The U.S. Senate has passed Senate Bill 1813, a two-year transportation bill worth $109 billion to go toward highway construction and auto safety initiatives. The House of Representatives has not completed work on its highway bill and may take up the Senate bill.
The Senate legislation does the following: revises highway safety improvement programs; directs the secretary to establish requirements for regularly recurring updates and approval of state strategic highway safety plans; and requires the secretary to issue guidance to states on establishing performance measures and targets for state highway safety improvement programs to reduce serious injuries and fatalities on highways.
In addition, the bill authorizes highway safety research programs, including data collection, crash reduction projections, low-cost safety measures and safety policy studies.
The House version of a highway bill currently has no new auto safety provisions. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said the House will not consider the five-year, $260 billion proposal to fund highways, but will consider a shorter-term bill.
