MORE DOT Grants Act

Full Title:
MORE DOT Grants Act

Summary#

This bill directs the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to make it easier for small counties where most land is federally owned to win discretionary DOT grants. It defines a “High-Density Public Land County” as a county with no more than 100,000 people and more than 50% federally owned or managed land. The bill covers many DOT grant programs (for example: BUILD/RAISE, Mega grants, INFRA, rural transportation grants, bus and transit grants, airport improvement, and others). Key changes include reducing local match requirements, offering extra technical help, giving priority in some cases, and allowing DOT to give special consideration or flexibility when usual grant rules hurt these counties or Tribal governments inside them.

What it means for you#

  • If you live in or work for a qualifying county, local unit, or tribe, local matching requirements for DOT discretionary grants would be reduced by 50 percent.
  • Your county, local unit, or tribe can ask DOT for extra technical assistance before and during the annual application period.
  • Applications from eligible counties or local units that have not received support under a program in the prior 10 years would get priority in approval.
  • The bill directs DOT to give special consideration for rural set-asides and allows DOT to relax or adapt rules that disadvantage small or isolated communities (for example, strict scoring measures, partnership rules, cash-on-hand tests, or very technical applications).

Expenses#

  • The bill reduces required local matching funds by 50 percent for qualifying counties, units of local government, and tribes.
  • The Secretary may provide additional technical assistance and other support to those entities.
  • No publicly available information on the bill’s federal cost, budgetary effects, or exact financing for the additional assistance was provided in the text.

Proponents' View#

The bill’s sponsors propose it to improve access to DOT discretionary grants for small counties with most land federally owned and for local and Tribal governments in those counties. Supporters point to the 50 percent match reduction, added technical assistance, priority for applicants without recent awards, special consideration for rural set-asides, and flexibility to remove application barriers as the main ways the bill would help those communities.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.