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Transportation Emergency Relief Extension Act
To amend title 23, United States Code, to increase flexibility for emergency relief projects, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends federal highway emergency relief provisions to provide more flexibility and time for emergency highway projects. It extends the deadline for emergency relief projects to advance to the construction obligation stage to no later than the sixth fiscal year after an emergency is declared, and allows the Secretary of Transportation to grant one-year extensions at the state governor's request, with additional extensions possible if the governor provides suitable justification. The bill also requires the Federal Highway Administration to update its Emergency Relief Manual every two years, provide copies to state transportation departments, and make the updated manual publicly available online. These changes aim to give states more time and flexibility to implement emergency highway repairs following declared disasters.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX] (R-TX)
Actions (2)
- Jul 31, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S5001) · senate
- Jul 31, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 31, 2025
Mr. Padilla (for himself and Mr. Cornyn) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
A BILL
To amend title 23, United States Code, to increase flexibility for emergency relief projects, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Transportation Emergency Relief Extension Act”.
SEC. 2. FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY EMERGENCY RELIEF.
Section 125 of title 23, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(h) Imposition of Deadline.—
“(1) In general.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary may not require any project funded under this section to advance to the construction obligation stage before the date that is the last day of the sixth fiscal year after the later of—
“(A) the date on which the Governor declared the emergency, as described in subsection (d)(1)(A); and
“(B) the date on which the President declared the emergency to be a major disaster, as described in that subsection.
“(2) Extension of deadline.—If the Secretary imposes a deadline for advancement to the construction obligation stage pursuant to paragraph (1), the Secretary may—
“(A) on the request of the Governor of the State, issue an extension of not more than 1 year to complete the advancement; and
“(B) issue additional extensions after the expiration of any extension, if the Secretary determines the Governor of the State has provided suitable justification to warrant such an extension.
“(i) Emergency Relief Manuals.—Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this subsection and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall—
“(1) update the Emergency Relief Manual of the Federal Highway Administration;
“(2) provide the updated Manual to each State department of transportation; and
“(3) make the updated Manual publicly available on a website of the Secretary.”. <all>
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