SAFETEA-LU

(This measure has not been amended since the Conference Report was filed in the House on July 28, 2005. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users or SAFETEA-LU - Title I: Federal-Aid Highways - Subtitle A: Authorization of Programs - (Sec. 1101) Authorizes appropriations through FY2009 for highway programs out of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), including: (1) the Interstate maintenance program; (2) the National Highway System (NHS); (3) the bridge program; (4) the surface transportation program; (5) the congestion mitigation and air quality improvement program; (6) the highway safety improvement program; (7) the Appalachian development highway system program; (8) the recreational trails program; (9) the federal lands highways program; (10) the national corridor infrastructure improvement program; (11) the coordinated border infrastructure program; (12) the national scenic byways program; (13) construction of ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities; (14) the Puerto Rico highway program; (15) the projects of national and regional significance program; (16) the high priority projects program; (17) the safe routes to school program; (18) the deployment of magnetic levitation transportation projects; (19) the national corridor planning and development and coordinated border infrastructure programs (FY2005 only); (20) highways for life; and (21) highway use tax evasion projects.

Requires that a specified percentage of such funds be expended through small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.

(Sec. 1102) Sets forth ceiling obligations through FY2009 for: (1) federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs, with specified exceptions; and (2) contract authority for certain transportation research programs. Sets forth certain requirements for distribution (including in certain cases denial of distribution) of the obligation limitation for federal-aid highway amounts for specified federal highway programs, including certain transportation research programs and high priority transportation projects. Provides for the redistribution of any unused obligation limitation on federal-aid highways amounts (including certain authorized funds) to the states.

(Sec. 1103) Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009 for administrative expenses of the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) and the Appalachian Regional Commission in administering specified federal-aid highway programs. Reauthorizes appropriations for the Alaska Highway through FY2009. Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009 for the NHS to the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands.

Revises the formula for the apportionment of federal-aid highway funds under the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement program for areas designated as a nonattainment or maintenance area for ozone or carbon monoxide.

Provides set-asides for FY2005 (including authorization of appropriations from the HTF for FY2006-FY2009) for: (1) Operation Lifesaver; and (2) railway-highway crossing hazard elimination in high speed rail corridors. Sets aside amounts for FY2005-FY2009 for eligible improvements to the Minneapolis/St. Paul-Chicago segment of the Midwest High Speed Rail Corridor.

(Sec. 1104) Revises federal highway funding minimum guarantee provisions to establish the Equity Bonus Program (effectively replacing the Minimum Guarantee Program).

Requires the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary), for each of FY2005-FY2009, to allocate among the states amounts sufficient to ensure that no state: (1) receives a percentage of the total apportionments for the fiscal year for specified federal-aid highway programs that is less than a specified formulated percentage; and (2) before making the allocations, receives a combined total of such allocated amounts, apportionments for specified federal-aid highway programs and amounts allocated under this section, that is less than 117% to 121% of the average for FY1998-FY2003 of the annual apportionments for the state for certain federal-aid highway programs.

Prohibits metropolitan planning set-aside requirements from applying to such state allocations. Authorizes appropriations from the HTF for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 1105) Extends through October 15 of FY2007 and each fiscal year thereafter requirements for the alignment of highway spending with revenues (Revenue Aligned Budget Authority (RABA)). Prohibits a reduction under RABA or SAFETEA-LU in the amount of sums authorized to carry out each of the federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs (other than emergency relief and the motor carrier safety grant program) if the balance in the HTF exceeds $6 billion.

(Sec. 1106) Amends federal highway law to extend from 12 to 25 years the length of time after a federal-state agreement during which a highway on the National Highway System designated as a future addition to the Interstate System must meet all Interstate System standards.

(Sec. 1107) Directs the Secretary to set-aside for each fiscal year 1.25% (currently, 1%) of federal-aid highway funds for Interstate maintenance, national highway system, surface transportation, congestion mitigation and air quality improvement, and highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation programs to carry out metropolitan planning.

(Sec. 1108) Authorizes the transfer of highway and transit project or transportation planning funds to the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary, at state request, to transfer highway and transit funds allocated to the state to another state, or to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), to fund one or more eligible transportation projects.

Authorizes surface transportation program funds allocated to an urbanized area of a state with a population of over 200,000 to be transferred only if the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) concurs with the transfer request.

(Sec. 1109) Directs the Secretary, before apportioning amounts to carry out the recreational trails program, to deduct $840,000 for FY2005-FY2009 for administrative, research, technical assistance, and training expenses for such program. Revises guidelines for permissible uses of funds apportioned for the recreational trails program.

(Sec. 1110) Conditions approval of federal-aid highway funds upon installation and maintenance of proper temporary traffic control devices to improve safety in work zones during construction, utility, and maintenance operations.

(Sec. 1111) Specifies set-asides for FY2005-FY2009 for projects for resurfacing, restoring, rehabilitating, and reconstructing any route or toll road on the Interstate System.

(Sec. 1112) Authorizes appropriations for each fiscal year for allocations of emergency relief for the repair of damage to highways, roads, and trails (including Indian reservations) owing to a natural disaster if the total of those allocations in such fiscal year are in excess of $100 million.

(Sec. 1113) Authorizes a state to obligate surface transportation program funds apportioned to it for: (1) capital and operating costs for advanced truck stop electrification systems; and (2) projects relating to intersections that have disproportionately high accident rates, high levels of congestion, and are located on a federal-aid highway.

Repeals a safety programs set-aside under the surface transportation program.

Extends through FY2009 the requirements of states under the surface transportation program to make a portion of certain funds for urbanized areas with a population of over 200,000 available for federal-aid highways and highway safety construction programs.

(Sec. 1114) Revises requirements for state applications for and approval of assistance for highway bridge replacement or rehabilitation. Authorizes the Secretary to approve federal participation in systematic preventive maintenance on a bridge and the installation of scour countermeasures. Requires the Secretary to determine the eligibility of highway bridges for replacement or rehabilitation for each state based on structurally deficient and functionally obsolete (currently, unsafe) highway bridges in the state.

Extends the mandatory set-aside for off-system bridges through FY2009, repealing the 35% ceiling on the amount of a state apportionment for such set-aside.

Provides a set-aside for FY2005 for the discretionary bridge program. Provides set-asides for FY2006-FY2009 for designated projects under the discretionary bridge program.

Requires the Secretary to report annually in the Federal Register on construction materials used in new federal-aid bridge construction and bridge rehabilitation projects.

(Sec. 1115) Designates funds for FY2005-FY2009 to implement specified intergovernmental projects for enforcement of the highway use tax. Revises requirements for the fuel excise tax reporting system.

(Sec. 1116) Directs the Secretary to apportion funds under this Act for the Appalachian development highway system for FY2005-FY2009 among the States based on the latest available cost-to-complete estimate for the system.

(Sec. 1117) Directs the Secretary to establish a comprehensive program to address the relationships among transportation, community, and system preservation plans and practices and identify private sector-based initiatives to improve such relationships.

Requires the Secretary to allocate funds to states, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), local governments, and tribal governments to carry out eligible projects to integrate transportation, community, and system preservation plans and practices.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 1118) Amends federal highway law to revise requirements of the territorial highway program to make program funds available to the U.S. territories for: (1) surface transportation program projects; and (2) ferry boats, terminal facilities, and approaches.

(Sec. 1119) Authorizes a state in which a proposed federal-aid project is to be undertaken by a federal agency in accordance with an agreement between a state and the federal agency to direct the Secretary to transfer the funds for the federal share of the project directly to the federal agency.

Requires the Secretary on October 1 of each fiscal year to allocate sums appropriated for forest development roads and trails according to the relative needs of the various grasslands (as well as, under current law, national forests).

Requires the Secretary of the Interior to distribute Indian reservation road funds, within 30 days after availability, and for immediate use, to Indian tribes in accordance with the distribution formula under the Indian reservation roads program. Limits the use of such funds to projects identified in a transportation improvement program approved by the Secretary.

Earmarks a portion of funds for Indian reservation roads for FY2006-FY2009 for program management, oversight, and project-related administrative expenses.

Authorizes an Indian tribe to commence road and bridge construction with Indian reservation road funds if it provides assurances that the construction will meet or exceed applicable health and safety standards.

Directs the Secretary, in cooperation with the Secretary of the Interior, to complete, and report to Congress, a national inventory of tribal transportation facilities eligible for assistance under the Indian reservation roads program.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009 to carry out planning, design, engineering, preconstruction, construction, and inspection of projects to improve deficient Indian reservation road bridges, including multiple-pipe culverts.

Revises Indian contracts and agreements requirements with respect to the provision of Indian reservation road funds. Allows an Indian tribe and a state to enter into a road maintenance agreement under which the tribe assumes state responsibilities for Indian reservation roads, including roads providing access to such roads.

Establishes within the office of the Secretary of the Department of Transportation (DOT) a presidentially appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tribal Government Affairs to plan and implement DOT policy and programs serving Indian tribes and to coordinate tribal transportation programs in DOT.

Earmarks an amount of public lands highway funds for each fiscal year for: (1) maintenance of forest highways; (2) signage identifying public public hunting and fishing access; and (3) the costs of facilitating the passage of aquatic species beneath National Forest System roads, including costs of constructing, maintaining, replacing, or removing culverts and bridges.

Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on methods to reduce collisions between motor vehicles and wildlife. Requires the Secretary, based on the study results, to develop a best practices manual to support state efforts to reduce wildlife vehicle collisions.

(Sec. 1120) Directs the Secretary to allocate funds for FY2005-FY2009 for the Puerto Rico highway program. Sets forth a formula for the apportionment of such funds to Puerto Rico.

(Sec 1121) Requires a state agency with jurisdiction over the operation of a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) facility to establish occupancy requirements for vehicles of at least two occupants per vehicle.

Requires such agency to permit motorcycles and bicycles to use the HOV facility, unless such use would constitute a safety hazard.

Prescribes guidelines under which a state agency may permit use of an HOV facility by: (1) public transportation vehicles and high occupancy toll vehicles; and (2) inherently low-emission vehicles and low emission and energy-efficient vehicles.

Permits tolls to be charged on a HOV facility on the Interstate System.

Requires a state agency that allows low-emission and energy-efficient vehicles to use a HOV facility to certify to the Secretary that it will establish: (1) a continuous monitoring, assessment, and reporting program regarding the impact of such vehicles on the facility and adjacent highways; and (2) an enforcement program that ensures the facility is operated in accordance with this Act.

Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to issue a final rule establishing certification requirements for low-emission and energy-efficient vehicles and for making certain vehicle comparisons and performance calculations.

Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary and the states should provide additional incentives (including the use of HOV lanes on state and Interstate highways) for the purchase and use of hybrid and other fuel efficient vehicles which have been proven to minimize air emissions and decrease consumption of fossil fuels.

(Sec. 1122) Modifies the definition of "transportation enhancement activity" to include inventory of outdoor advertising (thus authorizing such activity as eligible for federal-aid highway funds). Defines "advanced truck stop electrification system" as a system that delivers heat, air conditioning, electricity, or communications to a heavy duty vehicle (thus authorizing such activity as eligible for federal-aid highway funds).

Subtitle B: Congestion Relief - (Sec. 1201) Directs the Secretary to establish a real-time system management information program to provide, in all states, the capability to: (1) monitor, in real-time, the traffic and travel conditions of the Nation's major highways; and (2) share that information to improve surface transportation system security, address congestion problems, support improved response to weather and transportation incidents, and facilitate national and regional highway traveler information.

Directs the Secretary to establish data exchange formats to ensure that data provided by highway and transit monitoring systems, including statewide incident reporting systems, can readily be exchanged across jurisdictional lines facilitating nationwide availability of information. Authorizes a state, subject to approval by the Secretary, to obligate apportioned federal-aid highway funds for activities relating to the planning and deployment of real-time monitoring systems.

Subtitle C: Mobility and Efficiency - (Sec. 1301) Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) a program to provide grants to states for surface transportation projects of national and regional significance (allocating grant amounts for FY2005-FY2009 for specified projects); (2) a program to make allocations to states for highway construction projects in corridors of national significance to promote economic growth and international or interregional trade (allocating grant amounts for FY2005-FY2009 for specified projects); (3) a coordinated border infrastructure program to distribute funds to border states to improve the safe movement of motor vehicles between the United States and Canada and Mexico; (4) a pilot program to address the shortage of long-term parking for commercial motor vehicles on the NHS (authorizing appropriations for FY2006-FY2009); (5) a freight intermodal distribution pilot grant program to relieve congestion and improve safety (authorizing appropriations for FY2005-FY2009); (6) a Delta Region transportation development program in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee for multistate highway planning, development, and construction projects (authorizing appropriations for FY2006-FY2009); and (7) an interstate oasis program.

(Sec. 1304) Amends the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 to revise high priority corridors on the NHS to include identification of evacuation routes. Revises the item descriptions of specified high priority corridors on the NHS. Identifies specified high priority corridors for inclusion on the NHS.

Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 1307) Directs the Secretary to allocate 50% of funds made available for the deployment of magnetic levitation (MAGLEV) transportation projects for the MAGLEV project between Las Vegas and Primm, Nevada, and 50% for a MAGLEV project located east of the Mississippi River.

Subtitle D: Highway Safety - (Sec. 1401) Amends federal highway law to replace requirements for the development of a national scenic and recreational highway with a Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), aimed at achieving a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries on public roads. Requires a state to have in effect a highway safety improvement program meeting specified criteria.

Includes among eligible projects any highway safety improvement project on a public road or publicly owned bicycle or pedestrian pathway or trail.

Requires a state to set-aside a specified amount of funds for construction and operational improvements on high risk rural roads.

Sets the federal share of highway safety improvement projects at 90%.

(Sec. 1402) Directs the Secretary to issue regulations to decrease the likelihood of worker injury and maintain the free flow of vehicular traffic by requiring workers on or in close proximity to a federal-aid highway to wear high visibility garments.

(Sec. 1403) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the safety of highway toll collection facilities (including toll booths and collectors). Authorizes appropriations for FY2006.

