Grace Napolitano honored by SCAG as Legislator of the Year for support of federal surface transportation bill

U.S. Rep. Grace Napolitano (CA-32) was honored May 5 as Legislator of the Year by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) for her efforts in getting the federal surface transportation bill passed last fall.

The FAST (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation) Act, the first long-term surface transportation bill approved by Congress in more than a decade, includes more than $10 billion in freight-related funding over the next five years. It marks the first time a national freight program has been funded as part of a federal surface transportation bill.

“She continues to advance polices and projects that reduce congestion and the negative impacts her district takes on as a primary shipping corridor from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles,” said Cheryl Viegas-Walker, President of SCAG. “She was instrumental in getting the FAST Act passed and fought hard to ensure that Southern California received our fair share for our robust goods movement industry.”

“I appreciate the honor you have bestowed on me,” Rep. Napolitano said. “We are glad our California priorities were reflected in so many provisions in the bill, and we thank our local and state transportation agencies for helping us ensure our state’s needs were met.”

The FAST Act designates $305 billion for transportation investments over the next five years, paid for with gas tax revenues and $70 billion in offsets from other areas of the federal budget. Of that amount, $205 billion would go to highways and $48 billion would be used for transit projects.

But it’s freight funding that could have the most significant impact on Southern California. SCAG’s 2016-2040 draft Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy notes that one-third of all jobs and economic activity in the six-county region connect – directly or indirectly – to goods movement. The Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are among the busiest in the world, with shipments expected to triple in the next 20 years. The SCAG region also is home to three land ports of entry along the Mexico border, accounting for more than $12 billion in trade each year. In all, more than 1.5 billion tons of goods move through Southern California annually.

Add to that continued population growth – the SCAG region is expected to add 3.8 million people in the next 25 years – and the need for a dedicated freight program has far-reaching quality-of-life implications.

The FAST Act designates $4.5 billion for a freight-specific competitive grant program and $6.3 billion for a freight formula program The bill also creates a multi-modal freight policy. Elected leaders from throughout Southern California worked closely with Congressional leaders in seeing the bill through.

“The U.S. has fallen to 16th in the world in terms of our transportation infrastructure, which, when you talk about the importance of goods movement, significantly hurts our global competitiveness,” said Hasan Ikhrata, Executive Director of SCAG. ‘This bill represents a major step forward.”

Rep. Napolitano was presented the Legislator of the Year Award during the opening of SCAG’s 2016 Regional Conference & General Assembly.