Q&A Regarding FY 2018 Earmark Repurposing, Attachment 1: Response to Question 50

The purpose of these questions and answers is to provide technical advice to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) division offices and State departments of transportation (State DOTs) on matters associated with the repurposing of earmarked funding for Federal-aid projects pursuant to section 126 of the Department of Transportation Appropriations Act, 2018, division L of Public Law (Pub. L.) 115-141 (hereinafter “provision”).

Question 50: What are the various types of obligation limitation that could be affected by earmark repurposing?

Answer 50: Earmarks have various types of limitation. The State’s funds and limitation balances on the W10A report may change category after repurposing of an earmark. Following are descriptions of the different limitation types.

1. 1) Special limitation for specific earmarks at the program level

   1. a) All earmarks from the same program draw its limitation from the associated limitation pool. The limitation pool amounts may match the allocated funds at 100% or less. Examples of special limitation at the program level include: Transportation Improvements (program code LY30); TEA-21 High Priority Projects (program code Q920); and Projects of Regional and National Significance (program code LY40). To repurpose an earmark which has program level pool limitation:

      1. (1) Determine the limitation type from the Program Code Crosswalk. See column “PC Type Description (limitation type)”.

      2. (2) Refresh the Business Objects report “Lim buckets by Demo ID” to get the total amount of contract authority contrasted to the total amount of limitation which are available for the program. See example below.

         	Corridor Infrastructure	HPP-SAFETEA-LU	HPP-TEA-21	Limited By Demo	Section 115	Section 117
         Available Limitations	$0.40	$46,820,790.00	$6,879,590.00	$9,555,380.00	$400,001.00	$4,694,983.00
         Total Obligated Funds	$0.40	$63,072,783.00	$14,976,013.00	$19,360,564.00	$400,001.00	$4,694,983.00

      3. (3) If the total Available Limitation is equal to Total Unobligated Funds, then the total unobligated balance of the Demo ID would be repurposed to the program code shown on the crosswalk in column (-B-).

      4. (4) If Available Limitation is less than the Total Unobligated Funds, then the State would repurpose the earmark fund balance using the program codes shown on the crosswalk in columns (-B-) and (-C-) depending upon the amount of available limitation the State determines to use for the repurposed earmark funds. However, the remaining total limitation balance for the program cannot exceed the remaining total unobligated balance of funds for all earmarks in the associated program.

2. 2) Special limitation authorized only for a specific earmark within a program

   1. High Priority Projects authorized in SAFETEA-LU section 1602 #1-3676 have limitation assigned to each earmark (e.g., by Demo ID). The limitation type is Limited by Demo.

      To repurpose one of the earmarks from this program:

      1. (1) Look up the amount of available limitation for the specific Demo ID from the FMIS Fund Control Limitation Balances screen. Filter for your State and Limited by Demo. Then expand Details and open View Limit by Demo ID.

      2. (2) Lookup the available limitation for both program codes HY10 and LY10. These amounts must be repurposed to program code RPS1.

      3. (3) The excess contract authority (funds which have no matching obligation authority) must be repurposed to program code RPF1.

3. 3) Earmarks which draw from annual limitation

   1. a) Refer to the Program Code Crosswalk and the Business Objects “Lim Buckets by Demo ID” report to identify by Demo ID or program code which earmarks (or programs) draw from Charged to Limitation balances.

      	Charged to Limitation	Corridor Infrastructure	HPP-SAFETEA-LU	HPP-TEA-21	Limited By Demo
      Available Limitations	$2,629,753,965.37	$75,245,651.47	$16,123,372.37	$45,427,880.37	$207,189,168.68
      Total Unobligated Funds	$1,880,400.47	$75,245,651.47	$31,047,082.37	$124,856,713.23	$309,744,865.03

   2. b) When earmarks with discretionary limitation are repurposed from the State’s existing allocated funds, the State may see a change in their Charged to Limitation account balance. This limitation was previously allocated to the State for these funds. When funds are repurposed to RPS1, then the applicable amount of limitation will be moved from the “FUNDS SUBJ TO ANNUAL OBLIG LIM” section of the W10A “TOTAL ANNUAL OBLIG LIM” to the special limitation category “TOTAL SPECIAL LIM”.

4. 4) Exempt from limitation and non-Federal-aid limitation.

   1. a) For program codes shown on the crosswalk as Exempt and Non-Federal-aid in the PC Type column, use the program codes shown on the crosswalk — RPE1 and RN#1. The State’s limitation balances will not change.

   2. b) The fund amounts on the W10A report will continue to be shown in the Exempt category and the Other category, as appropriate.

RPF1 note: Funds repurposed to program code RPF1 will draw from the State’s formula limitation balance at the time that the funds are obligated. If the funds are not obligated and lapse, the limitation will not be affected.

RPS1 note: Special limitation for funds repurposed to program code RPS1 will expire at the end of FY 2021.

All repurposed funds will show unobligated balances as “Possible Lapse Fiscal Year End” 2021 column when visible on the W10A report (in FY 2018).