(Sec. 1404) Directs the Secretary to establish a safe routes to school program for children in primary and middle schools to facilitate the planning, development, and implementation of projects and activities improving safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution in the vicinity of the schools.

Directs the Secretary to make grants to a national nonprofit organization to provide technical assistance and disseminate techniques and strategies for successful programs.

Establishes a national safe routes to school task force to develop a strategy for advancing safe routes to school programs nationwide.

(Sec. 1405) Directs the Secretary to carry out a program to improve traffic signs and pavement markings in all states consistent with certain FHA recommendations for accommodation of older drivers and pedestrians. Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 1406) Authorizes appropriations for FY2005 for safety incentive grants to states for use of seat belts.

(Sec. 1407) Prescribes an administrative penalty of withholding certain federal highway program funds by specified increasing percentages from FY2004 though FY2007 and after for states that have not enacted a 0.08 drunk driving law. Authorizes appropriations for FY2005.

(Sec. 1408) Directs the Secretary, in cooperation with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, to: (1) update the FHA Policy on Implementation of the report of the Transportation Research Board of the National Research Council entitled "NCHRP Report 350-Recommended Procedures for the Safety Performance Evaluation of Highway Features;" and (2) publish guidance regarding the conditions under which states should improve or replace highway features on the NHS with features tested and found acceptable under the guidelines.

(Sec. 1409) Establishes a work zone safety grant program. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to nonprofit organizations to provide training to prevent or reduce highway work zone injuries and fatalities. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

Requires the Secretary to ensure that a non-domiciled resident worker employed on a remote project for the construction of a highway located on a federal-aid highway in Alaska receives meals and lodging.

(Sec. 1410) Directs the Secretary to make grants for FY2006-FY2009 to a nonprofit foundation for the operation of the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse to assemble and disseminate information relating to improvement of roadway work zone safety. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 1411) Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement to assist a national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to improving public road safety by promoting public road safety research and technology transfer activities. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

Directs the Secretary to make grants to a national, not-for-profit organization engaged in promoting bicycle and pedestrian safety to disseminate techniques and strategies for improving bicycle and pedestrian safety. Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 1412) Authorizes a state to permit electrification or other idling reduction facilities and equipment for use by commercial motor vehicles to be placed in rest and recreation areas (including safety rest areas) on rights-of-way of the Interstate System, so long as such idling reduction measures do not reduce the existing number of designated truck parking spaces at any given rest or recreation area.

Subtitle E: Construction and Contract Efficiency - (Sec. 1501) Revises advance construction requirements to authorize a state to proceed with highway construction projects: (1) without the use of federal funds; and (2) in accordance with all applicable procedures and requirements other than those that limit the state to project implementation with the aid of federal funds or previously apportioned obligation authority. Authorizes the Secretary, upon state request, to obligate all or a portion of the federal share of a project from any category of funds for which the project is eligible.

(Sec. 1502) Directs the Secretary to establish and implement the Highways for LIFE Pilot Program to advance longer-lasting highways using innovative technologies and practices to accomplish the fast construction of efficient and safe highways and bridges.

(Sec. 1503) Repeals the minimum cost requirements of a qualified project using design-build contracting.

Requires the Secretary to issue revised regulations that: (1) do not preclude a state transportation department or local transportation agency, prior to compliance with certain environmental requirements, from issuing requests for proposals or proceeding with awards of design-build contracts; (2) require concurrence from the Secretary before carrying out such activities; and (3) preclude the design-build contractor from proceeding with final design or construction of any permanent improvement prior to completion of the environmental process.

Subtitle F: Finance - (Sec. 1601) Amends the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) to revise guidelines governing projects, project eligibility, project selection, secured loans, lines of credit, repayment and program administration. Sets funding levels through FY2009 for the TIFIA program.

(Sec. 1602) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with states for the establishment of state infrastructure banks for making loans and providing other forms of credit assistance to public and private entities for rail and highway projects.

(Sec. 1603) Sets forth requirements for the use of excess transportation funds and transportation funds for inactive projects.

(Sec. 1604) Amends the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) to authorize appropriations for FY2005-FY2009 for the value pricing pilot program. Earmarks an amount for FY2006-FY2009 for congestion pricing pilot projects that do not involve highway tolls.

Establishes: (1) an express lanes demonstration program to collect tolls to manage high levels of congestion and to reduce pollutant emissions in nonattainment areas; and (2) an Interstate System construction toll pilot program which permits a state to collect tolls on a highway, bridge, or tunnel on the System to construct Interstate highways.

Subtitle G: High Priority Projects - (Sec. 1701) Modifies the High Priority Projects Program to reflect the authorization of appropriations detailed in this Act.

(Sec. 1702) Earmarks funds for specified high priority projects for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 1703) Amends the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and ISTEA to revise the specifications for certain high priority transportation projects.

Subtitle H: Environment - (Sec. 1801) Amends federal highway law to replace priority primary route provisions with a requirement that the Secretary carry out a program for construction of ferry boats and ferry terminal and maintenance facilities, at an 80% federal cost share. Directs the Secretary to give priority in the allocation of federal-aid highway funds to ferry systems, and public entities responsible for developing ferries, that: (1) provide critical access to areas that are not well-served by other modes of surface transportation; (2) carry the greatest number of passengers and vehicles; or (3) carry the greatest number of passengers in passenger-only service.

Sets aside specified amounts for the construction or refurbishment of ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities and approaches to such facilities within NHS marine highway systems, including certain amounts for Alaska, New Jersey, and Washington state.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2006 and each fiscal year thereafter.

Establishes a national ferry base. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 1802) Authorizes an Indian tribe to nominate a road as a National Scenic Byway only if a federal land management agency (other than the Bureau of Indian Affairs), a state, or a local governmentdoes not have jurisdiction over, or responsibility for managing, the road. Requires Indian tribes to maintain the safety and quality of such roads.

(Sec. 1803) Directs the Secretary to allocate funds to the America's Byways Resource Center. Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 1804) Directs the Secretary to make grants to states that demonstrate a need for assistance in carrying out historic covered bridge preservation projects. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 1805) Requires a state that demolishes a bridge or an overpass eligible for federal assistance under the highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation program to first make the demolition debris available for beneficial use by a federal, state, or local government, unless such use obstructs navigation.

(Sec. 1806) Amends TEA-21 to authorize appropriations for FY2005-FY2009 for Indian reservation roads.

(Sec. 1807) Establishes a nonmotorized transportation pilot program to construct in selected communities a network of nonmotorized transportation infrastructure facilities, including sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and pedestrian and bicycle trails, that connect directly with transit stations, schools, residences, businesses, recreation areas, and other community activity centers. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 1808) Amends federal highway law to authorize a state to obligate apportioned congestion mitigation and air quality improvement (CMAQ) program funds for a transportation project or program in an area required to prepare, and file with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), maintenance plans under the Clean Air Act.

Makes eligible activities under the CMAQ program: (1) the purchase of integrated, interoperable emergency communications equipment; or (2) the use of diesel retrofit technologies.

Directs the EPA Administrator to publish a list of diesel retrofit technologies and supporting technical information for diesel emission reduction technologies.

Directs the Secretary to evaluate and assess a representative sample of CMAQ projects to determine their direct and indirect impact on air quality and congestion levels, and ensure the effective implementation of the CMAQ program.

Authorizes the use of CMAQ program funds by: (1) Montana for the operation of public transit activities serving a nonattainment or maintenance area; (2) Michigan for the operation and maintenance of intelligent transportation system strategies that serve a nonattainment or maintenance area; (3) Maine for the operation of passenger rail service between Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine; (4) Oregon to support the operation of additional passenger rail service between Eugene and Portland; and (5) Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to purchase alternative fuel or biodiesel.

Subtitle I: Miscellaneous - (Sec. 1902) Declares that no law shall prevent a local government from offering to donate funds, materials, or services performed by local government employees in connection with federal-aid highway projects.

(Sec. 1904) Revises the requirement that plans, specifications, and estimates for proposed projects on any federal-aid highway be accompanied by a value engineering analysis or other cost reduction analysis. Requires a state to provide a value engineering analysis or other cost-reduction analysis for: (1) projects on the federal-aid highway system with an estimated total cost of $25 million or more (as under current law); (2) a bridge project with an estimated total cost of $20 million or more; and (3) any other project the Secretary determines to be appropriate.

Directs the Secretary to establish an oversight program to monitor the efficient use of funds for federal-aid highway projects. Requires a recipient of funds for a project with an estimated cost of $500 million or more (currently, $1 billion or more), and recipients for such other projects as the Secretary may identify, to submit to the Secretary a project management plan and an annual financial plan.

(Sec. 1905) Reduces the credit a state may use toward the nonfederal share requirement for federal highway funds by a percentage equal to the percentage of the total cost that a public, quasi-public, or private agency has incurred in building, improving, or maintaining the highway facilities using federal funds.

(Sec. 1906) Directs the Secretary to make grants to a state that has enacted and is enforcing a law that prohibits racial profiling in the enforcement of state laws regulating the use of federal-aid highways. Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 1907) Directs the Secretary to conduct pavement marking systems demonstration projects in Alaska and Tennessee. Authorizes appropriation for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 1908) Includes as part of the Interstate System: (1) a portion of the Creek Turnpike connecting Interstate Route 44 east and west of Tulsa, Oklahoma; and (2) a portion of Interstate Route 181 lying northwest of the intersection with Interstate Route 81, Tennessee. Includes as part of the NHS a portion of of U.S. Route 271 from the Arkansas state line, west to the intersection with U.S. Route 59, and northwest to the intersection with Interstate Route 40, Sallisaw, Oklahoma.

(Sec. 1909) Revises declarations of policy with respect to the surface transportation program to emphasize that it is in the national interest to preserve and enhance the surface transportation system to meet the needs of the United States for the 21st Century.

Establishes the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission to study the current condition and future needs of the surface transportation system, and develop a plan to ensure it will continue to serve the needs of the United States. Requires the Secretary to appoint a technical advisory committee.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2007.

(Sec. 1910) Directs the Secretary to initiate a rulemaking to determine whether full service restaurants should be given priority on up to two panels of the camping or attractions logo specific service signs in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices when the food logo specific service sign is fully utilized, and vice versa.

(Sec. 1911) Declares that, if the construction project number STP-189-1(15)CT 3 in Gwinnett County, Georgia, was not listed in the current regional transportation plan because of an error, such failure to be listed shall not be a basis for not approving the project.

(Sec. 1912) Designates as the lead agency for accepting specified federal funds (authorized under ISTEA for purchase of the right-of-way and development of a transportation corridor in an existing rail right-of-way from Larkspur to Korbel, and Novato to Lombard) a certain public entity established to acquire rights-of-way in northwestern California to maintain surface transportation infrastructure.

(Sec. 1913) Sets at 90% the federal share of costs of construction of a bridge between Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota.

(Sec. 1914) Directs the Secretary, acting through the FHA Administrator, to appoint a Motorcyclist Advisory Council on infrastructure issues of concern to motorcyclists, including: (1) barrier design; (2) road design, construction, and maintenance practices; and (3) the architecture and implementation of intelligent transportation system technologies.

(Sec. 1915) Declares that debt outstanding for project number Q-DPM-0013(001) related to the early acquisition of the rights-of-way is deemed satisfied.

(Sec. 1916) Deems to satisfy certain federal requirements the New Harbor Boulevard North off ramp project along the Interstate Route 405 Collector-Distributor Road in Costa Mesa, California (Susan Street Slip-Ramp). Directs the California state department of transportation to authorize any environmental, engineering, or design analyses necessary to approve construction of the project consistent with applicable California state operational and safety standards.

(Sec. 1917) Requires the Maryland state highway administration and the FHA to work cooperatively to: (1) expedite the project to improve Interstate Route 495 through the area of the Arena Drive interchange to allow for safe exit (including improvements to the adjacent interchanges upstream and downstream along Interstate Route 495); and (2) expedite action on the Interstate access request so that the Interstate Route 495/Arena Drive interchange can be opened safely to all vehicles 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

(Sec. 1918) Authorizes the Secretary to provide a credit to Louisiana equal to the nonfederal share of the cost of any planning, engineering, design, or construction work carried out by the state on the Houma-Thibodaux to I-10 connector from Gramercy to Houma.

(Sec. 1919) Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Public Policy Center of the University of Iowa for an analysis and report to the Secretary and the Secretary of the Treasury on a long-term field test of an approach to assessing highway use fees based upon actual mileage driven by a specific vehicle on specific types of highways by use of an onboard computer.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 1920) Expresses the sense of the Congress that federal transportation projects should encourage the collaboration between interested persons, including federal, state, and local governments and community-based organizations that have an interest in improving the job skills of low-income individuals to help: (1) leverage scarce training and community resources; and (2) ensure local participation in the building of transportation projects.

(Sec. 1923) Directs the Secretary to arrange for the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) to study and report to Congress on transportation assets and needs for all modes of transportation in the states composing the Delta region. Authorizes appropriations for FY2005 and FY2006.

(Sec. 1924) Directs the Secretary, in cooperation with the the Washington state department of transportation and the City of Seattle, Washington, to study and report to Congress on the damage to the the Alaska Way Viaduct from the Nisqually earthquake of 2001.

(Sec. 1925) Directs the Secretary to make a grant to, or enter into a cooperative agreement or contract with, a national organization representing architects with expertise in the design of a wide range of transportation and infrastructure projects to study the role of well-designed transportation projects in promoting community enhancement. Earmarks funds for such study for FY2006 and FY2007.

(Sec. 1926) Directs DOT to submit a budget justification concurrently with the President's annual budget to Congress.

(Sec. 1927) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the steps and estimated funding necessary to designate and construct a route for: (1) the 14th Amendment Highway, from Augusta, Georgia, to Natchez, Mississippi, (formerly designated the Fall Line Freeway within the state of Georgia); and (2) the 3rd Infantry Division Highway, from Savannah, Georgia, to Knoxville, Tennessee (formerly the Savannah River Parkway).

