Sec. 1121. Assessing policy and system financing alternatives
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Section 503(b) of title 23, United States Code, is amended by inserting at the end the following: The Secretary shall carry out a research and innovation program to explore alternative transportation revenue mechanisms that preserve a user fee structure to maintain the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund. In carrying out this paragraph, the Secretary shall carry out research and development activities— to direct a coordinated research and development program to study remaining uncertainties relating to the design, acceptance, and implementation of 3 or more future sustainable alternative transportation revenue mechanisms; to define the functionality of 3 or more user-based alternative revenue mechanisms; to conduct or promote research activities to demonstrate and test such user-based alternative revenue mechanisms, including field trials, by partnering with individual States, groups of States, or other appropriate entities to conduct such research; to conduct outreach to increase public awareness regarding the need for alternative funding sources for surface transportation programs and provide information on possible approaches; to provide recommendations regarding adoption and implementation of such user-based alternative revenue mechanisms; and to reduce the administrative cost of any potential alternative revenue mechanisms.
Research and technology activities carried out under this paragraph may include partnering with and providing grant funding to individual States, groups of States, or other appropriate entities to conduct research that addresses— the implementation, interoperability, public acceptance, and other potential hurdles to the adoption of an alternative revenue mechanism; the protection of personal privacy; the utilization of independent and private third-party vendors to collect fees and operate the alternative revenue mechanism; equity concerns, including the impacts of the alternative revenue mechanism on differing income groups, various geographic areas, and the relative burdens on rural and urban drivers; ease of compliance for different users of the transportation system; the reliability of technology used to implement the alternative revenue mechanism; the flexibility and choices with alternative revenue mechanisms, including the ability of users to select from various technology and payment options; the cost of administering the alternative revenue mechanism; and the ability of the administering entity to audit and enforce user compliance.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall establish and lead a Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Advisory Council (hereinafter referred to as the Council ) to inform the selection and evaluation of alternative revenue mechanisms. The members of the Council shall— be appointed by the Secretary; and include, at a minimum— representation with experience in alternative revenue mechanisms from the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Treasury, and not less than 2 State departments of transportation; representation from applicable users of the surface transportation system; and are appropriate technology and public privacy experts.
The Secretary shall consider geographic diversity when selecting members under this clause. Not later than 1 year after the date on which the Council is established, the Council shall, at a minimum— define the functionality of 3 or more alternative revenue mechanisms; identify technological, administrative, institutional, privacy, and other issues that are— associated with the alternative revenue mechanisms; and may be researched through research activities; conduct public outreach to identify and assess questions and concerns about the alternative revenue mechanisms for future evaluation through research activities; provide recommendations to the Secretary on the process and criteria used for selecting research activities under subparagraph (C); and conduct periodic evaluations of the research activities that have received assistance under this paragraph from the Secretary.
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this paragraph, and every 2 years thereafter until the completion of the research activities, the Secretary shall submit to the Secretary of the Treasury, the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate, and the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report with findings on the progress of the research activities.
On the completion of the research activities, the Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report that includes the findings and any recommendations. Of the amounts made available for administrative expenses under section 104(a), not less than 4 percent shall be used to carry out this paragraph.
Of the amounts made available to carry out this paragraph, not more than 40 percent shall be used to carry out 1 of the user-based alternative revenue mechanisms. .