Sec. 21005. Urbanized area formula grants
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Section 5307 of title 49, United States Code, is amended— in subsection (a)— in paragraph (2), by inserting or general public demand response service before during each place that term appears; and by adding at the end the following: Notwithstanding paragraph (2), if a public transportation system described in that paragraph executes a written agreement with 1 or more other public transportation systems within the urbanized area to allocate funds for the purposes described in that paragraph by a method other than by measuring vehicle revenue hours, each public transportation system that is a party to the written agreement may follow the terms of the written agreement without regard to measured vehicle revenue hours referred to in that paragraph.
The Secretary may make a grant under this section to finance the operating cost of equipment and facilities to a recipient for use in public transportation in an area that the Secretary determines has— a population of not fewer than 200,000 individuals, as determined by the Bureau of the Census; and a 3-month unemployment rate, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that is— greater than 7 percent; and at least 2 percentage points greater than the lowest 3-month unemployment rate for the area during the 5-year period preceding the date of the determination.
Except as otherwise provided in this subparagraph, the Secretary may make a grant under this paragraph for not more than 2 consecutive fiscal years. If, at the end of the second fiscal year following the date on which the Secretary makes a determination under subparagraph
(A)with respect to an area, the Secretary determines that the 3-month unemployment rate for the area is at least 2 percentage points greater than the unemployment rate for the area at the time the Secretary made the determination under subparagraph (A), the Secretary may make a grant to a recipient in the area for 1 additional consecutive fiscal year. Beginning on the last day of the last consecutive fiscal year for which a recipient receives a grant under this paragraph, the Secretary may not make a subsequent grant under this paragraph to the recipient for a number of fiscal years equal to the number of consecutive fiscal years in which the recipient received a grant under this paragraph. For the first fiscal year following the date on which the Secretary makes a determination under subparagraph
(A)with respect to an area, not more than 25 percent of the amount apportioned to a designated recipient under section 5336 for the fiscal year shall be available for operating assistance for the area. For the second and third fiscal years following the date on which the Secretary makes a determination under subparagraph
(A)with respect to an area, not more than 20 percent of the amount apportioned to a designated recipient under section 5336 for the fiscal year shall be available for operating assistance for the area. Operating assistance awarded under this paragraph shall be available for expenditure to a recipient in an area until the end of the second fiscal year following the date on which the Secretary makes a determination under subparagraph
(A)with respect to the area, after which time any unexpended funds shall be available to the recipient for other eligible activities under this section. The Secretary may make a grant for operating assistance under this paragraph for a fiscal year only if the recipient certifies that— the recipient will maintain public transportation service levels at or above the current service level, which shall be demonstrated by providing an equal or greater number of vehicle hours of service in the fiscal year than the number of vehicle hours of service provided in the preceding fiscal year; any non-Federal entity that provides funding to the recipient, including a State or local governmental entity, will maintain the tax rate or rate of allocations dedicated to public transportation at or above the rate for the preceding fiscal year; the recipient has allocated the maximum amount of funding under this section for preventive maintenance costs eligible as a capital expense necessary to maintain the level and quality of service provided in the preceding fiscal year; and the recipient will not use funding under this section for new capital assets except as necessary for the existing system to maintain or achieve a state of good repair, assure safety, or replace obsolete technology. ; and in subsection (c)(1)— in subparagraph (C), by inserting in a state of good repair after equipment and facilities ; in subparagraph (J), by adding and at the end; by striking subparagraph (K); and by redesignating subparagraph
(L)as subparagraph (K).