(Sec. 1928) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Buy America test needs to be applied to an entire bridge project and not only to its component parts; (2) the law clearly states that domestic materials must be used in federal highway projects unless their inclusion will increase the cost of the overall project by more than 25%; (3) uncertainty regarding how to apply Buy America laws for major bridge projects threatens the domestic bridge industry; (4) as the Nation's unemployment rate continues to hover around 5.6% steps are needed to protect American workers and the domestic bridge building industry; and (5) the Buy America Act was designed to ensure that, when taxpayer money is spent on direct federal government procurement and infrastructure projects, these expenditures stimulate U.S. production and job creation.

(Sec. 1928) Designates: (1) Interstate Highway 86 in New York state as the "Daniel Patrick Moynihan Interstate Highway;" (2) the northbound and southbound tunnel of Interstate Route 93, located in Boston, Massachusetts, as the "Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. Tunnel;" (3) the segment of the Imperial Highway between California State Route 91 and Esperanza Road as the "Richard Nixon Parkway;" (4) a specified three-mile segment of Interstate Route 86 between Painted Post and Corning, New York, as the "Amo Houghton Bypass;" and (5) Louisiana Route 1 as the "Billy Tauzin Energy Corridor."

(Sec. 1934) Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009 to carry out specified transportation improvement projects.

(Sec. 1937) Authorizes the Secretary to use emergency relief funds to construct measures necessary for the continuation of roadway services, or the impoundment of water to protect roads, or both, at Devils Lake in North Dakota.

(Sec. 1938) Urges states to use nondestructive technology to detect cracks in steel bridges.

(Sec. 1939) Provides that a certain rule published in the Federal Register, July 19, 2004, relating to the Indian reservation road program, shall not apply to specified Alaska villages.

(Sec. 1940) Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009 to resurface, repair, rehabilitate, and reconstruct the Going-to-the-Sun Road at Glacier National Park, Montana. Sets the federal share or project costs at 100%.

(Sec. 1941) Directs the Secretary, upon state request, to obligate funds made available for the construction of U.S. Route 212, Red Lodge North, Montana, for the reconstruction of Beartooth Highway, Montana.

(Sec. 1943) Directs the Secretary to make grants to Wisconsin to continue intelligent transportation system activities in the corridor serving the Greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chicago, Illinois, and Gary, Indiana, Great Lakes areas, and other areas of the state.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 1944) Directs the Secretary to make allocations to Oklahoma to carry out activities in the Oklahoma Plan for Tar Creek.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2006.

(Sec. 1945) Directs the Secretary, in cooperation with a certain subcontracting production entity, to fund the production of a documentary about infrastructure that demonstrates advancements in the last frontier, Alaska.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2005 and FY2006.

(Sec. 1946) Establishes in Vermont the Gateway Rural Improvement Pilot Program. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 1947) Makes projects for traffic circles ("roundabouts") eligible for 100% federal share of costs.

(Sec. 1948) Prohibits federal funds from being expended for the demolition of the existing Brightman Street Bridge connecting Fall River and Somerset, Massachusetts. Requires the existing Brightman Street Bridge to be maintained for pedestrian and bicycle access, and as an emergency service route.

(Sec. 1949) Directs the Secretary provide funds to the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, Alaska.

(Sec. 1950) Directs the Secretary to credit nonfederal expenditures paid on or after October 23, 2000, by project sponsors of the Lincoln Parish transportation and community and system preservation project, and the U.S. Route 167/I-20 interchange Interstate maintenance discretionary project, that are in excess of the nonfederal matching requirements for such projects as nonfederal contributions toward the nonfederal matching requirements for all LA/I-20 Transportation Corridor Program elements between Louisiana Route 149 and Louisiana Route 33.

(Sec. 1951) Directs the Secretary, acting through the Minority Resource Center, to provide assistance in obtaining bid, payment, and performance bonds by disadvantaged business enterprises. Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 1952) Directs the Secretary to conduct a design and feasibility analysis to alleviate southbound traffic congestion along the George Washington Parkway, Virginia, between Interstate Route 495 and the 14th Street Bridge, and to take appropriate action in response to the analysis results.

(Sec. 1953) Authorizes appropriations for: (1) surface transportation projects of national and regional significance; and (2) highway construction projects in corridors of national significance.

(Sec. 1955) Directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, to convey within a specified time to Ely, Nevada, without consideration, all right, title, and interest of the United States in land located within the railroad corridor described in specified rights-of-way.

(Sec. 1957) Directs the Vermont agency of transportation to: (1) commence, not later than August 1, 2005, planning for a traffic circle at the intersection of U.S. Route 7 and Vermont Route 103 in Clarendon, Vermont; and (2) complete its construction by August 1, 2007. Earmarks certain funds for this project.

(Sec. 1958) Prohibits the Secretary from approving any federal-aid highway project in Orange and Seminole Counties, Florida, which provides access from Interstate Route 4 to the right-of-way or median of Interstate Route 4 if tolls are used for access.

(Sec. 1959) Directs the Secretary to provide to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey funds for the Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project, New York.

(Sec. 1960) Amends the Denali Commission Act of 1998 to establish the Denali Access System Program to pay the costs of planning and constructing road and other surface transportation infrastructure in Alaska Native villages and rural communities.

Establishes a Denali Access System Program Advisory Committee.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 1961) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the I-95/Contee Road relocated interchange project located in Prince George's County, Maryland.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2006.

(Sec. 1962) Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009 for multimodal facility improvements, construction, and ferry acquisition by North Bay Ferry Service, Inc., located at Port Sonoma in Petaluma, California.

(Sec. 1963) Directs the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to facilitate further financing to approve, without compensation, a series of leases of the Apollo Theater, located in Harlem, New York, to be improved by specified EDA projects.

(Sec. 1964) Sets the federal share of costs at between 80% and 95% for high priority projects, certain transportation improvement projects, and transportation projects of national and regional significance in the states of Alaska, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, and South Dakota.

Title II: Highway Safety - (Sec. 2001) Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009 for highway safety programs, including: (1) highway safety research and development (R&D); (2) occupant protection incentive grants; (3) safety belt performance grants; (4) grants to states for traffic safety information system improvements; (5) the alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures incentive grant program; (6) the National Driver Register; (7) the high visibility enforcement program; (8) motorcycle safety (FY2006-FY2009); (9) child safety and child booster seat safety incentive grants (FY2006-FY2009); and (10) administrative expenses of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (FY2006-FY2009).

(Sec. 2008) Directs the Secretary to review each state highway safety program triennially, and make review-based recommendations on how each state could improve the management and oversight of its grant activities. Directs the Comptroller General to analyze and report to Congress on the effectiveness of NHTSA's oversight of traffic safety grants with respect to state highway safety programs.

(Sec. 2012) Directs the Secretary to collect data, compile statistics, and report to Congress on accidents involving motor vehicles being backed up that result in fatalities and injuries, and that occur on public and nonpublic roads and residential and commercial driveways and parking facilities.

(Sec. 2013) Directs the Secretary to: (1) coordinate with other federal agencies on how to address the problem of driving under the influence of an illegal drug (not obtained by a legal and valid prescription); and (2) conduct research on the prevention, detection, and prosecution of driving under the influence of such drugs.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) report to Congress on the problem of drug-impaired driving; and (2) develop a model statute for states relating to drug-impaired driving.

Earmarks highway safety R&D funds for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 2014) Directs the Secretary to develop a first responder vehicle safety program to increase the safe and efficient operation of first responder vehicles. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006.

(Sec. 2015) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the risks associated with glare to oncoming drivers, including drivers on two-lane highways, increased risks to drivers over the age of 50, and the overall effects of glare on driver performance.

(Sec. 2016) Directs the Secretary to conduct a pilot program, and report the results to Congress, on optimizing emergency medical services in a rural state.

(Sec. 2017) Directs the Secretary to allocate a specified amount of highway safety R&D funds for FY2006-FY2009 to conduct a research and demonstration program to improve traffic safety with respect to older drivers.

(Sec. 2018) Amends the federal criminal code to prohibit the unauthorized sale or use of traffic signal preemption transmitters (devices or mechanisms that can change a traffic signal's phase time or sequence). Prescribes civil and criminal penalties for violations of such prohibition.

(Sec. 2020) Expresses the sense of Congress that, in an effort to further change the culture of alcohol-impaired driving on our Nation's highways, the President should consider establishing a Presidential Commission on Alcohol-Impaired Driving.

(Sec. 2021) Expresses the sense of Congress that NHTSA should work with state and local governments and independent organizations to increase public awareness of state legal limits on blood alcohol concentration levels and the dangers of drinking and driving.

Title III: Public Transportation - Federal Public Transportation Act of 2005 - (Sec. 3003) Revises requirements for the development and revitalization of U.S. public transportation systems.

(Sec. 3005) Consolidates and revises requirements for development by MPOs of long-range transportation plans and transportation improvement programs (TIPs) for metropolitan planning areas.

(Sec. 3006) Replaces certain metropolitan area TIP requirements with requirements for statewide transportation plans and statewide Tips

(Sec. 3007) Replaces requirements for the designation of transportation management areas with revised requirements for grants to states, MPOs, and local governments, agreements with other departments, or contracts with private nonprofit or for-profit entities to develop transportation plans and programs (including metropolitan planning and state planning and research). Allocates funds based a specified formula for FY2005-FY2009 for such programs.

(Sec. 3009) Authorizes the Secretary to award urbanized area formula grants for planning, transit enhancements, and operating costs of equipment and facilities: (1) for use in public transportation in an urbanized area with a population of between 200,000 and 225,000; and (2) for local governmental authorities in areas which adopted transit operating and financing plans that became a part of the Houston, Texas, urbanized area, but lie outside the service area of the principal public transportation agency that serves the Houston urbanized area.

Limits a recipient of a formula grant in an urbanized area with a population of 558,329 or 747,003 to not more than 20% of the grant for the provision of non-fixed route paratransit services in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, provided the grant recipient is in compliance with that Act, including both fixed route and demand responsive service and such service is acquired by contract.

(Sec. 3010) Revises requirements for the clean fuels grant bus procurement program, particularly apportionment requirements.

(Sec. 3011) Eliminates the Secretary's authority to make capital investment loans.

Prescribes separate requirements for grantees receiving more than $75 million for a new fixed guideway capital project, and for grantees receiving less than $75 million for such projects (including projects for less than $25 million).

Sets forth certain allocations for FY2005 for new fixed capital projects, capital projects for fixed guideway modernization, and capital projects for buses and bus-related equipment and facilities, including allocations: (1) for FY2006-FY2009 for major new fixed guideway capital projects; (2) FY2007-FY2009 for new fixed guideway capital projects of less than $75 million; (3) for FY2005-FY2009 for capital projects in Alaska and Hawaii for new fixed guideway systems and extension projects utilizing ferry boats, ferry boat terminals, or approaches to ferry boat terminals; (4) for FY2006-FY2009 for payments to the Denali Commission for docks, waterfront development projects, and related transportation infrastructure; and (5) for FY2006-FY2009 for ferry boats or ferry terminal facilities (earmarking amounts for specified ferry projects, the national fuel cell bus technology development program, projects in non-urbanized areas, intermodal terminal projects, and bus testing).

Requires grantees to conduct Before and After Studies.

Requires the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to issue: (1) a Contractor Performance Assessment Report (CPAR) analyzing the consistency and accuracy of cost and ridership estimates made by contractors to public transportation agencies developing new fixed guideway capital projects; and (2) a Contractor Performance Incentive Report (CPIR) on the suitability of allowing such contractors to receive performance incentive awards if a project is completed for less than the original estimated cost.

Authorizes the Secretary to establish a pilot program to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of public-private partnerships for certain new fixed guideway capital projects.

Directs the Secretary to credit funds provided by the Florida department of transportation for the extension of the Miami Metrorail System from Earlington Heights to the Miami Intermodal Center to satisfy matching requirements for the Miami North Corridor and Miami East-West Corridor projects.

(Sec. 3012) Revises requirements for the formula grant program for the special transportation needs of elderly individuals and individuals with disabilities, eliminating loans to states for related service.

Establishes a pilot program that will allow Wisconsin, Alaska, Minnesota, Oregon, and three other states selected by the Secretary to use up to 33% of the formula grants for the operating costs associated with the transportation needs of such individuals.

(Sec. 3013) Revises requirements for formula grants for other than urbanized areas to distinguish between recipients (states and Indian tribes) and subrecipients (state or local governmental authorities, nonprofit organizations, or operators of public transportation or intercity bus service) that receive federal funds through a recipient. Apportions HTF funds for FY2006-2009 for formula grants for other than urbanized areas to Indian tribes for eligible public transportation projects on Indian reservations.

Provides funding for the rural transportation assistance program (RTAP).

(Sec. 3014) Revises requirements for grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, or other agreements for research, development, or demonstration projects. Adds deployment projects. Repeals specific authority for research, investigation, and training grants to institutions of higher education.

(Sec. 3015) Repeals apportionment requirements for state planning and research with respect to a mass transportation cooperative research program.

(Sec. 3016) Eliminates the Industry Technical Panel.

Authorizes the Secretary to award: (1) demonstration grants to certain charitable or educational organizations or state or local government agency to provide transportation services to individuals to access dialysis treatments and other medical treatments for renal disease; and (2) grants to a national not-for-profit organization for the establishment of a national technical assistance center for senior transportation programs.

Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on actions necessary to purchase increased volumes of alternative fuels for use in public transit vehicles.

(Sec. 3017) Repeals the requirement that the Secretary delegate all authority to the National Transit Institute (NTI) at Rutgers University to develop and conduct education and training programs related to mass transportation.

(Sec. 3018) Codifies the Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) grant program of the TEA-21. Changes the program from a competitive discretionary grant to a formula grant program.

(Sec. 3019) Authorizes the Secretary to make New Freedom formula grants for new public transportation services and alternatives for individuals with disabilities beyond those required by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, including transportation to and from jobs and employment support services.

(Sec. 3020) Eliminates the bus testing revolving loan fund.

