Office of the Secretary of Transportation 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice establishes a pilot Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (``RRIF'') Express Program (``RRIF Express'') aimed at increasing access to the RRIF program by short line and regional railroads. The RRIF Express Program will be administered by the DOT's National Surface Transportation and Innovative Finance Bureau (the ``Build America Bureau'' or ``Bureau''). The overall RRIF program finances development of railroad infrastructure, and is authorized to have up to $35 billion in outstanding principal amounts from direct loans and loan guarantees at any one time. The 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act \1\ appropriated $25 million in budget authority to the DOT to cover the cost to the Federal Government (``the Government'') of RRIF credit assistance (Credit Risk Premium (``CRP'') Assistance or ``CRP Assistance''). Additionally, the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act \2\ and the 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act \3\ provided $1.96 million and $350,000, respectively (of which approximately $1 million remains available), to the DOT to fund certain expenses incurred by prospective RRIF borrowers in preparation of their applications for RRIF credit assistance (this approximately $1 million assistance, collectively, ``Cost Assistance''). Using existing authorities and these new budget authorities, the DOT has established the RRIF Express Program.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (``FY 2019 Appropriations Act''), appropriated $292,730,000 for the Port Infrastructure Development Program to make grants to improve port facilities at coastal seaports. This notice announces the availability of funding for grants under this program and establishes selection criteria and application requirements. The Act directed that $92,730,000 of the appropriated funds shall be for grants to the 15 coastal seaports that handled the greatest number of loaded foreign and domestic twenty-foot equivalent units of containerized cargo in 2016, as identified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Funds for the Port Infrastructure Development Program are to be awarded as discretionary grants on a competitive basis for projects that will improve the safety, efficiency, or reliability of the movement of goods into, out of, around, or within a coastal seaport, as well as the unloading and loading of cargo at a coastal seaport. All Port Infrastructure Development Program funding grant recipients must meet all applicable Federal requirements, including the Buy American Act. The purpose of this notice is to solicit applications for Port Infrastructure Development Program.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is planning to conduct a field demonstration of technologies with a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of six or higher, as described in the Federal Highway Administration Technology Readiness Level Guidebook,\1\ that are capable of providing backup positioning, navigation, and/or timing services to critical infrastructure (CI) in the event of a temporary disruption to GPS. This demonstration effort also is expected to encompass technologies capable of providing complementary PNT functions to GPS by either expanding PNT capabilities, including cross checks, or extending them to GPS or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)- denied or degraded user environments. DOT is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to seek levels of interest and additional information from PNT technology vendors on participation in the demonstration. The information requested can be found in the supplemental information section of this RFI.

This final rule makes minor technical corrections to the OST, FAA, FTA, and PHMSA regulations governing drug testing for safety- sensitive employees to ensure consistency with the recent amendments made to the Department of Transportation's regulation, ``Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs,'' which added requirements to test for oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone to DOT-regulated drug testing programs. The changes to the Department's regulation make it necessary to refer to these substances, as well as the previously covered drugs morphine, 6- acetylmorphine, and codeine, by the more inclusive term ``opioids,'' rather than ``opiates.'' This rule amends the term in the FAA, FTA, and PHMSA regulations to ensure that all DOT drug testing rules are consistent with one another and with the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. In addition, this rule makes a conforming amendment to include the term ``opioids'' in the wording of the Department's annual information collection requirement and clarifications to section 40.26 and Appendix H regarding the requirement for employers to follow the Department's instructions for the annual information collection.