On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation to fund the Department of Transportation for Fiscal Year 2015. The bill contains $607.8 million in transit formula grants for rural areas, the same amount that was appropriated for FY 2014. Another noteworthy provision in the bill is the appropriation of $550 million for TIGER grants, which are competitively awarded grants for road, rail, transit, and port projects. The bill requires that at least 20 percent of the funding for TIGER grants must go to projects in rural areas, and also provides a lower minimum grant amount ($1 million as opposed to $10 million) for rural projects.
For additional information, please contact RCRC Legislative Analyst Randall Echevarria at (916) 447-4806 orrechevarria@rcrcnet.org.