(Sec. 3021) Authorizes the Secretary to award a grant or enter into a contract to carry out a qualified project to provide alternative transportation in National Parks and other federal public lands (by bus, rail, or any other publicly or privately owned conveyance that provides the public general or special service on a regular basis, including sightseeing service, and by nonmotorized transportation systems such as facilities for pedestrians, bicycles, and nonmotorized watercraft).

(Sec. 3022) Revises the Secretary's authority to make grants to states, local governmental authorities, and operators of public transportation systems to provide fellowships to train personnel employed in managerial, technical, and professional positions in the public transportation field.

(Sec. 3023) Eliminates the Secretary's authority to make loans to a state or local governmental authority to acquire an interest in, or buy property of, a private company engaged in public transportation for certain capital projects.

Revises enforcement requirements for violations of conditions on charter bus transportation service and schoolbus transportation. Directs the Secretary to bar violators from receiving federal transit assistance in an appropriate amount if the Secretary finds a pattern to such violations. (Currently all such assistance must be barred.)

Permits a recipient of federal financial assistance to use proceeds from the issuance of revenue bonds as part of the local matching funds for a capital project.

Authorizes the Secretary to establish a pilot program to reimburse up to 10 recipients for deposit of bond proceeds in a debt service reserve the recipient establishes from urbanized area formula grant amounts.

Directs the Secretary to issue a final rule on implementation of Buy America requirements to provide that any waiver of such requirements for a microprocessor, computer, or microcomputer shall apply only to a device used solely to process or store data, and does not extend to products containing a microprocessor, computer, or microcomputer.

Authorizes the Secretary to terminate federal financial assistance and seek reimbursement directly, or by offsetting amounts, if a recipient has made a false or fraudulent statement or related act in connection with a federal transit program.

Authorizes a recipient of federal assistance to allow the incidental use of federally funded alternative fueling facilities and equipment by nontransit public entities and private entities, provided certain requirements are met.

Authorizes the Secretary to assist an applicant to acquire a railroad right-of-way before completion of an environmental review for any project that may use the right-of-way, if the acquisition is otherwise permitted under federal law.

(Sec. 3025) Requires recipients of federal funds to conduct all procurement transactions involving such assistance in a manner providing full and open competition, as determined by the Secretary.

Revises requirements for federal financial assistance for design-build system projects.

(Sec. 3026) Increases the funds available for project management oversight and review.

(Sec. 3028) Revises requirements for investigations of safety hazards, to include security risks.

(Sec. 3029) Applies specified requirements for the withholding of amounts for noncompliance with safety requirements to any states designing rail fixed guideway mass transportation systems that will not be subject to regulation by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). (Currently they apply only to those states that already have systems not subject to FRA regulation.)

(Sec. 3030) Grants the Secretary discretion to decide that a form of public transportation is covered adequately, for employee alcohol and controlled substances testing purposes, under the alcohol and controlled substance statutes or regulations of an agency within the DOT or the Coast Guard.

(Sec. 3031) Revises employee protective arrangement requirements.

Requires certification without referral for any such arrangements for employees utilized by the Secretary of Labor for federal assistance to purchase like-kind equipment or facilities, and grant amendments which do not materially revise or amend existing federal assistance agreements.

Requires the Secretary, in issuing fair and equitable determinations involving assurances of employment when one private transit bus service contractor replaces another through competitive bidding, to base such decisions on the principles set forth in DOT's decision of September 21, 1994, as clarified by the supplemental ruling of November 7, 1994, with respect to grant NV-90-X021.

(Sec. 3032) Terminates the authority of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make grants or enter contracts for research, development, demonstration project, investigation, and training related to urban transportation systems and planned development of urban areas.

Prohibits the Secretary of Transportation, except as directed by the President for purposes of national defense or in the event of a national or regional emergency, from regulating the operation, routes, or schedules of a public transportation system for which a capital projects grant is made, or the rates, fares, tolls, rentals, or other charges prescribed by a public or private transportation provider.

Requires the Secretary to notify Congress at least three full business days before any discretionary grant award, letter of intent, or full funding grant agreement for a transportation project totaling $1 million or more is announced.

(Sec. 3034) Apportions certain formula grant funds for FY2006 and each succeeding fiscal year to certain urbanized areas with populations of less than 200,000. Requires the calculation of small transit intensive cities factors in such apportionments. Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the feasibility of developing and implementing an incentive funding system for operators of public transportation.

(Sec. 3035) Revises requirements with respect to apportionments for fixed guideway modernization. Requires such apportionments to urbanized areas with a population of 55,997 to be based on certain fixed guideway factors related to FY1997 apportionments.

(Sec. 3036) Authorizes FY2005 appropriations for formula grants for certain capital projects, job access and reverse commute grants for low income individuals, capital program grants, public transportation planning programs, public transportation research, university transportation research, and to carry out certain administrative provisions with respect to public transportation projects.

Authorizes FY2006-FY2009 appropriations for certain public transportation project formula grants, bus grants, capital investment grants, and research and university research centers.

(Sec. 3037) Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to states, MPOs, and local governmental authorities to develop an alternative analysis program (currently part of the New Starts program, but transferred here by this Act). Sets the federal share of costs at 80%. Makes program funds available for FY2006 and FY2007 for specified transportation projects.

(Sec. 3038) Requires the Secretary to apportion for each fiscal year certain formula grants for urbanized areas and other than urbanized areas based on growing states and high density state formula factors.

(Sec. 3039) Amends TEA-21 to increase from 50% to 90% the federal funding share for the over-the-road bus accessibility program.

(Sec. 3040) Sets forth a total obligation ceiling for FY2005-FY2009 for the Mass Transit Account of the HTF.

(Sec. 3041) Requires the Secretary to: (1) ensure that the total apportionments made for FY2005 to each grant recipient under FTA programs does not exceed the amounts appropriated for FY2005 plus prior year balances; and (2) adjust the amount apportioned to each urbanized area for fixed guideway modernization to reflect a specified apportionment method.

(Sec. 3043) Authorizes specified new fixed guideway capital projects for final design and construction or alternatives analysis and preliminary engineering.

(Sec. 3044) Directs the Secretary to make specified funds available for FY2006-FY2009 for: (1) designated bus projects and bus-related facilities; and (2) clean fuels grant program projects.

(Sec. 3045) Directs the Secretary to establish a national fuel cell bus technology development program to facilitate development of commercially viable fuel cell bus technology and related infrastructure.

(Sec. 3046) Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to study and report to Congress on: (1) the value major public transportation systems serving the 38 urbanized areas with a population of over one million provide to the Nation's security; and (2) the ability of such systems to accommodate the evacuation, egress, or ingress of people to or from critical locations in times of emergency.

Provides allocations through FY2009 for specified national research and technology programs.

(Sec. 3047) Forgives any outstanding balances on the following grant agreements made to the Lane County Transit District, Oregon: (1) Federal Contract Number OR-03-0087; and (2) Federal Contract Number OR-90-X094.

(Sec. 3048) Directs the Secretary to review the use of cooperative procurement in the mass transit program.

(Sec. 3049) Requires agencies (including the Postal Rate Commission and the Smithsonian Institution) in the National Capital Region to implement a program wherein its employees are offered transit pass transportation fringe benefits.

(Sec. 3050) Directs the FTA to approve final design for specified commuter rail projects in the absence of an access agreement with the owner of the railroad right-of-way.

(Sec. 3051) Authorizes the Secretary to audit, make recommendations, and take appropriate enforcement action regarding the paratransit services provided by a regional, state, or transit agency in Illinois that would otherwise be provided by a transit agency under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Title IV: Motor Carrier Safety - Motor Carrier Safety Reauthorization Act of 2005 - Subtitle A: Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety - (Sec. 4101) Amends federal transportation law to authorize appropriations for FY2005-FY2009 for: (1) motor carrier safety grants; (2) administrative expenses of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA); and (3) FMCSA grant programs, including commercial driver's license (CDL) program improvement grants, border enforcement grants, performance and registration information system management grants, grants for the commercial vehicle information systems and networks deployment program, and safety data improvement grants.

(Sec. 4102) Increases penalties for reporting and recordkeeping violations and for violations of out-of-service orders. Sets forth a criminal penalty of imprisonment for a term of not more than one year or a fine, or both, upon conviction for an employer that knowingly and willfully allows or requires an employee to operate a commercial motor vehicle in violation of an out-of-service order.

(Sec. 4103) Establishes a civil penalty of $1,000 per offense for denying the Secretary access to records or property with respect to commercial motor carrier safety and operators.

(Sec. 4104) Directs the Secretary to revoke (currently the Secretary is authorized to suspend) the registration of: (1) a motor carrier that has been prohibited from operating in interstate commerce for failure to comply with commercial motor vehicle safety fitness requirements; and (2) a motor carrier of passengers if the Secretary finds that such carrier has been conducting unsafe operations which are an imminent hazard to public health or property.

(Sec. 4105) Declares that nothing in federal transportation law relating to motor carriers of property shall be construed to prevent a state from requiring that, in the case of vehicles towed from private property without the owner's or operator's consent, towing companies have prior written consent from a property owner or lessee, or that the owner or lessee be present at the time, or both.

(Sec. 4106) Modifies the state plan procedures and contents required for state eligibility to receive federal grants for commercial motor carrier safety.

(Sec. 4107) Directs the Secretary to establish safety performance criteria to be used to distribute high priority program funds. Authorizes the Secretary to set-aside $15 million for each of FY2006-FY2009 for states, local governments, and organizations representing government agencies to carry out high priority activities and projects that improve commercial motor vehicle safety and compliance with commercial motor vehicle safety regulations, increase public awareness and education, demonstrate new technologies, and reduce the number and rate of accidents involving commercial motor vehicles.

Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to states and local governments for new entrant motor carrier audits. Sets aside $29 million per fiscal year for such audits.

(Sec. 4108) Requires the Secretary to maintain data analysis capacity and programs that establish and implement a national motor carrier safety data correction system. Directs the Secretary to report to Congress on the status of revision of the safety fitness rating system of motor carriers.

(Sec. 4109) Revises requirements for design, participation, and funding for commercial vehicle safety information systems.

Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to states to implement performance and registration information system management requirements.

(Sec. 4110) Authorizes the Secretary to make border enforcement grants to states sharing a land border with another country (Canada or Mexico) for carrying out border commercial motor vehicle safety programs and related enforcement activities and projects.

(Sec. 4111) Directs the Secretary to establish and implement a motor carrier and motor coach research and technology program that includes a multi-year research plan focusing on nonredundant innovative research. Prescribes procedural guidelines for research, development, and technology transfer activities. Limits the federal share of costs to 50%, unless there is substantial public interest or benefit associated with an activity.

(Sec. 4112) Allows Nebraska to exempt truck tractor and two trailers or semitrailers combinations of up to 81 feet, six inches, used only for harvesting wheat, soybeans, and milo for agricultural producers during the harvest months, from federal length limitations prohibiting the operation of certain sized commercial vehicle combinations on the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

(Sec. 4113) Authorizes the Secretary to suspend, amend, or revoke any part of a motor carrier's registration if the Secretary finds that an officer of the carrier engages or has engaged in a pattern or practice of avoiding compliance, or masking or concealing noncompliance, with commercial motor vehicle safety regulations.

(Sec. 4114) Revises safety fitness requirements for a owner or operator of a commercial motor vehicle that transports passengers and hazardous materials. Prohibits such an owner or operator determined not fit to operate in interstate commerce from operating any commercial motor vehicle that affects interstate commerce, until the Secretary determines that such owner or operator is fit. Sets forth similar requirements for determinations of unfitness by the state.

(Sec. 4116) Establishes a Medical Review Board to provide FMCSA with medical advice and recommendations on medical standards and guidelines for the physical qualifications of operators of commercial motor vehicles, medical examiner education, and medical research. Directs the Secretary to establish, review, and revise medical standards for operators of commercial motor vehicles.

(Sec. 4117) Directs the Secretary to provide persons conducting preemployment screening services for the motor carrier industry electronic access to the following reports contained in the Motor Carrier Management Information System: (1) commercial motor vehicle accident reports; (2) inspection reports that contain no driver-related safety violations; and (3) serious driver-related safety violation inspection reports.

(Sec. 4118) Directs the Secretary to issue regulations establishing a program to ensure the safety of intermodal equipment used to transport intermodal containers. Authorizes the Secretary to inspect intermodal equipment, and copy related maintenance and repair records, on demand and display of proper credentials.

(Sec. 4119) Authorizes the Secretary to use specified funds to participate and cooperate in international activities to enhance motor carrier, commercial motor vehicle, driver, and highway safety by such means as exchanging information, conducting research, and examining needs, best practices, and new technology.

(Sec. 4120) Authorizes the Secretary to require a person (other than a motor carrier) transporting passengers by commercial motor vehicle, or a motor private carrier transporting property, to file with the Secretary evidence of financial responsibility in an amount not less than the greater of the minimum amount required under federal law or state law for bodily injury to, or death of, an individual resulting from the negligent operation, maintenance, or use of the commercial motor vehicle, or for loss or damage to property, or both.

(Sec. 4121) Requires deposit into the HTF (other than the Mass Transit Account), instead of the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts, of civil penalties for violations of requirements for minimum levels of financial responsibility for transporting passengers or property.

(Sec. 4122) Limits an individual who operates a commercial motor vehicle to only one learner's permit (as well as one driver's license) at any time. Revises federal CDL minimum standards to require an individual to pass a written test for a CDL license on the operation of a commercial motor vehicle that complies with certain minimum fitness standards.

(Sec. 4123) Directs the Secretary to develop and publish a comprehensive national plan to modernize the CDL information system. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to states to modernize their CDL information systems to be compatible with the modernized federal CDL information system plan. Sets the federal share of costs at 80%. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 4124) Authorizes the Secretary to make a grant to a state to comply with federal requirements for or improve a CDL program.

(Sec. 4125) Amends the federal judicial code (and the portion known as the Hobbs Act) to subject all federal commercial motor carrier safety, operators, and motor carrier safety law and regulations to the exclusive jurisdiction of the appropriate U.S. Court of Appeals.

