CVSA Legislative Update
The House has recently passed the FY 2007 appropriations bill allocating funding for the Department of Transportation that included FMCSA. A total of $521 million was approved that included $294 million for motor carrier safety grants, and $223 million for FMCSA’s Operations and Programs (Administrative). These amounts are exactly in line with SAFETEA-LU authorization levels. Approximately $4 million in additional funding is made available for motor carrier safety grant programs under Revenue Aligned Budget Authority (RABA) to be transferred from FHWA to FMCSA.
The breakdown of the proposed FY 2007, $294 million allocation for motor carrier safety grants is as follows (’06 funded levels are presented for comparison):
|
’07
|
’06
|
||||
| $ | 197 M* | MCSAP | 188 M | ||
| $ | 25 M | CDL | 25 M | ||
| $ | 32 M | Border | 32 M | ||
| $ | 5 M | PRISM | 5 M | ||
| $ | 25 M | CVISN | 25 M | ||
| $ | 3 M | Safety Data Improvement | 2 M | ||
| $ | 7 M | CDLIS Modernization | 5 M | ||
| $ | 294 M** | Total | 282 M |
*298 M when including $4 M from RABA.
**197 M includes a $29 M takedown for the new entrant programs as well as takedowns for safety incentive and high priority state safety grants.
A copy of the Report accompanying the bill is attached.
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, and HUD is not expected to report out their bill until mid-July with a Senate floor vote coming in late July or in September after the August break. Hopefully a House-Senate Conference and final vote will occur before the adjournment of this session of Congress in October. It is too early to tell if a Continuing Resolution (CR) will be necessary as has been the case the past few years.