion for the six-year authorization period (in actuality the act provides $244.1 billion for the five years remaining before FY2009). This increase allowed the conferees to ultimately guarantee all states an eventual 92% rate of return, an improvement on the existing 90.5% rate, while at the same time holding 27 states harmless (meaning they will not receive less actual money than they have in the past). With these key compromises in place many of the objections to the bill disappeared and the conference report was agreed to on July 29, 2005. In addition to money issues, the act addressed a number of other issues. These included the creation of a new consolidated safety program, enhanced environmental streamlining regulations, changes in clean air conformity regulations, funding for transit new starts, expanded reliance on innovative financing and tolls, and spending on congressional high priority projects (earmarks). This report will be updated as warranted by congressional actions.