(Sec. 4126) Directs the Secretary to make grants to eligible states for the core deployment of commercial vehicle information systems and networks.

(Sec. 4127) Directs the Secretary to conduct an outreach and education program administered by the FMCSA and the NHTSA. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

Directs the Comptroller General to update the Government Accountability Office's evaluation of the "Share the Road Safely" program to determine if it has achieved reductions in the number and severity of commercial motor vehicle crashes, deaths, and injuries and to report its updated evaluation to Congress.

(Sec. 4128) Directs the Secretary to make grants to states to improve the commercial motor vehicle safety data reported to the Secretary.

(Sec. 4129) Directs the Secretary to revise the final rule published in the Federal Register on September 3, 2003, to allow individuals who use insulin to treat their diabetes to operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce. Prohibits the Secretary from requiring individuals to have experience operating commercial motor vehicles while using insulin in order to qualify to operate one.

(Sec. 4130) Amends the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 to exempt from certain maximum driving and on-duty time regulations drivers transporting agricultural commodities or farm supplies for agricultural purposes during planting and harvest periods, if such transportation is limited to an area within a 100 air mile radius from the source of the commodities or the distribution point for the farm supplies.

(Sec. 4131) Provides that no additional off-duty time shall be required in order to operate ground water well drilling rigs.

(Sec. 4132) Provides that federal safety regulations, including hours of service, shall not apply to a driver of a utility service vehicle. Prohibits state and local governments from enacting any similar requirements.

(Sec. 4133) States that the maximum daily hours of service for an operator of a commercial motor vehicle providing transportation of property or passengers to or from a theatrical or television motion picture production site located within a 100 air mile radius of the operator's work reporting location shall be those in effect under specified regulations effective as of April 27, 2003.

(Sec. 4134) Directs the Secretary to establish a grant program for training commercial motor vehicle operators in the safe use of such vehicles. Provides funding for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 4135) Directs the Secretary to convene a task force to study, and report to Congress on, current impediments and foreseeable challenges to the CDL program's effectiveness and measures needed to realize its full safety potential. Provides funding for FY2006 and FY2007.

(Sec. 4136) States that federal motor carrier safety regulations that apply to Interstate operations of commercial motor vehicles used to transport between nine and 15 passengers (including the driver) shall apply to all Interstate operations of such carriers regardless of the distance traveled.

(Sec. 4137) Prohibits the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance from restricting the sale of inspection decals to FMCSA unless FMCSA fails to meet its responsibilities under its memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Alliance (other than a failure due to FMCSA's compliance with federal law).

(Sec. 4138) Requires the Secretary, using HTF funds, to ensure that high-risk carrier compliance reviews are completed on motor carriers that have demonstrated through performance data that they pose the highest safety risk.

(Sec. 4139) Directs the FMCSA Administrator to conduct outreach and provide training to state personnel engaged in the enforcement of federal motor carrier safety regulations.

Directs the FMCSA Administrator to review and report to specified congressional committees on the degree to which Canadian and Mexican commercial motor vehicles, including motor carriers of passengers, currently operating or expected to operate in the United States comply with the U.S. motor vehicle safety standards.

(Sec. 4140) Requires the Secretary to recognize drivers who pass tests approved by the FMCSA as meeting the knowledge test requirement for a school bus endorsement.

(Sec. 4141) Prohibits a state from prescribing or enforcing a regulation of commerce that imposes a vehicle length limitation of not less than or more than 97 feet on a drive-away saddlemount with fullmount vehicle transporter combinations.

(Sec. 4142) Requires the Secretary to register freight forwarders and brokers of household goods. Authorizes the Secretary to register other freight forwarders and brokers upon finding that such registration is needed for the protection of shippers. (Current law requires the registration of all freight forwarders and brokers, regardless of relation to household goods.)

(Sec. 4143) Amends federal criminal law to require a driver of a commercial motor vehicle to stop and submit to inspection of the vehicle, driver, cargo, and required records when directed to do so by an authorized FMCSA employee. Sets forth criminal penalties for knowing failure to do so or for leaving the inspection site without authorization. Grants FMCSA employees the authority to direct a driver of a commercial vehicle to stop for inspection at or in the vicinity of an inspection site.

(Sec. 4144) Establishes a motor carrier safety advisory committee in the FMCSA.

(Sec. 4146) Exempts through FY2009 from federal maximum driving and on-duty time regulations for a motor carrier driver the transportation of grapes west of Interstate 81 in the State of New York during a harvest period and within a 150-air mile radius from where the grapes are picked or distributed.

(Sec. 4147) Provides that certain commercial motor vehicle safety and maximum hours of service regulations shall not apply to a driver of a commercial motor vehicle which is used primarily in the transportation of propane winter heating fuel, or to a driver of a motor vehicle used to respond to a pipeline emergency, if such regulations would prevent the driver from responding to an emergency condition requiring immediate response.

(Sec. 4148) Directs the Secretary to conduct a rulemaking to permit a state licensed or certified marriage and family therapist to act as a substance abuse professional.

(Sec. 4149) Authorizes the Director of the Office of Intermodalism (within the Research and Innovative Technology Administration) to use certain funds, otherwise available for grants to states to develop model state intermodal transportation plans, to provide technical assistance for intermodal data collection.

Requires the Director to develop a national intermodal system improvement plan that assesses the national intermodal transportation system and makes recommendations for improving intermodal policy. Requires the Director to report biennially to Congress on the plan to improve the national intermodal transportation system. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

Subtitle B: Household Goods Transportation - Household Goods Mover Oversight Enforcement and Reform Act of 2005 - (Sec. 4203) Amends federal transportation law to require a carrier providing transportation for a shipment of household goods to give up possession of the goods at the destination upon payment of: (1) 100% of the transportation charges in a binding estimate; (2) no more than 110% of the charges in a nonbinding estimate; or (3) the prorated percentage of the charges in the case of a partial delivery.

(Sec. 4204) Sets forth additional registration requirements for motor carriers of household goods. Authorizes the Secretary to register a person to provide such transportation only after the person: (1) provides evidence of participation in an arbitration program; (2) identifies its tariff; (3) provides evidence that it will observe all consumer protection laws; and (4) discloses relationships involving common stock, common ownership, common management, or common familial relationships with other motor carriers, freight forwarders, or broker of household goods within the past three years.

(Sec. 4205) Requires a motor carrier of household goods to: (1) conduct a physical survey of the household goods to be transported on behalf of a prospective shipper; and (2) provide the shipper with a written estimate of all charges (including a copy of the DOT publication FMCSA-ESA-03-005, or its successor edition or publication entitled "Ready to Move", and a copy of DOT publication OCE 100, entitled "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move").

(Sec. 4206) Limits state regulation of transportation of household goods to intrastate transportation.

Authorizes states to enforce federal consumer protection laws and regulations with respect to the interstate transportation of household goods. Requires FMCSA to implement an outreach plan to enhance the coordination and enforcement of such laws and regulations between and among federal and state law enforcement and consumer protection authorities.

(Sec. 4207) Makes the replacement value a carrier's maximum liability for household goods that are lost, damaged, destroyed, or otherwise not delivered to the final destination.

(Sec. 4208) Revises requirements for the dispute settlement program for household goods carriers to require a carrier to agree to offer arbitration to shippers of household goods as a means of settling disputes between such carriers and shippers concerning whether carrier charges, in addition to those collected at delivery, must be paid by the shipper.

Increases from $5,000 to $10,000 the claim threshold in a dispute between carrier and shipper that separates mandatory binding arbitration from binding arbitration only if the carrier agrees to shipper-requested arbitration.

(Sec. 4209) Sets forth civil and criminal penalties for: (1) a household goods transportation broker's making an estimate of the transportation costs before entering an agreement with a carrier; and (2) transportation of household goods or provision of related broker services without registration.

(Sec. 4210) Prescribes civil and criminal penalties for carriers or brokers who hold household goods hostage.

(Sec. 4211) Directs the Secretary to: (1) take necessary action to ensure prominent display on the DOT website of the publication entitled "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move;" and (2) modify certain regulations to require a broker subject to them to provide actual or potential shippers with specified information whenever they have contact with them.

(Sec. 4213) Directs the Secretary to establish a working group of state attorneys general, state consumer protection administrators, and federal and local law enforcement officials in order to enhance federal-state enforcement efforts, exchange of information, and coordination of enforcement efforts regarding interstate transportation of household goods.

(Sec. 4214) Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a filing system for consumer complaints relating to household goods carriers and for compiling complaint information on them gathered by DOT and the states, a database of the complaints, and a procedure for the public access to aggregated information and for carriers to challenge information in the database; (2) issue regulations requiring each household goods carrier to submit specified data on a quarterly basis; and (3) develop a procedure to forward a complaint to a motor carrier and the appropriate state authority.

(Sec. 4215) Directs the Surface Transportation Board to: (1) complete a review of current federal regulations regarding the level of liability protection provided by motor carriers providing transportation of household goods; and (2) revise them, if necessary, to provide enhanced protection in the case of loss or damage.

(Sec. 4216) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to certain congressional committees on: (1) current consumer protection authorities and actions of the DOT; and (2) the impact on shippers and household goods carriers in interstate transportation of allowing state attorneys general to apply state consumer protection laws to such transportation.

Subtitle C: Unified Carrier Registration Act of 2005 - Unified Carrier Registration Act of 2005 - (Sec. 4303) Amends federal transportation law with regard to registered motor carriers or motor private carriers providing transportation or service under federal requirements. Requires a registered motor carrier (except a motor private carrier) to file a bond with the Secretary. Revises certain registration requirements.

(Sec. 4304) Directs the Secretary to issue regulations to establish an on-line Federal Unified Carrier Registration System (UCRS) to replace specified current systems. Requires the UCRS to serve as a clearinghouse and depository of information, and identification of, all motor private carriers (including others) required to register with the DOT, including information on the carrier's safety rating, compliance with required levels of financial responsibility, and compliance with certain state registration requirements. Directs the Secretary (who currently is authorized) to establish a fee system for the UCRS. Excludes from such registration requirements motor carriers, motor private carriers of property, or transporters of waste or recyclable materials operating exclusively in intrastate transportation.

(Sec. 4305) Eliminates requirements for a single state motor carrier registration system.

Establishes a Unified Carrier Registration Agreement (UCR Agreement), which shall govern the collection and distribution of registration and financial responsibility information provided and fees paid by motor carriers, motor private carriers, brokers, freight forwarders, and leasing companies. Establishes a Unified Carrier Registration Plan (UCR Plan) composed of an organization of state, federal, and motor carrier industry representatives responsible for developing, implementing and administering the UCR Agreement.

Requires states, to be eligible to participate in the UCR Plan or to receive revenues derived under the UCR Agreement, to submit to the Secretary a plan: (1) identifying the state agency to administer the UCR Agreement; and (2) demonstrating that an amount at least equal to the revenue derived by the state from the UCR Agreement will be used for motor carrier safety programs, enforcement, or the administration of the UCR Plan and UCR Agreement.

(Sec. 4306) Prohibits a state, political subdivision, interstate agency, or other political agency of two or more states from enacting or enforcing a law, rule, or regulation standard that requires a motor carrier, motor private carrier, freight forwarder, or leasing company to display any form of identification on or in a commercial motor vehicle, with specified exceptions.

(Sec. 4307) Authorizes amounts generated by the UCR Agreement and received by a state and used for motor carrier safety purposes to be included as part of the state's share (matching funds) not provided by the United States.

Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Provisions - (Sec. 4401) Requires the donee (corporation to which the Administrator of General Services donated a vessel) to transfer all its rights, title, and interest to the Administrator. Requires the Administrator to remove the vessel to a federal facility and sell it for fair market value. Requires as a condition of such conveyance that the vessel not be used within the United States or U.S. territorial seas. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 4402) Amends the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1998 to eliminate the reversionary condition from the conveyance of certain Coast Guard property to Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida.

(Sec. 4403) Extends through FY2006-2007 the authorization of appropriations for financial assistance to any city government, village corporation, or tribal council of St. George, Alaska, or St. Paul, Alaska.

(Sec. 4404) Allows in the states of Alaska and Hawaii: (1) state legislature members to serve on the policy board of a MPO; and (2) a MPO to be redesignated as a result of changes in state law that define new requirements for the MPO policy board.

(Sec. 4405) Amends federal transportation law to provide that certain requirements for the permitted use by another person of a type certificate to manufacture a new aircraft, aircraft engine, propeller, or appliance shall not apply to a person who began the manufacture of an aircraft before August 5, 2004, if the name of the holder of the type certificate for the aircraft does not appear on the airworthiness certificate or identification plate of the aircraft.

(Sec. 4406) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to execute instruments to release the condition on a portion of land adjacent to the community of Beaver, Alaska, (conveyed to the Beaver Kwit'chin Corporation pursuant to Patent No. 50-69-0130 and dated August 23, 1968) which requires such land to revert to the United States if it is not used for airport purposes. Requires the Beaver Kwit'chin Corporation to reconvey all its right, title, and interest in such land to any individual who occupies the land. Authorizes the Corporation to convey or retain the remaining land for community purposes.

(Sec. 4407) Enacts into law the reciprocal rights-of-way and easements identified on the map numbered 92337 and dated June 15, 2005.

(Sec. 4408) Provides for the transfer of Rialto Municipal Airport/Art Scholl Memorial Airport, California, subject to certain conditions.

(Sec. 4410) Designates the bridge joining the Island of Gravina to the community of Ketchican, Alaska, as the "Ralph M. Bartholomew Veterans' Memorial Bridge".

(Sec. 4411) Designates the Knik Arm bridge in Alaska as "Don Young's Way".

(Sec. 4412) Prohibits the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from ordering retroactive changes in TAPS quality bank adjustments for: (1) any period before February 1, 2000, in a proceeding commenced before enactment of this Act; and (2) any period that exceeds the 15-month period immediately preceding the earliest date of the first order of the FERC imposing quality bank adjustments in a proceeding. Defines such adjustments as monetary adjustments paid by or to a shipper of oil on the Trans Alaska Pipeline System through the operation of a quality bank to compensate for the value of the oil of the shipper that is commingled in the Pipeline.

