Garamendi Introduces Bill to Expedite Federal Permitting for California Transportation Infrastructure Projects

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, U.S. Representative John Garamendi (D-CA08), a senior member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, introduced the “Expedited Federal Permitting for California Act” (H.R.4908). This new bill would make permanent the U.S. Department of Transportation’s program for eliminating duplicative environmental reviews for federally funded infrastructure projects. It would also make federally funded airport and maritime port projects newly eligible for this expedited federal environmental review and permitting.

Established by Congress in 2015 under the leadership of former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), the then top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, this federal program allows states like California with more stringent environment laws than the federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to substitute their state environmental reviews in lieu of completing a second, unnecessary federal environmental review at additional taxpayer expense. This cuts the permitting backlog in half for major transportation infrastructure projects statewide, which can proceed immediately to construction on time and on budget.

“Under the leadership of then-Speaker Pelosi and President Biden, Congressional Democrats made a generational investment under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to modernize our nation’s infrastructure and build the clean energy economy of tomorrow. However, I am increasingly concerned that California will miss out on our fair share of these federal investments only available for the next 3 years to fix our roads and public transit. We cannot remain bogged down in a state and federal permitting morass that is unnecessarily complicated. I take a back seat to no one when it comes to upholding California’s high environmental standards,” said Congressman Garamendi.

“My bill would simply let federally funded transportation projects make use of our existing state permitting process without the need for a redundant, less stringent federal environmental review. I call on Governor Newsom and all members of California’s Congressional delegation to join me in supporting this commonsense reform. We cannot watch the $1.2 trillion in available federal funding to rebuild our state’s roads, public transit, airports, and ports pass us by. It needs to happen now,” concluded Congressman Garamendi.

In January 2021, the U.S. Department of Transportation finalized the necessary regulations to implement this 2015 pilot authority so that states with high environmental standards could apply to substitute their state environmental reviews in lieu of completing a redundant federal review to permit transportation projects. To date, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has never made use of this federal pilot authority and continues to insist on completing less stringent federal environmental reviews on behalf of the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration at additional taxpayer expense.

Garamendi’s “Expedited Federal Permitting for California Act” (H.R.4908) would:

• Make permanent the pilot authority established under the 2015 Highway Bill (Public Law 114-94) for substituting state CEQA for federal NEPA reviews for federally funded road and public transit projects. Under current law, this pilot authority will expire on December 4, 2027.

• Allow federally funded airport and port development projects to make use of this CEQA-NEPA substitution authority. Under current law, only federally funded highway, public transit, and multimodal projects are eligible.

• Require regular reports to Congress by the U.S. Department of Transportation to ensure this substitution authority is used properly.

Garamendi was an original cosponsor of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by President Biden in 2021. He also voted with every other Democratic member of California’s Congressional delegation to enact the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which tackles the climate crisis by making available hundreds of billions of dollars in tax incentives and federal financing for clean energy infrastructure. As a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in 2015, Garamendi also helped to develop and pass the 2015 Highway Bill, which established this pilot authority he now seeks to improve.

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