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Members of Congress are in the thick of making important decisions that will affect billions of dollars in federal funding for biking and walking projects. The Alliance keeps you up-to-date on these critical developments through our monthly Federal Policy and Legislation Call. If you missed today’s session, with guests from America Bikes and NACTO, member services fellow Mike Samuelson has you covered with the following, detailed notes…

National Bike Summit Follow-up
Great job to everyone who came!  We held lots of productive meetings, including some with new members and with offices that we have not had access to in the past. We have been following up on Summit meetings, so it is very helpful when you complete your reports, which can be done on the League of American Bicyclists’ website. If you have not followed up to thank the Representative or staffers you met with, please do so ASAP. This is also a great time to invite them to an event in-district, like a large ride or ribbon cutting for a new facility. Representatives will be in-district during Bike to Work Day, so if you are participating in an event, invite your local Representative.

America Bikes: Report from Capitol Hill
We’re still waiting for Congress to pass a 2011 budget — that was the bill we saw a vote on in early February. We have already seen two short-term extensions and the current extension of the continuing resolution runs out on April 8.  Many members on both sides of the aisle say this will be the last extension. The bill will go back to both the House and Senate and rumor has it that transportation won’t be protected like it was previously, so we may see an amendment that goes after some of our programs. The fight is ongoing, but should be concluded by April 8.  If there are attacks on bike/ped funding, we will let you know.

The House is also working on reauthorization of the transportation bill. Mica is planning to write the bill in April and release it in late May or early June. It could look different from what we have seen before because the funding is so low: Mica is looking at each program to determine if it should stay, be cut or be consolidated. There’s a possibility that Transportation Enhancement could be moved out of the Highway Trust Fund, which would mean it would have guaranteed funding through the five- to six-year cycle of the transportation bill.  What we saw in February is that the programs that were not in the Highway Trust Fund were cut, so this is not a place we want TE to be. This would also make it tougher to have votes strictly on funding bike/ped, because it would require coming up with a funding source for the program, which, in turn, makes getting GOP support more difficult, because funding would come from the general fund.

In the Senate, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has been a supporter of biking before but is working with Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) who is not a supporter. The Senate is about a month behind the House in terms of when they introduce legislation. The chambers haven’t talked to each other about funding, so it will be very hard to pass a bill this year. But each battle is important in the grand scheme, so losing this year will make it tougher next year.

As for marker bills: We’re working to reintroduce the Complete Streets bill and trying to get more Republicans to co-sponsor the bill. Hopefully, Complete Streets will be introduced by April. Safe Routes to School will likely be the next bill to be introduced, and we should expect to see that introduced before the transportation bill. Next is the ACT (Active Community Transportation) Act, which will also likely happen in the next couple of months.

The current extension on SAFETEA-LU runs until September 30 and Rep. John Mica (R-FL), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is claiming that it is the last extension he’ll do. He is pushing to do a 6 year bill. However, he has an uphill battle given that the House and Senate will have to agree on funding for the bill.

Categorical Exclusions
The Obama administration, including the US Department of Transportation, is looking at regulations and how to make them more efficient. We are collecting examples of where categorical exclusions are being used well or poorly.  If you have an example, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Equity Caucus
The Equity Caucus — an initiative within Transportation for America — is proposing a National Conversation on Transportation Equity, with a series of local events to be held around the country in late April and May 2011.  Any groups interested in participating in one of these events should contact Erica Swanson: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); (202) 263-2859.

NACTO Urban Bikeways Design Guide
This guide came from discussion among advocates, engineers and planners regarding what is needed to advance bicycling at the design level — given constraints posed by current design guides like the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). This NACTO guide takes the most innovative practices from the US and the world and puts them in one place. Currently it is only online, which allows people to post their projects and discuss the different techniques in the guide. NACTO is currently working on a print edition, which will allow engineers to use them in court, if needed. They hope to have that out this summer.

NACTO also worked closely with the Federal Highway Administration to try to get various designs accepted in the MUTCD. This can be a very long process, but since many of these techniques are already in use, we are hoping they can be expedited.  FHA went ahead and commented on most of these treatments to show that they can already be done.

How can advocates use this resource? This is a great resource to show local officials that these designs can be done and are being done legally in the US. With these tools, advocates can hopefully avoid applying for an exemption. This will be a resource for people in local DOTs, but will also help advocates push for separated cycle facilities. If people are claiming they can’t build a facility because it’s not in the AASHTO or MUTCD guides, this is something you can point them to. It is important to highlight that many of these items are not expensive and can be done in a very cost effective way.

Cities for Cycling, a NACTO program for politicians and officials to lend their expertise and also learn from others across the country, will be doing “road shows” in the coming months. Check out http://www.nacto.org for more information.