Title V: Research - Subtitle A: Funding - (Sec. 5101) Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009 for the following programs, with a federal share of 50%: (1) surface transportation research, development, and deployment program; (2) training and education; (3) Bureau of Transportation Statistics; (4) university transportation research; (5) intelligent transportation systems (ITS) research; and (6) ITS deployment.

(Sec. 5102) Specifies an rising obligation ceiling upon such appropriations for each fiscal year.

(Sec. 5103) Declares that Congress finds that it is in the U.S. interest to increase the federal investment in transportation R&D (including research in critical research gaps) in order to ensure that the transportation system meets the goals of safety, mobility, economic vitality, efficiency, equity, and environmental protection.

Subtitle B: Research, Technology, and Education - (Sec. 5201) Amends federal highway law to revise requirements for the highway research, technology, and education program, including: (1) basic principles governing research and technology investments; (2) procurement for research, development, and technology transfer activities; (3) a transportation pooled fund program; and (4) an exploratory advanced research program (with an earmark of funds for FY2005-FY2009).

Directs the Secretary to: (1) continue to carry out, through September 30, 2009, tests, monitoring, and data analysis under the long-term pavement performance program (with funds earmarked for FY2005-FY2009); (2) carry out a seismic research program in cooperation with the Center for Civil Engineering Research at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research at the University of Buffalo (with funds earmarked for FY2005-FY2009); and (3) operate in the FHA the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009 to carry out biobased research of national importance at the National Biodiesel Board and at certain sun grant research centers.

(Sec. 5202) Directs the Secretary to establish a 20-year long-term bridge performance program. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

Revises the Innovative Bridge Research and Deployment Program. Earmarks funds for it for FY2005-FY2009. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009 for high performance concrete bridge technology research and deployment.

Directs the Secretary to carry out a program to: (1) demonstrate the application of high-performing steel in the construction and rehabilitation of bridges; and (2) test steel bridges for growing cracks. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009. Sets the federal share of program costs at 80%.

(Sec. 5203) Modifies the technology deployment program. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to, and enter into cooperative agreements and contracts with, states, other federal agencies, universities and colleges, private sector entities, and nonprofit organizations to pay the federal share of the cost of research, development, and technology transfer activities concerning innovative materials.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) ensure that the information and technology resulting from research is made available to state and local transportation departments and other interested parties; (2) implement an innovative pavement research and deployment program; and (3) obligate funds through FY2009 to conduct research to improve asphalt pavement, concrete pavement, alternative materials used in highways, and aggregates used in highways on the NHS. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish and implement a program to demonstrate the application of innovative technologies in highway safety; and (2) ensure that the information and technology resulting from such research is made available to state and local transportation departments. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

Earmarks funds: (1) to purchase promotional items of nominal value for use in personnel recruitment and to promote programs of the FHA; (2) for FY2006-FY2007 for a demonstration at the University of Maine of the durability and potential efficacy of wood composite materials in multimodal transportation facilities (with a 100% federal share); (3) for FY2006 for asphalt and asphalt-related reclamation research at the South Dakota School of Mines; and (4) for FY2006-FY2009 for further development and deployment of techniques to prevent and mitigate alkali silica reactivity.

Makes funds available for FY2006-FY2009 for physical demonstrations of the ongoing work at the Turner-Fairbanks facility with respect to ultrahigh performance concrete with ductility.

(Sec. 5204) Modifies general course requirements for the training and education components offered by the National Highway Institute. Earmarks funds for FY2005-FY2009.

Modifies the Local Technical Assistance Program to require it to provide access to surface transportation technology to infrastructure security staff. Sets the federal share of the cost of tribal technical assistance center activities at 100%.

Directs the Secretary to establish the Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Education Program, including a transportation education development pilot program. Earmarks funds through FY2009.

Authorizes federal and state funding for surface transportation workforce development, training, and education.

Amends TEA-21 to require the Secretary to continue: (1) to carry out studies regarding the properties of asphalts and modified asphalts for the NHS; and (2) development and deployment through the New Jersey Institute of Technology to MPOs of the Transportation Economic and Land Use System. Earmarks funds for FY2005-FY2009.

Directs the Secretary to establish a freight planning capacity building initiative to support enhancements in freight transportation planning. States that the federal share of costs shall be up to 100%. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

Earmarks funds for FY2005-FY2009 for the Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program.

(Sec. 5206) Revises the International Highway Transportation Outreach Program to require the Secretary to report to Congress the destinations and individual trip costs of international travel conducted in carrying out program activities. Earmarks funds for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 5207) Modifies the surface transportation-environmental cooperative research program to authorize the Secretary to make grants to, and enter into cooperative agreements with, the National Academy of Sciences to carry out research, technology, and technology transfer activities. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 5208) Amends federal highway law relating to transportation research and development strategic planning. Revises requirements for the Secretary's five-year transportation R&D strategic plan to guide federal transportation research and development activities. Repeals the specific mandate for an integrated surface transportation research and technology development strategic plan.

(Sec. 5209) Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish and support a national cooperative freight transportation research program; and (2) establish and implement the future strategic highway research program. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 5211) Directs the Secretary to make grants to states to continue ITS management and operations in the Interstate Route 95 corridor coalition region initiated under ISTEA.

Subtitle C: Intelligent Transportation System Research - (Sec. 5301) Directs the Secretary to develop a five-year National ITS program plan that specifies goals and objectives for the research and deployment of ITS in the context of major and smaller metropolitan areas, rural areas, and commercial vehicle operations.

(Sec. 5302) Earmarks funds for each fiscal year for ITS outreach, public relations, displays, tours, and brochures.

(Sec. 5303) Requires funds made available under this subtitle for operational tests to l be used primarily for the development of ITS infrastructure. Declares that such funds, to the maximum extent practicable, shall not be used for the construction of physical highway and public transportation infrastructure unless the construction is incidental and critically necessary to the implementation of an ITS project.

(Sec. 5305) Directs the Secretary to conduct an ongoing ITS program to research, develop, and operationally test ITS, and provide technical assistance in the nationwide application of ITS as a component of U.S. surface transportation systems.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) maintain a repository (clearinghouse) for technical and safety data collected as a result of federally sponsored projects; and (2) establish an Advisory Committee.

(Sec. 5306) Directs the Secretary to carry out a comprehensive program of ITS research, development, and operational tests of intelligent vehicles and intelligent infrastructure systems.

(Sec. 5307) Directs the Secretary to develop a national architecture and supporting standards and protocols to promote the widespread use and evaluation of ITS technology. Authorizes development of provisional standards, until final standards are adopted, in order to achieve specified objectives in a timely fashion.

(Sec. 5308) Directs the Secretary to establish a road weather R&D program to enhance the development and use of road weather information and technologies. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 5309) Directs the Secretary to establish four centers for surface transportation excellence in the areas of environment, surface transportation safety, rural safety, and project finance. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

Subtitle D: University Transportation Research; Scholarship Opportunities - (Sec. 5401) Amends federal transportation law to eliminate the limitation to one national university transportation research center in each of the 10 federal regions that constitute the Standard Federal Regional Boundary System. (Thus allows the Secretary to make any number of such grants to eligible nonprofit institutions of higher education).

Requires each such center to advance significantly transportation research on critical national transportation issues and to expand the transportation professionals workforce.

Requires the Secretary to make grants of $2 million in FY2005 and $3.5 million in each of FY 2006-FY2009. Earmarks funds for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 5402) Replaces the current advanced vehicle technologies program with a program of grants to nonprofit institutions of higher learning to establish and operate university transportation centers, including: (1) ten regional centers; (2) ten Tier I centers; and (3) 22 Tier II centers.

Earmarks funds for FY2005-FY2009.

Subtitle E: Other Programs - (Sec. 5501) Directs the Secretary to: (1) fund and carry out a project to further the development of a comprehensive transportation safety information management system (TSIMS); and (2) establish a surface transportation congestion solutions research initiative to assist state transportation departments and MPOs to address surface transportation congestion problems. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009, except for the TSIMS project, for which funds are provided only for FY2006 and FY2007.

(Sec. 5503) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on: (1) inefficiencies in freight transportation; (2) the safety, productivity, and reduced cost improvements that may be achieved through the use of wireless technologies to address those inefficiencies; and (3) field tests demonstrating such technologies. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 5504) Directs the Secretary to establish a Center for Transportation Advancement and Regional Development to assist the development of rural and small metropolitan transportation systems. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 5505) Authorizes the Secretary to establish and implement a scholarship program to attract qualified students for transportation-related critical jobs.

(Sec. 5506) Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a program to validate commercial remote sensing products and spatial information technologies for application to national transportation infrastructure development and construction; (2) establish a national policy for the use of such products and technologies in national transportation infrastructure development and construction; and (3) develop new applications of such products and technologies to implement such policy. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 5507) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the feasibility of installing fiber optic cabling and wireless communication infrastructure along multistate Interstate System route corridors for improved communications services to rural communities. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2007.

(Sec. 5508) Amends TEA-21 to revise transportation technology innovation and demonstration program requirements, especially for intelligent transportation infrastructure (ITI). Splits the ITI program into two parts. Requires the Secretary: (1) in part I of the program to permit the original contractor to use uncommitted funds to deploy ITI systems in any specified deployment areas (currently, only in Pennsylvania), with the consent of the state transportation department; and (2) in part II of the program to award, on a competitive basis, contracts for the deployment of ITI systems in congested areas (metropolitan areas experiencing significant traffic congestion), again with state transportation department consent.

Declares that ITS projects under the program that involve privately owned ITS components, and carried out using HTF funds, shall not be subject to any state or local law prohibiting or regulating commercial activities in the rights-of-way of a highway for which federal-aid highway funds have been used for planning, design, construction, or maintenance, if the Secretary determines that such use is in the public interest. Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 5511) Requires the Secretary to provide grants to the Oklahoma Transportation Center for a comprehensive, in-depth motorcycle crash causation study that employs the common international methodology for in-depth motorcycle accident investigation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Earmarks funds for FY2006 and F2007.

(Sec. 5512) Directs the Secretary to accelerate deployment of the Transportation Analysis Simulation System (TRANSIMS) developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 5513) Directs the Secretary to make a grant to carry out a demonstration project that uses a thermal imaging inspection system (TIIS) that provides the capability to identify, in real time, faults and failures in tires, brakes, and bearings mounted on commercial motor vehicles. Earmarks funds for FY2006.

Directs the Secretary to make specified grants. Earmarks funds for them for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 5514) Directs the Secretary to ensure that states provide for competition with respect to the specification of alternative types of culvert pipes through requirements commensurate with competition requirements for other construction materials.

Subtitle F: Bureau of Transportation Statistics - (Sec. 5601) Revises requirements for the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Modifies the responsibilities of the Director.

Makes the Director responsible for building and disseminating the transportation layer of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Directs the Secretary to arrange with the National Research Council to develop and publish a National Transportation Information Needs Assessment.

Sets forth fines for the failure or refusal of certain persons to answer questions or make records or statistics about collected freight data available upon request to the Director or other authorized Bureau staff or contractor.

Sets forth limits on the use of reports of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Establishes an Advisory Council on Transportation Statistics to advise the Director.

Title VI: Transportation Planning and Project Delivery - (Sec. 6001) Amends federal highway law to revise metropolitan planning requirements to require MPOs to develop long-range transportation plans and transportation improvement programs (Tips) for metropolitan planning areas (MPAs) of the state.

Requires the designation of a MPO for each urbanized area with a population of more than 50,000 individuals: (1) by agreement between the Governor and units of general purpose local government that together represent at least 75% of the affected population (including the largest incorporated city as named by the Bureau of the Census); or (2) in accordance with procedures under state or local law.

Requires an MPO and the state Governor to determine the boundaries of an MPA. Allows retention of the boundaries of an MPA designated under the Clean Air Act as a nonattainment area for ozone or carbon monoxide.

Grants the consent of Congress to: (1) any two or more states to enter into agreements or compacts for cooperative efforts and mutual assistance in support of pertinent activities, and to establish agencies, joint or otherwise, for making the agreements and compacts effective; and (2) the states of California and Nevada to designate an MPO for the Lake Tahoe region.

Requires each MPO to: (1) prepare and update quadrennially a transportation plan for its MPA in accordance with specified requirements; and (2) develop and update quadrennially a TIP for its MPA.

Directs the Secretary to identify as a transportation management area (TMA) each urbanized area with a population of over 200,000 individuals.

Declares that projects, carried out within the boundaries of an MPA serving a TMA, on the NHS, and projects carried out within such boundaries under the bridge program or the Interstate maintenance program, shall be selected for implementation from the approved TIP by the State in cooperation with the designated MPA.

Directs each state to develop a statewide transportation plan and a statewide TIP for all areas subject to this Act, in coordination with other related transportation planning activities. Grants the consent of Congress to any two or more states to enter into agreements or compacts for cooperative efforts and mutual assistance in support of such activities, and to establish authorities for making the agreements and compacts effective.

Requires each state to develop: (1) a long-range statewide transportation plan, with a minimum 20-year forecast period for all areas of the state, that provides for the development and implementation of the state's intermodal transportation system; and (2) a statewide TIP, which shall be updated quadrennially.

(Sec. 6002) Sets forth procedural guidelines for project developments that require an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).

Declares DOT as the federal lead agency in an environmental review process for a project.

Designates as joint lead sponsor with DOT, for purposes of preparing any environmental document under NEPA, any project sponsor that is a either a state or local governmental recipient of federal-aid highway funds or federal mass transportation funds.

Requires the lead agency to establish a plan coordinating public and agency participation in and comment on the environmental review process for a project.

Declares that nothing in this section shall affect the reviewability of any final federal agency action in a U.S. court or state court.

Repeals certain environmental streamlining requirements under TEA-21.

(Sec. 6003) Establishes a pilot program under which up to five states may assume the Secretary's responsibilities for environmental reviews, consultation, or decisionmaking or other actions required under federal law with respect to recreational trails program projects and certain transportation enhancement activities.

