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92_HB2263
LRB9206710WHcs
1 AN ACT concerning transportation.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Transportation Resources for Innovative Projects Act.
6 Section 5. Findings and Purpose. The General Assembly
7 finds that safe, reliable and convenient transportation to
8 and from work and related destinations such as child care and
9 education is an extremely important factor in the ability to
10 find and retain employment, particularly in the lower income
11 sectors of the economy. For many people, these transportation
12 needs are not met by existing mass transit. This creates a
13 need for innovative transportation to work strategies that
14 fit within local circumstances. Many localities around
15 Illinois do not have the resources or the expertise to
16 develop and support innovative transportation options.
17 Localities need access to State and federal funds to help
18 implement these strategies, and they need technical
19 assistance both in designing programs and in accessing
20 various sources of State and federal funds. Illinois also
21 leaves substantial federal transportation funds unclaimed
22 because of the failure to put forward projects to use the
23 funds. Illinois would benefit from a unified State process
24 for applying for federal transportation assistance for
25 innovative transportation to work strategies and for
26 supplying the matching funds necessary to access that federal
27 assistance. The purpose of this Act is to establish the
28 Transportation Resources for Innovative Projects Program to
29 prompt the creation of innovative transportation to work
30 strategies at the local level, to assist in the
31 implementation of those strategies, to coordinate the local,
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1 State and federal funding of those programs, and to access
2 the maximum of federal transportation to work funding.
3 Section 7. Definitions. As used in this Act:
4 "Department" means the Department of Transportation.
5 "TRIP Program" means the Transportation Resources for
6 Innovative Projects Program created by this Act.
7 "JARC" means the Job Access and Reverse Commute grant
8 program of the Federal Transit Administration.
9 Section 10. Establishment of Program and Funding. There
10 is established within the Department of Transportation the
11 Transportation Resources for Innovative Projects Program. The
12 TRIP Program shall be funded by appropriation from the
13 General Assembly or by interagency agreement with the
14 Department of Human Services or other departments under
15 Section 25 of this Act, or by a combination of those sources.
16 Section 15. Functions of Program. The Program shall be a
17 Statewide interagency effort to prompt and support local
18 transportation innovations. It shall have 3 main functions:
19 (a) Administration of an annual process to apply for
20 federal transportation to work assistance under the Job
21 Access and Reverse Commute program, programs administered by
22 the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, or
23 similar programs, or a combination of those programs. This
24 shall include publicizing the process, managing the
25 application and selection process, making applications to the
26 federal government, and identifying local projects to be part
27 of the annual State applications to the federal government.
28 To the extent resources permit, the TRIP Program shall
29 provide grants or guarantee funds to the local projects
30 selected for inclusion in the State applications to complete
31 the State funding matches necessary to access the federal
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1 funds.
2 (b) Administration of an annual process to grant funds,
3 to the extent resources permit, to localities for innovative
4 transportation to work strategies not eligible for federal
5 funds.
6 (c) Provision of technical assistance to localities in
7 the devising of innovative transportation to work strategies
8 and in complying with the requirements for federal, State and
9 local funding.
10 Section 20. Interagency Advisory Committee. The
11 Department shall convene an interagency advisory committee to
12 help develop policy and procedures under the TRIP Program.
13 The interagency advisory committee shall consist of
14 representatives from the Department of Human Services and any
15 other departments or entities that transfer funds for the
16 TRIP program or that provide a conduit for the drawing down
17 of federal funds (for example, through federal Medicaid or
18 Aging programs), or that the Department deems necessary or
19 helpful in accomplishing the purposes of the TRIP Program and
20 ensuring that the TRIP Program is coordinated with other
21 publicly supported transportation programs such as those
22 operated for the disabled and elderly.
23 Section 25. Interagency Agreement with Department of
24 Human Services and other Departments. In addition to any
25 other interagency agreements the Department may enter into to
26 implement the TRIP Program, there shall be an interagency
27 agreement with the Department of Human Services. Under the
28 agreement, the departments shall have the following
29 responsibilities.
30 (a) The Department of Human Services shall:
31 (1) provide an annual allotment of funds for
32 disbursement by the Department under the TRIP Program;
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1 (2) notify the Department in a timely manner of all
2 State and federal policies, rules, and regulations that
3 may affect the use and disbursement of the funds and
4 provide appropriate assistance for compliance with those
5 requirements; and
6 (3) provide at least one staff member to represent
7 the Department of Human Services on the interagency
8 advisory committee and in the selection process for local
9 transportation programs for State and federal funds under
10 the TRIP Program.
