Home California Rep DeSaulnier Secures Funding for Transportation Centers, Autonomous Vehicle Testing, Other Priorities

Rep DeSaulnier Secures Funding for Transportation Centers, Autonomous Vehicle Testing, Other Priorities

by ECT
Rep Mark DeSaulnier

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman DeSaulnier announced that he secured an additional $15 million in federal funding for University Transportation Centers (UTCs) in the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2018 (H.R. 1625), which passed the House and was signed into law.

The UTC grant program awards universities across the country with funding to conduct research and develop solutions to improve transportation, infrastructure, safety, and the environment.  The program was originally funded at $77 million, and DeSaulnier’s effort brings total funding for the program to $92 million.

“Traffic congestion in urban areas, like the Bay Area, has become much worse in recent years, and it presents a serious threat to our competitiveness, economic growth, and quality of life. We lose $160 billion of productivity annually due to congestion,” said Congressman DeSaulnier. “We need the expertise and creativity of our academic institutions to help us tackle this and other transportation challenges. I am glad the increased funding for the University Transportation Centers program will keep them engaged in developing solutions for moving people and goods efficiently and effectively.”

The package also includes $100 million in federal funding for research and testing of autonomous vehicles including trucks, buses, ridesharing, and related technologies. This amount includes Congressman DeSaulnier’s request for increased funding to support autonomous vehicle testing facilities, like the GoMentum Station in Concord, California, which is one of 10 such federally-designated testing sites.

“The Contra Costa Transportation Authority greatly appreciates the work of Representative DeSaulnier to secure funding for highly automated vehicle technologies,” said its Executive Director Randy Iwasaki.  “This appropriation provides an opportunity for investment in the future of Contra Costa.  With improvements to the GoMentum Station test facility, we’ll be able to attract more companies who want to test their vehicles in a controlled environment, and help to safely advance research on the next generation of transportation.”

DeSaulnier was also instrumental in including the following funding in the Omnibus spending bill:

Chemical Safety Board: Helped protect the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) from President’s Trump’s efforts to eliminate it. The CSB is the only independent agency investigating chemical and refinery accidents to help protect workers, the public, and the environment from major chemical and refinery accidents and releases.

Affordable Housing: Secured full funding for Section 4 Capacity Building for Community Development and Affordable Housing program, which boost the capacity of local nonprofits to build and maintain affordable housing. Mark also supported efforts to expand the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which would generate approximately $250 million more annually for affordable housing in California, and was undermined by the Republican tax bill.

Election Integrity: Spearheaded initiative to fund an assessment of the security of election cyber infrastructure in the United States, which helped lead to grants to protect digital voting systems from cyberattacks.

Education: Led effort to fully fund Congressional Fellowships for teachers within the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program through the Office of Science. The Office of Science received full funding, and now has the ability to maintain the program.

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2 comments

Simonpure Mar 29, 2018 - 11:15 am

He’s taking credit for bringing home $15 million in a bill HE VOTED AGAINST.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/115-2018/h127

Freaking hypocrite.

Concerned Apr 2, 2018 - 11:01 am

Bar Tender at work.

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