(Sec. 6004) Authorizes the Secretary to assign a state, under a memorandum of understanding, the responsibility for determining whether certain designated activities are categorically excluded from administrative requirements for environmental assessments.

(Sec. 6005) Directs the Secretary to carry out a surface transportation project delivery pilot program with up to five participating states, under which the Secretary may assign to a state specified responsibilities for environmental review or other action required under federal environmental law pertaining to the review or approval of a specific project.

(Sec. 6006) Includes among eligible NHS projects: (1) environmental restoration and pollution abatement; (2) establishment of plants to perform abatement of stormwater runoff, stabilization of soil, and/or aesthetic enhancement; and (3) management of plants which impair or impede the establishment, maintenance, or safe use of a transportation system.

Allows environmental restoration and pollution abatement to minimize or mitigate the impacts of specified transportation projects to address water pollution or environmental degradation caused wholly or partially by a transportation facility.

Makes funds available to control noxious weeds and aquatic noxious weeds and to establish native species, if such efforts are related to federally-funded transportation projects.

(Sec. 6007) Exempts the Interstate System from being considered a historic site under federal transportation law, regardless of whether the System or portions of it are eligible for or listed upon the National Register of Historic Places.

(Sec. 6008) Requires the Secretary when developing design criteria for new construction, reconstruction, resurfacing, restoration, or rehabilitation of a NHS highway to consider the publications: (1) "Flexibility in Highway Design" of the FHA; (2) "Eight Characteristics of Process to Yield Excellence and the Seven Qualities of Excellence in Transportation Design" developed by the 1998 conference entitled "Thinking Beyond the Pavement National Workshop on Integrating Highway Development with Communities and the Environment while Maintaining Safety and Performance"; and (3) any other material that the Secretary determines appropriate.

(Sec. 6009) Deems certain requirements calling for the preservation of parks, recreation areas, wildlife and waterfowl refuges, and historic sites with respect to the development of transportation plans and programs to be satisfied with respect to those areas if the Secretary determines, based on specified criteria, that the transportation program or project will have a de minimis impact on the areas.

Directs the Secretary to study the implementation of these requirements and commission an independent review of the study plan and methodology, and any associated conclusions, by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences.

(Sec. 6010) Directs the Secretary to establish categorical exclusions from environmental assessment requirements for activities that support the deployment of ITS.

Requires the Secretary to develop a nationwide programmatic agreement governing the review of activities that support the deployment of ITS and how such activities may affect historic sites listed in the National Register.

(Sec. 6011) Amends the Clean Air Act to change requirements for the frequency of updates to metropolitan transportation plans. Changes the minimum frequency with which transportation conformity must be demonstrated to every four years. Revises the conformity horizon for transportation plans.

Permits transportation control measures (TCMs) specified in a state implementation plan for national primary and secondary ambient air quality standards to be replaced or added to the plan with alternate or additional TCMs if the substitute measures achieve equivalent or greater emissions reductions, and certain other requirements are met.

(Sec. 6012) Amends TEA-21 to direct the Administrator of the EPA to: (1) study the ability of monitors to differentiate particulate matter larger than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (coarse particulate matter); (2) develop a method to measure directly the amount and composition of such matter; and (3) report to Congress.

(Sec. 6013) Requires the EPA Administrator to promulgate regulations for the review and handling of air quality monitoring data influenced by exceptional events.

(Sec. 6014) Directs the President to conduct a review of federal procurement policy of recycled coolant.

(Sec. 6015) Directs the Administrator of the EPA to establish a program for awarding competitive grants to state governmental entities, contracting entities, or nonprofit school transportation associations for the replacement, retrofit of, or purchase of alternative fuels for, certain existing school buses. Authorizes the Administrator of the EPA to award 50% grants for replacement of school buses with clean school buses (powered by a heavy duty engine operating solely on an alternative fuel or ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel). Requires the Administrator of the EPA to achieve nationwide deployment of clean school buses. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-2010.

(Sec. 6016) Designates the city of Norman, Oklahoma, as part of the Oklahoma City urbanized area for purposes of allocating federal-aid highway program funds.

(Sec. 6017) Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the Administrator of the EPA and each agency head to implement fully all procurement requirements and incentives, including federal procurement guidelines, that provide for the use of cement and concrete incorporating recovered mineral component in cement or concrete projects.

Requires each agency head to give priority to achieving greater use of recovered mineral component in cement or concrete projects.

Directs the Administrator of the EPA to study and report to Congress on the extent to which current procurement requirements may realize energy savings and environmental benefits attainable with substitution of recovered mineral component in cement used in cement or concrete projects.

(Sec. 6018) Directs the Administrator of the EPA to establish criteria for the safe and environmentally protective use of granular mine tailings ("chat") from the Tar Creek, Oklahoma, Mining District, for: (1) cement or concrete projects; and (2) transportation construction projects (including those involving the use of asphalt) carried out using federal funds.

Title VII: Hazardous Materials Transportation - Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety and Security Reauthorization Act of 2005 - Subtitle A: General Authorities on Transportation of Hazardous Materials - (Sec. 7103) Expands the scope of federal safe transportation of hazardous materials (hazmat) regulations to include persons who: (1) design or inspect a packaging or packaging component represented as qualified for use in transporting hazardous material in commerce; (2) prepare or accept hazardous material for transportation in commerce; (3) are responsible for the safety of transporting it; (4) certify compliance with any requirement under such regulations; or (4) misrepresent whether they are engaged in such activities.

(Sec. 7104) Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to recommend to the Secretary any chemical or biological material or agent for regulation as a hazardous material if such material or agent poses a significant risk to the health of individuals.

(Sec. 7105) Requires the Director of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to: (1) develop a process to notify an employer if an applicant fails to meet specified standards; and (2) report to Congress on the implementation of fingerprint-based security threat assessments and the adequacy of fingerprinting locations, personnel, and resources to accomplish timely processing of such assessments for individuals holding CDLs who are applying to renew hazmat endorsements.

Requires a state with standards for applicants for a hazmat endorsement to a CDL to provide an appeal process for applicants that have been denied such an endorsement.

Prohibits the operator of a commercial motor vehicle licensed in Mexico or Canada from operating in the United States a commercial motor vehicle transporting hazardous material until the operator has undergone a background records check.

(Sec. 7109) Authorizes the Secretary to require persons who design or inspect a package or packaging component represented as qualified for use in transporting hazardous material in commerce to file a registration statement with the Secretary. Prohibits such persons from designing or inspecting such package or packaging component if such statement is not filed. Requires the Secretary to establish, impose, and collect a filing fee from such persons. Reduces such filing fee from a maximum amount of $5,000 to $3,000.

(Sec. 7110) Requires the person who provides a hazmat transportation shipping paper to retain it, or an electronic format of it, for two years after it is provided to the carrier, with the paper and format accessible through the shipper's principal places of business.

(Sec. 7111) Repeals the condition that rail tank cars built before January 1, 1971, may be used to transport hazardous material in commerce only if the air brake equipment support attachments of the car comply with specified standards.

(Sec. 7112) Subjects to certain civil and criminal penalties owners and operators transporting hazardous materials who operate in interstate commerce despite being determined unfit to so operate.

(Sec. 7113) Revises requirements relating to: (1) the training curriculum for public sector hazmat emergency response and preparedness teams; (2) naming of a certain account for making planning and training grants as the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Fund; (3) special hazmat transportation variance permits; (4) uniform forms and procedures for state registration and permits for hazmat transportation; (5) hazmat transportation safety and security; (6) enforcement and increased civil and criminal penalties; (7) preemption of state law; and (8) U.S. Court of appeals review of final DOT actions relating to hazmat transportation that adversely affect a person.

(Sec. 7125) Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-2009 for implementation of federal safe hazmat transportation regulations.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2008 for: (1) the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Fund; and (2) hazmat training grants.
Authorizes appropriations for DOT for issuance of hazmat licenses.

(Sec. 7127) Amends federal criminal law to exempt from certain federal crimes regarding the importation, manufacture, distribution, and storage of explosive materials aspects of the transportation of explosive materials via railroad, water, highway, or air that pertain to safety (including security), and are regulated by the DOT or the Department of Homeland Security.

(Sec. 7129) Exempts from certain DOT hazmat transportation plan requirements surface transportation activities of a farmer that are in direct support of farming operations and conducted within a 150-mile radius of such operations.

(Sec. 7130) Directs the Comptroller General to review and report to Congress on existing options and determine additional options for discovering the amount of undeclared hazmat shipments entering the United States.

(Sec. 7131) Directs the Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to carry out the nine research projects called for in the 2005 Special Report 283 of the Transportation Research Board entitled "Cooperative Research for Hazardous Materials Transportation: Defining the Need, Converging on Solutions." Directs the Secretary to report to Congress on the need to establish a cooperative research program on hazmat transportation. Earmarks funds for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 7132) Requires the Secretary to provide funding to the Operation Respond Institute to design, build, and operate a seamless first responder hazmat incident detection, preparedness, and response system. Requires the system to include an expansion of the Operation Respond Emergency Information System (OREIS).

Authorizes appropriations for FY2005-FY2008.

(Sec. 7133) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the economic, environmental, and homeland security advantages and disadvantages of operating a common carrier pipeline system in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama for the transportation of aromatic chemicals.

Subtitle B: Sanitary Food Transportation - Sanitary Food Transportation Act of 2005 - (Sec. 7202) Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to require shippers, motor vehicle or rail vehicle carriers, receivers, and other persons engaged in the transportation of food to use sanitary transportation practices prescribed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to avoid adulteration.

(Sec. 7203) Revises sanitary food transportation requirements. Requires the Secretary to: (1) establish procedures for transportation safety inspections in order to identify suspected incidents of contamination or adulteration of food, carcass, meat, and poultry products; and (2) develop and carry out a program to train inspectors, and DOT, state, and certain other personnel in the recognition of adulteration problems associated with the transportation of cosmetics, devices, drugs, food, and food additives, including procedures for obtaining assistance of federal and state agencies to support the enforcement.

Requires the Secretary to notify the Secretary of Health and Human Services or the Secretary of Agriculture, as applicable, of any instances of potential food contamination or adulteration of food identified during transportation safety inspections.

Subtitle C: Research and Innovative Technology Administration - (Sec. 7301) Authorizes the Administrator of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enter into grants and cooperative agreements with federal, state, and local agencies, other public entities, private organizations, and other persons to conduct research into transportation service and infrastructure assurance and carry out other FDA research activities.

Title VIII: Transportation Discretionary Spending Guarantee - (Sec. 8001) Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to set forth discretionary spending for certain budget accounts under the highway and mass transit categories for FY2005-FY2009.

(Sec. 8002) Makes specified adjustments to align highway spending with revenues. Sets forth an estimated level of highway receipts for FY2005-FY2009. Requires the budgets submitted to Congress by the President for FY2007-FY2010 to include certain adjustments to the limits on outlays for the highway and the mass transit category as calculated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

(Sec. 8003) Sets forth obligation limitations for FY2005-FY2009 for the highway and the mass transit category.

(Sec. 8005) States that, for purposes of a specified House rule, it shall be in order to transfer funds from the FTA's administrative expenses account to other specified mass transit budget accounts under the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act.

Title IX: Rail Transportation - (Sec. 9001) Amends federal transportation law governing high-speed rail corridor development to make eligible for federal financial assistance any corridor planning activity that involves the acquisition of locomotives, rolling stock, track, and signal equipment. Authorizes appropriations for high-speed rail assistance for FY2006-FY2013.

(Sec. 9002) Directs the Secretary to carry out a grant program to provide financial assistance to states for the cost of local rail line relocation and improvement projects. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009.

(Sec. 9003) Amends the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 to require the Secretary (who is currently authorized) to provide direct loans and loan guarantees for railroad rehabilitation projects to: (1) interstate compacts consented to by Congress; and (2) limited option rail freight shippers that own or operate a plant or other facility served by no more than a single railroad, but only to construct a rail connection between a plant and a second rail carrier.

Requires the Secretary, among existing priorities for granting such direct loans or guaranteed loans, to include projects that: (1) enhance service and capacity in the national rail system; or (2) would materially alleviate rail capacity problems which degrade the provision of service to shippers, and would fulfill a need in the national transportation system.

Increases: (1) from $3.5 billion to $35 billion the aggregate unpaid principal amounts of obligations under such direct loans and loan guarantees; and (2) from at least $1 billion to at least $7 billion the portion of that amount available solely for projects primarily benefiting freight railroads other than Class I carriers. Requires the Secretary to approve or disapprove an application for a direct loan or loan guarantee within 90 days after receiving the application.

(Sec. 9004) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the impact of blocked highway-railroad grade crossings on the ability of emergency responders to perform public safety and security duties.

(Sec. 9005) Amends federal transportation law to direct the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to: (1) require each track owner using continuous welded rail (CWR) track to include in the plan filed with the FRA procedures to improve the identification of cracks in rail joint bars; (2) require FRA track inspectors to use a railroad's most recent CWR programs when conducting track inspections; and (3) establish a program to review periodically CWR joint bar inspection data from railroads and FRA track inspectors.

Directs the FRA to: (1) validate a predictive model to quantify the relevant dynamic forces acting on railroad tank cars under accident conditions; and (2) initiate a rulemaking to develop and implement appropriate design standards for pressurized tank cars.

Requires the FRA to: (1) conduct a comprehensive analysis to determine the impact resistance of the steels in the shells of pressure tank cars constructed before 1989; and (2) report to Congress, including any recommendations for reducing any risk of catastrophic fracture and separation of such cars.

(Sec. 9006) Directs the Secretary to make grants to the Alaska Railroad for capital rehabilitation and improvements benefiting its passenger operations. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 9007) Directs the Secretary to enter into an arrangement with the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study, and report the results to Congress, of the Nation's railroad transportation system since the enactment of the Staggers Rail Act of 1980. Authorizes appropriations for FY2006 and FY2007.

(Sec. 9008) Transfers to the Maritime Administration any funds for an intermodal or marine facility constituting a component of the Hawaii Port Infrastructure Expansion Program. Makes such facilities eligible: (1) for funding for capital projects for buses and bus-related equipment and facilities; and (2) to be an intermodal surface freight transfer facility. Authorizes appropriations.