11 (b) The Department shall:
12 (1) ensure that the use of funds transferred from
13 the Department of Human Services is in accordance with
14 laws governing use of those funds and is coordinated with
15 the Department of Human Services;
16 (2) collaborate with the Department of Human
17 Services in selecting the projects to be funded under the
18 Program;
19 (3) account for the use of funds transferred form
20 the Department of Human Services separately from other
21 funds;
22 (4) provide any necessary reports regarding the
23 TRIP Program to the Department of Human Services and the
24 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
25 (d) The Department may enter into similar interagency
26 agreements with other agencies that transfer funds to the
27 Department for the TRIP Program or coordinate their programs
28 with the TRIP Program.
29 Section 30. TRIP Program Provisions.
30 (a) The Department annually shall solicit applications
31 from localities for support for local transportation to work
32 strategies. The solicitation and application process shall be
33 timed to allow the Department to submit a package of approved
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1 local programs as the Illinois State Consolidated
2 Transportation to Work Plan to the Federal Transit
3 Administration for funding under the Job Access and Reverse
4 Commute program, and to make timely submissions for other
5 sources of federal funds.
6 (b) The annual solicitation and application process
7 shall include 2 types of grants: (i) those fundable under
8 JARC or other federal funding sources, for which the TRIP
9 Program grant shall be adequate, in combination with local or
10 private funds, to complete the "local match" required by JARC
11 or other federal programs, and (ii) those not fundable under
12 JARC or other federal programs but otherwise addressing the
13 purposes of the TRIP Program (for example, car purchase
14 programs). The Department, in conjunction with the
15 interagency advisory committee, shall divide grant funds
16 between these 2 types of proposals each year depending upon
17 the merit of the proposals received and the extent to which
18 they would accomplish the purposes of the TRIP Program,
19 including the maximizing of federal funds. The grants may be
20 spent over a period of up to 24 months.
21 (c) The Department shall annually submit the Illinois
22 State Consolidated Transportation to Work Plan to the Federal
23 Transit Administration for funding under JARC and submit
24 applications for other federal funds as appropriate.
25 (d) The Department shall provide technical assistance to
26 localities in developing transportation strategies, complying
27 with application requirements, including federal
28 requirements, and forming strategic local partnerships to
29 improve the potential success of both the grant application
30 and the local program itself. Local entities eligible for
31 funding under the program include counties, municipalities,
32 public agencies, private entities, non-profit organizations
33 such as, but not limited to, community development
34 corporations, transportation management associations,
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1 transportation providers, community action agencies, faith
2 based organizations, and workforce investment boards, and
3 other consortiums. Planning partners may, but need not
4 necessarily, include local workforce investment boards,
5 chambers of commerce, elected officials, Metropolitan
6 Planning Organizations, local plan commissions, and State
7 agencies.
8 (e) The Department's rules for applications by local
9 entities under the Program shall include, but not necessarily
10 be limited to, the following provisions:
11 (1) The local programs should be for implementation
12 of innovative community transportation systems that
13 address a local transportation need or gap; they should
14 use innovative approaches that emphasize both
15 coordination between existing services and programs and
16 the elimination of transportation barriers that limit
17 workforce participation. These programs and services
18 could, for example, be the purchase of rolling stock such
19 as vans, new or expanded operation of transportation
20 routes, creation of auto ownership and drivers licensing
21 programs, new or expanded dial a ride services, vanpool
22 or carpool programs, guaranteed ride home programs, or
23 similar strategies that address local needs and
24 circumstances.
25 (2) To qualify for inclusion in the State
26 application for JARC funding or other federal funding,
27 the applicant must have been involved in the
28 transportation planning process for the region in which
29 the project will operate, or exhibit knowledge of that
30 process and its need statement and have relationships
31 with the local transportation experts in transit
32 authorities or county government.
33 (3) The application must include evidence of a
34 commitment for the funding of a portion of the proposed
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1 project from local or private sources (other than State
2 or federal sources). This portion shall not be less than
3 1% nor more than 10% of the total project costs. The
4 Department shall provide by rule for a sliding scale for
5 these local funding commitments based upon the relative
6 resources in localities, so that the contribution of
7 communities with the least resources is 1% and of
8 communities with the most resources is 1%. The Department
9 shall use an objective measure such as the poverty rate
10 or the tax base in establishing the sliding scale and
11 shall update it annually.
12 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
13 becoming law.