Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
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16 | Overdrive | June 2015 LOGBOOK President Obama last month signed the two-month highway funding patch passed days earlier by Congress, se- curing solvency for the U.S. Highway Trust Fund until July 31. This is the 33rd stopgap surface transportation measure in a decade despite introduc- tion of several long-term bills. By voice vote on May 23, the Sen- ate approved continuing HTF spend- ing after the House passed the bill 387-35 earlier that week. Obama on May 29 signed the bill to extend highway reau- thorization that would have expired May 31. Lawmakers have not ap- proved a long-term funding bill since 2005, followed by passage of a two-year bill in 2012. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and ranking member Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.) said their committee's goal is to mark up a six-year surface transportation reauthorization bill June 24. Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio and 19 other transportation committee Democrats on May 19 reintroduced Obama's six-year bill after the admin- istration floated the proposal earlier this year. The Grow America Act, a more ambi- tious version of last year's bill, states the transportation secretary may "by regulation require that a motor carrier employer" compensate "the employee for any on-duty, not-driving period at an hour- ly rate." The legislation also would dedicate $18 billion of high- way funds to a new dedicated multimodal freight program. The Bridge to Sustainable Infrastructure Act, intro- duced earlier this year, has 30 co-sponsors and allows consideration of corporate tax repatriation and other funding solutions. Other current multiyear highway bills include the six-year Infrastructure 2.0 Act that funds the HTF at increased levels. – Jill Dunn Obama signs highway bill patch