Title X: Miscellaneous Provisions - Subtitle A: Sportfishing and Recreational Boating Safety - Sportfishing and Recreational Boating Safety Act of 2005 - Chapter 1: Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act Amendments - (Sec. 10112) Amends the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act to make appropriations from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund (previously the Sport Fish Restoration Account) for each fiscal year available during all succeeding fiscal years. (Currently, such appropriations are available only for the immediately succeeding fiscal year.)

(Sec. 10113) Specifies percentages of the balance of annual FY2006-FY2009 appropriations remaining after certain expenditures which shall be distributed for: (1) coastal wetlands; (2) boating safety; (3) certain waste water treatment projects under the Clean Vessel Act of 1992; (4) boating infrastructure project grants for facilities for transient nontrailerable recreational vessels; and (5) the National Outreach and Communications Program. Transfers certain unobligated funds to the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating for state recreational boating safety programs.

(Sec. 10118) Earmarks $3 million from the Fund for FY2006-FY2009 for sport fish restoration projects under the multistate conservation grant program.

(Sec. 10119) Sets forth certain expenditures from the Boating Safety Account for FY2006-FY2010.

Chapter 2: Clean Vessel Act Amendments - (Sec. 10131) Amends the Clean Vessel Act of 1992 to eliminate the requirement that the Secretary of the Interior give priority consideration to grant applications that in coastal states propose constructing and renovating pumpout stations and waste reception facilities in accordance with a coastal state's plan under the Clean Vessel Act of 1992.

Chapter 3: Recreational Boating Safety Program Amendments - (Sec. 10141) Renames the Boat Safety Account the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund.

(Sec. 10142) Increases from two to three years the period of an allocation to a state for its recreational boating safety program.

(Sec. 10143) Increases the allocation of certain funds available for payment of expenses of the Coast Guard for personnel and activities directly related to coordinating and carrying out the national recreational boating safety program.

Subtitle B: Other Miscellaneous Provisions - (Sec. 10201) Directs the Secretary to notify each state awarded a grant or federal funds of requirements calling for the participation of small business concerns.

(Sec. 10202) Directs the Secretary, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response, to establish a Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services in order to: (1) ensure coordination among the federal agencies involved with state, local, tribal, or regional emergency medical services and 9-1-1 systems; and (2) recommend new or expanded programs (including grant programs) for improving such services and implementing improved emergency medical services communications technologies, including wireless 9-1-1.

(Sec. 10203) Amends the Small Business Act regarding historically underutilized business zones (HUBzones) to extend the definition of a qualified nonmetropolitan county in which a HUBzone may be located to one containing a difficult development area, as designated by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, within Alaska, Hawaii, or any territory or possession of the United States outside the 48 contiguous States.

(Sec. 10204) Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Gulf Coast and contiguous states, jointly to review, assess, and report to Congress on federal and state evacuation plans for catastrophic hurricanes impacting the Gulf Coast Region.

(Sec. 10205) Transfers to the Administrator of the Maritime Administration any federal and nonfederal funds for an intermodal transportation maritime facility at the Port of Anchorage, Alaska (or for access to such facility).

(Sec. 10206) Sets forth certain eligibility requirements for a community to participate in the western Alaska community development quota program.

(Sec. 10207) Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2010 for specified rail rehabilitation and bridge repair projects in Alabama.

(Sec. 10208) Amends federal transportation law to provide that a motor vehicle owner that rents or leases the vehicle to a person shall not be liable under state law for harm to persons or property that results or arises out of the vehicle's use during the rental or lease period if: (1) the owner is engaged in the trade or business of renting or leasing motor vehicles; and (2) there is no negligence or criminal wrongdoing on the owner's part.

(Sec. 10209) Directs the Commandant of the Coast Guard, in order to provide for both safety of commercial and military aviation operations and the support of resource management in the remote Pacific, to develop a memorandum of understanding and make grants to provide for the operation, maintenance, development, of the Midway Airport, and the rightsizing of necessary infrastructure and support facilities.

(Sec. 10210) Directs the Secretary to establish a demonstration initiative using digital simulation to plan, design, and construct various transportation projects related to the DestiNY USA project, New York, New York.

(Sec. 10211) Authorizes the Administrator of the EPA to treat an Indian tribe in Oklahoma as a state for purposes of the administration of environmental programs, provided certain requirements are met.

(Sec. 10212) Rescinds a specified amount of unobligated balances of funds apportioned before September 30, 2009, to states for the Interstate maintenance, national highway system, bridge, congestion mitigation and air quality improvement, surface transportation (other than the STP set-aside programs), metropolitan planning, minimum guarantee, Appalachian development highway system, recreational trails, safe routes to school, freight intermodal connectors, coordinated border infrastructure, high risk rural road, and highway safety improvement programs.

(Sec. 10213) Repeals the requirement that the Secretary of the Interior take into trust for the Tribe's benefit any land the Shawnee Tribe, Cherokee Nation, or any other Indian Tribe transfers to the Secretary within the state boundaries of Oklahoma.

Subtitle C: Specific Vehicle Safety-Related Rulings - (Sec. 10301) Directs the Secretary to initiate rulemaking to establish performance criteria and standards to: (1) reduce the occurrence of rollovers of vehicles weighing up to 1,000 pounds; (2) reduce ejections of vehicle occupants from outboard seating positions; and (3) upgrade certain federal standards relating to door locks, door retention, and roof strength for driver and passenger sides.

(Sec. 10302) Directs the Secretary to complete a rulemaking proceeding to establish a standard to enhance passenger motor vehicle occupant protection (in all seating positions) in side impact crashes.

(Sec. 10303) Directs the Secretary to report to Congress on research on tire aging.

(Sec. 10304) Directs the NHTSA Administrator to study and report to Congress on effective methods (vehicle backover avoidance technology) for reducing the incidence of injury and death outside of parked passenger motor vehicles weighing up to 1,000 pounds attributable to movement of such vehicles.

(Sec. 10305) Directs NHTSA to establish a method to collect and maintain data on the number and types of injuries and deaths involving such motor vehicles in non-traffic incidents.

(Sec. 10306) Directs the Secretary to review safety belt use technologies to consider possible revisions in strategies for achieving further gains in safety belt use.

(Sec. 10307) Amends the Automobile Information Disclosure Act to require manufacturers to include government safety rating information on new automobile labels, or to note the absence of such a test or rating.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2010 to accelerate the testing processes and increasing the number of vehicles tested under the NHTSA New Car Assessment Program.

(Sec. 10308) Requires the Secretary to upgrade Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 118 to require that power windows in motor vehicles weighing up to 1,000 pounds have switches that raise the window only when the switch is pulled up or out.

(Sec. 10309) Directs the Secretary to require the testing of 15-passenger vans as part of the rollover resistance program of the NHTSA New Car Assessment Program. Prohibits a school or school system from purchasing or leasing new 15-passenger vans that do not comply with motor vehicle safety standards prescribed for school buses and multifunction school activity buses. Sets forth penalties for violations of such requirements.

(Sec. 10310) Authorizes appropriations for FY2006-FY2009 for certain motor vehicle and driver programs.

Title XI: Highway Reauthorization and Excise Tax Simplification - Subtitle A: Trust Fund Reauthorization - (Sec. 1101) (sic) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through FY2011: (1) the 7.3 cents per gallon tax rate on fuel for certain buses; (2) the increased tax rate for special motor fuels; (3) the increased tax rate for methanol or ethanol fuel; (4) the excise tax on heavy trucks and trailers sold at retail; (5) the excise tax on tires; (6) the increased tax rate for gasoline, diesel fuel, and kerosene; (7) the highway motor vehicle use tax; (8) the period for floor stock refunds for taxes on tires and certain taxable fuels; (9) the exemption from tax for certain tax-free sales and for use of certain heavy vehicles; and (10) authority for certain tax transfers to and expenditures from the Highway Trust Fund.

Extends through FY2009 expenditure authority for the Highway Trust Fund and Aquatic Resources Trust Fund.

(Sec. 1102) Extends from 24 to 48 months the period for estimating net highway tax receipts for purposes of adjusting apportionments to states for federal highway-aid programs.

Subtitle B: Excise Tax Reform and Simplification - Part 1: Highway Excise Taxes - (Sec. 1111) Exempts limousines with a gross vehicle weight greater than 6,000 pounds from the gas guzzler excise tax.

(Sec. 1112) Exempts from the excise tax on heavy trucks and trailers sold at retail certain tractors weighing 19,500 pounds or less (33,000 pounds or less if combined with a trailer or semitrailer).

(Sec. 1113) Imposes a tax of 24.3 cents per gallon on liquefied natural gas, any liquid fuel derived from coal, and liquid hydrocarbons derived from biomass and a tax of 18.3 cents per gallon on compressed natural gas.

Allows an excise tax credit for alternative fuels and fuel mixtures sold for use as fuel in a highway vehicle. Terminates such credit after FY2009 (FY2014 for any sale or use involving liquefied hydrogen). Requires taxpayers to register with the Secretary to be eligible for a tax credit.

Part 2: Aquatic Excise Taxes - (Sec. 1115) Repeals the authority for transfers to the Boat Safety Account in the Aquatic Resource Trust Fund and phases out transfers to such Account through FY2011.

Establishes in the Treasury the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund.

(Sec. 1116) Exempts commercial cargo exported from the United States from the harbor maintenance tax.

(Sec. 1117) Limits the excise tax on fishing rods or poles to the lesser of 10 percent or $10.

Part 3: Aerial Excise Taxes - (Sec. 1121) Provides that an aerial applicator of agricultural fertilizer or other substances that is the ultimate purchaser of gasoline used on farms may qualify for an excise tax exemption for such gasoline without the necessity of a waiver by farm owners, operators, or tenants of their right to be treated as users and ultimate purchasers of such gasoline. Includes within such tax exemption gasoline used for the direct flight between the airfield and one or more farms.

Exempts fixed-wing aircraft used for forestry purposes from the passenger air transportation tax unless such aircraft uses federally-funded airports and airway services.

(Sec. 1122) Expands the definition of rural airports for purposes of the air transportation tax to include an airport that is not connected by paved roads to another airport.

(Sec. 1123) Exempts from the air transportation tax: (1) noncommercial transportation by seaplanes that do not use airports receiving assistance from the Airport and Airways Trust Fund; and (2) certain sightseeing aircraft.

Part 4: Taxes Relating to Alcohol - (Sec. 1125) Repeals the special occupational taxes on producers and marketers of alcoholic beverages and on the nonbeverage or industrial use of distilled spirits. Revises and adds registration, recordkeeping, and inspection requirements for wholesale and retail dealers of distilled spirits.

(Sec. 1126) Allows certain wholesalers, distillers, and importers of distilled spirits an income tax credit for the average carrying costs of the excise tax on distilled spirits.

(Sec. 1127) Permits taxpayers with distilled spirit tax liabilities of not more than $50,000 to file quarterly tax reports (instead of semimonthly reports).

Part 5: Sport Excise Taxes - (Sec. 1131) Exempts from the firearms excise tax taxpayers who manufacture, produce, or import less than 50 pistols, revolvers, or firearms annually.

Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - (Sec. 1141) Establishes a Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Enforcement Advisory Commission to assist in the administration of motor vehicle fuel excise taxes. Authorizes the Commission to obtain data directly from any U.S. agency or department. Terminates the Commission on September 30, 2009.

(Sec. 1142) Establishes a National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission to study the funding of, and alternative approaches to generating revenues for, the Highway Trust Fund. Authorizes the Commission to obtain data directly from any US agency. Directs the Commission to submit a final report to the Secretaries of Transportation, the Treasury, and to specified congressional committees within two years of its first meeting.

(Sec. 1143) Authorizes the issuance of tax-exempt facility bonds for qualified highway or qualified surface freight transfer facilities.

(Sec. 1144) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to study the use of highway motor fuel by trucks for non-transportation purposes and to report to Congress on such study by January 1, 2007.

(Sec. 1145) Directs the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to report to specified congressional committees on the availability of new technologies, including the use of forensic or chemical molecular markers, to enhance collections of diesel fuel excise tax.

(Sec. 1146) Permits the tax-free acquisition of a railroad real estate investment trust by a state.

(Sec. 1147) Imposes certain limitations on transfers to the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund.

Subtitle D: Highway-Related Technical Corrections - (Sec. 1151) Makes technical or clerical corrections to: (1) the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 relating to refunds for excise tax on certain alcohol fuels and the termination date for the 21.8-cent per gallon rate for noncommercial aviation jet fuel; (2) the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century; and (3) the Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005.

Subtitle E: Preventing Fuel Fraud - (Sec. 1161) Revises excise tax rates for kerosene used in commercial and noncommercial aviation.

Directs the Secretary to transfer certain tax revenues from aviation fuel from the Highway Trust Fund to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund beginning in FY2006 through FY2011.

(Sec. 1162) Repeals provisions authorizing ultimate vendors to file diesel fuel and kerosene refund claims on behalf of farmers.

(Sec. 1163) Permits credit card companies registered with the IRS to file fuel excise tax refund claims on behalf of state and local governments.

(Sec. 1164) Requires all entities, other than publicly-traded corporations, that are required to register with the Secretary of the Treasury for purposes of the excise tax on taxable fuels to reregister upon a change of ownership. Imposes additional penalties for failure to reregister.

(Sec. 1165) Amends the Trade Act of 2002 to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish an electronic data interchange system to enable US Customs and Border Protection to electronically transmit to the IRS information on cargoes of any taxable fuels.

(Sec. 1166) Requires operators of deep-draft vessels to register with the Secretary for purposes of bulk transfer excise tax exemptions, unless such operators use such vessels exclusively for the entry of taxable fuel.

(Sec. 1167) Imposes a $10,000 penalty on any person who knowingly transfers for resale, sells, or holds out for resale diesel fuel that does not comply with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) low sulfur diesel regulations. Dedicates penalty revenues to the Highway Trust Fund.