Federal-aid Program Administration

Note: This document was superseded on 03/20/2013 by MAP-21 Puerto Rico Highway Program (PRHP) Implementation Guidance (Revised)

U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration

MEMORANDUM

Section 1120 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU, Public Law 109-59) added the Puerto Rico Highway Program (PRHP) to Title 23, United States Code, as Section 165 (attached). Section 1101(a)( 14) of SAFETEA-LU authorizes the following funds for the PRHP through FY 2009:

In addition, Section 1120(c) of SAFETEA-LU eliminates Puerto Rico from the definition of a State for the purposes of the apportionment of Federal-aid highway funds.

Under the provisions of 23 U.S.C. 165(b), these funds are available for obligation in the same manner as if such funds were apportioned under Chapter 1 of Title 23. This means that the funds may be obligated for any activities eligible under Chapter 1 of Title 23, and that the Federal share and period of availability of the funds are governed by Sections 120 and 118 of Title 23 respectively. This did not change from the way the program was administered under the provisions of Section 1214(r) of TEA-21.

Under the provisions of 23 U.S.C. 165(c), for the purposes of imposing any penalty under Title 23 or Title 49, the amounts authorized for the PRHP shall be treated as being apportioned to Puerto Rico under 23 U.S.C. 104(b) and 144, based upon the proportional share Puerto Rico received under each of the apportioned programs in FY 1997. This was the last fiscal year that Puerto Rico received their funding through apportionments. Therefore, the PRHP authorization amounts will be reduced as a result of any penalties to which they are subject. This also is the same way the program was administered under the provisions of Section 1214(r)( 3) of TEA-21.

In addition, under the provisions of Section 1102(f) of SAFETEA-LU, Redistribution of Certain Authorized Funds, only the PRHP funds for which obligation authority is provided are available for allocation to Puerto Rico. The funds that do not have obligation authority, due to the imposition of any obligation limitation for the fiscal year, will not be allocated to Puerto Rico. They will be redistributed to the States under the provisions of Section 1102(f). This also did not change under SAFETEA-LU.

For FY 2005, Puerto Rico is subject to the following penalty provisions:

• 23 U.S.C. 154, Open Container Requirements,
• 23 U.S.C. 158, National Minimum Drinking Age,
• 23 U.S.C. 161, Operation of Motor Vehicles by Intoxicated Minors, and
• 23 U.S.C. 164, Minimum Penalties for Repeat Offenders.

With an authorization of $115,000,000 for FY 2005, the penalty is $2,643,137 for each of Sections 154 and 164. The portion of these funds, for which obligation authority is provided (85.5 percent), is to be transferred to Puerto Rico's Section 402 highway safety program. The balance is redistributed to the States under the provisions of Section 1102(f) of SAFETEA-LU.

The penalty for each of Sections 158 and 161 for FY 2005 is $8,810,455. These funds are not available for allocation to Puerto Rico.

Subtracting $2,643,137 for the 154 penalty, $8,810,455 for the 158 penalty, $8,810,455 for the 161 penalty, and $2,643,137 for the 164 penalty from the $115,000,000 authorization, results in a balance of $92,092,816. For FY 2005, the obligation limitation on the Federal-aid highway program is 85.5 percent. Therefore, under the provisions of Section 1102(f) of SAFETEA-LU, only $78,739,358 of the $92,092,816 is available for allocation to Puerto Rico. In FY 2005, we allocated $69,300,040 of these FY 2005 funds to Puerto Rico. With this memorandum, we are allocating the balance of the FY 2005 PRHP funds.

Therefore, we are allocating $9,439,318 of program code HP10 funds and an equal amount of obligation authority (Delphi accounting string 15X0RP1050-0000-020HP10500) to Puerto Rico.

We will allocate the FY 2006 funds to Puerto Rico in the near future.

As indicated above, these PRHP funds are to be obligated in accordance with Title 23 procedures, and may be obligated for any activity eligible under Chapter 1 of Title 23. Sections 120 and 118 of Title 23 govern the Federal share and period of availability of the funds respectively.

By copy of this memorandum, the Finance Division of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer is requested to process this allocation of program code HP10 funds to Puerto Rico.

If there are any questions, please contact Larry Beidel, of my staff, at (202) 366-4653.

Attachment

Title 23 - United States Code

Sec. 165. Puerto Rico highway program

1. In General- The Secretary shall allocate funds made available to carry out this section for each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009 to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to carry out a highway program in the Commonwealth.
2. Applicability of Title- Amounts made available by section 1101(a)(14) of the SAFETEA-LU shall be available for obligation in the same manner as if such funds were apportioned under this chapter.
3. Treatment of Funds- Amounts made available to carry out this section for a fiscal year shall be administered as follows:
   1. APPORTIONMENT- For the purpose of imposing any penalty under this title or title 49, the amounts shall be treated as being apportioned to Puerto Rico under sections 104(b) and 144, for each program funded under those sections in an amount determined by multiplying-
      1. the aggregate of the amounts for the fiscal year; by
      2. the ratio that-
         1. the amount of funds apportioned to Puerto Rico for each such program for fiscal year 1997; bears to
         2. the total amount of funds apportioned to Puerto Rico for all such programs for fiscal year 1997.
   2. PENALTY- The amounts treated as being apportioned to Puerto Rico under each section referred to in paragraph (1) shall be deemed to be required to be apportioned to Puerto Rico under that section for purposes of the imposition of any penalty under this title or title 49.
4. Effect on Allocations and Apportionments- Subject to subsection (c)(2), nothing in this section affects any allocation under section 105 and any apportionment under sections 104 and 144.