May 14, 2026
Ms. Scholten introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
To amend chapter 53 of title 49, United States Code, to maximize value of taxpayer dollars by providing regulatory relief for transit agencies, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Streamlined Apportionment, Flexibility, and Efficiency Transit Act
.
Sec. 2. Regulatory relief for transit agencies
(a) Formula funds apportionment streamlining
Section 5336(d) of title 49, United States Code, is amended—
(1)
in paragraph (1) by striking and
at the end;
(2)
by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3); and
(3)
by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
(2)
notwithstanding paragraph (1), apportion amounts to the States and recipients in urbanized areas under 1,000,000 in population appropriated under section 5338(a)(2) to carry out sections 5307, 5310, and 5311 not later than December 1 of the fiscal year for which any amounts are appropriated; and
(b) Bus formula 5-Year availability
Section 5339(a)(8) of title 49, United States Code, is amended—
(1)
by striking 3 fiscal years
and inserting 5 fiscal years
; and
(2)
by striking 3-fiscal-year
and inserting 5-fiscal-year
.
(c) Asset disposition
Section 5334(h)(4)(B)(ii)(II)(bb) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by inserting , except in the case of a recipient or subrecipient that certifies to the Secretary that the remaining amounts are to be used for capital projects under section 5307, 5310, or 5311
before the period at the end.
(d) General provisions
Section 5323 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
(w) Categorical exclusion documentation
The Secretary shall minimize the requirements for documentation, studies, and memos to the greatest extent possible for any project seeking to be categorically excluded from requirements for environmental assessments or environmental impact statements.
(x) Early collaboration with state historic preservation offices
The Secretary shall encourage early consultation between the project sponsor and State historic preservation offices before the process under section 206108 of title 54 begins.
(e) Reporting frequency and consolidation
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall—
(1)
review all the reporting requirements that the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration requires discretionary grant recipients to meet;
(2)
evaluate which such requirements can be eliminated, consolidated, or reduced in scope; and
(3)
direct the Administrator to—
(A)
implement the recommendations of this review; and
(B)
submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a list of the reporting requirements that will be eliminated, consolidated, or reduced in scope pursuant to this subsection.
(f) FTA triennial review streamlining
Section 5307(f)(2) of title 49, United States Code, is amended—
(1)
by striking completely
; and
(2)
by adding The Secretary shall focus the review on previous deficiencies by the recipient and the most common deficiencies by all recipients, as identified by the Secretary. The Secretary shall randomly sample the remaining areas of compliance, not to exceed 5 categories in the random sample.
at the end.